Straw Dogs (USA, 1971, Sam Peckinpah)

Ben Begins:

I revisited Straw Dogs. I had wanted to see it ever since I was a kid and saw the controversy it generated on a TV talk show addressing violence in contemporary cinima. (The other film under discussion was Clockwork Orange). Finally got to Straw Dogs about ten years ago. I wasn't too impressed by it then and tried to steer Jacob away from it this time around. I was wrong. Very powerful and genuinely disturbing. Hoffman is excellent, as he always was back then. Big surprise though - Susan George, really good. And her character is complex. Which brings me to the director/screen writer. Pauline Kael famously called him a fascist and this is misapplied. Still, it's easy to understand the notion that Straw Dogs is a pean to primal power as symbolized by a man's passage to Maleness. Personally, I think Peckinpah is more profound and less offensive than this. He doesn't have a critique to offer, but his observation is not that of a fetishistic voyeur. This is to suggest that Straw Dogs is a genuine horror movie; i.e., a work of realism and not myth-making. The two-dimensional, sinister backwater village (a cliche town from the US South tranposed to the English countryside) is poetic licence, the necessary horror story context. But the psychological dynamics within individual characters and between them is as gritty as gritty realism gets. And the violence - and sex mixed up in it - is not some trite action fun. It's actual ugliness that must be taken seriously.

And Dan:

I have always liked Peckinpah, and Straw Dogs is certainly among my favourite Peckinpahs. He is a man's director, no doubt, and Straw Dogs has more than a little to say about how the loss of masculinity in contemporary society can lead to all sortsa violence/mayhem/social discord when one attempts to reclaim it(particularly it in a world where it is no longer valued.) And while famous for his willingness to depict gruesome acts of violence on screen, what makes him really important is his unflinching depiction of the consequences of such violence (for even clearer evidence see The Wild Bunch). As such he's far from being a fascist; in fact, I'd say he's even a tad progressive. I own, but have not yet seen, a little known Peckinpah called White Dog, which is apparently a pretty pointed parable about racism in America that was misunderstood by the studios and never given a proper release (the premise, as I understand it, has the titular albino canine trained to attack only people of colour).

Then Ben:

Yeah, after I wrote you, Jacob told me that you told him we should check out The Wild Bunch. I am aware that his international reputation was established with this film at the end of the 60s but I've never seen it. Until this moment, I've never been too interested in Peckinpah, stupidly closed-minded against him actually and for such a silly reason too.


Remember the "Tennis Anyone" parody of Peckinpah by Python? I saw this before I had ever even heard of him. Then, a short time later, I learned of Peckinpah's existence from that TV talk show about violence in movies I mentioned previously. In my defense, I was just a kid taking all of this in and mostly stoned at the time. (On the other hand, what better existential-aesthetic leader than Monty Python?)

I did see The Getaway back in the day and thought it was mighty cool. But I didn't know it was Peckinpah until years later and even today I'm not sure the main thing for me wasn't just my desire to fuck Ali Macgraw. (Still unsure. But just for the record, even then I recognized she was no thespian.)

I have a vague memory of being bored by Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, wanted to check out Dylan and found him the most boring thing in it. Again, didn't know it was Peckinpah. That's about it. So, yes, The Wild Bunch.
 
Here's the trailer for Straw Dogs: