Straw Dogs (1971)

Straw Dogs is Sam Peckinpah’s most controversial film and in its day it was very controversial indeed. Modern audiences are likely to be far more shocked than 70s audiences.

This is a movie that immediately ignited a firestorm of controversy so that even in 1971 many critics and viewers approached it with preconceptions. They expected to be outraged. As a result they totally misunderstood the film and read things into it that are simply not there.

And there is of course Peckinpah’s reputation as an apostle of cinematic violence. In fact the violence in this movie only matters insofar as it has an impact on the emotional states of the characters. And Peckinpah goes out of his way to avoid presenting the violence as being in any way heroic or admirable or justified. This is a very anti-heroic movie. The violence is squalid and nasty and petty and disgusting and absurd. Peckinpah wants us to be horrified and disgusted. It’s not easy to present extreme violence without making it exciting but more than anyone other director who has tried doing this Peckinpah succeeds in making violence very very unattractive.

There is no hero in this movie. Despite what you may have heard this is not the story of a man pushed beyond endurance who finally overcomes his fears and fights back and becomes a righteous avenger.

David (Dustin Hoffman) and his wife Amy (Susan George) have taken up residence in a farmhouse in a village in Cornwall. David is a mathematician. As an American he is an outsider. Amy was born in the village. This is home to her. This is important.

David is a middle-class intellectual and like so many of that breed he despises anyone who isn’t a middle-class intellectual. He considers the locals to be barely human and they are immediately aware of this. He is also a coward and they are also immediately aware of this. He antagonises the locals. 

Peckinpah saw this movie as the story of a marriage. A failed marriage. Amy loves David but she knows that he despises her as an intellectual inferior. He is petty and vindictive. Amy also knows that he is a coward. The marriage is clearly heading for the rocks.

Right at the start the couple have an encounter with Charlie Venner (Del Henney). Charlie and David hate each on sight. Charlie and Amy have a history. The reason they broke up is one of the many things that Peckinpah keeps deliberately vague.

David has hired four young men from the village to repair the barn. Despite what you may have heard about the movie Amy is not flirtatious.

Then comes the infamous scene in which Charlie and one of the other men take Amy by force. The biggest controversy created by the movie is the allegation that Amy is shown to enjoy it. It’s much more complicated than that. She is already in emotional turmoil and now she is emotionally shattered. Yes, she may feel a momentary physical pleasure but it horrifies her and the whole experience is traumatic and devastating.

And then comes the most important scene in the film. David arrives home and she doesn’t tell him what has happened. This is crucial because it means that none of David’s later actions are motivated by a desire for revenge. She doesn’t tell him because she now feels so estranged from him that she doesn’t see the point. She assumes that if she tells him he will let her down again.

Three minor characters now become important. Henry Niles (David Warner) is suspected of having an unhealthy interest in the young village girls. Once again Peckinpah keeps things deliberately vague. Is Henry dangerous or just odd?

Tom Hedden (Peter Vaughan) is a drunken aggressive braggart. His daughter Janice (Sally Thomsett, a couple of years away from major TV stardom) is an incorrigible flirt. Janice and Henry Niles have gone off together and now no-one knows where they are. Tom reacts as if Janice is a mere child but clearly she isn’t. It would appear to be a case of an over-protective father refusing to admit that his daughter is no longer a child and pushing her into an act of rebellion.

In this movie the social breakdown is almost complete. Those whose duty it is to protect the vulnerable are ineffectual. The forces of law and order, represented by the magistrate Major Scott (T.P. McKenna) are impotent. Fathers fail their daughters, husbands fail their wives.

The story of Henry Niles will intersect with that of David and Amy.

Then comes the climax - the pitched battle at the farmhouse. But there’s nothing heroic about it. It’s just a mob of drunken louts led by Tom Heddon battling a crazy man. David does fight and fights viciously but Peckinpah undercuts any admiration we may feel for him. He is not a weakling who suddenly discovers reserves of courage and nobility. It’s just that his anger that has been festering inside him for years suddenly explodes. It’s a battle that is more farcical than heroic.

It’s worth pointing out that Peckinpah stated that he saw David as the villain of the movie. I have never been a fan of Dustin Hoffman but I must admit that in this movie he is perfect. He gets David’s twitchiness, his tendency to flinch at even the smallest hit of conflict, and he gets across his pettiness and his cruelty towards Amy. Susan George is even more impressive.

Peter Vaughan is outrageous but effective. David Warner has the right mix of creepiness and vulnerability. Sally Thomsett is excellent in what is actually a rather tricky and ambiguous role.

Mention must be made of the frenetic editing. A single very brief scene can include literally hundreds of cuts. Images succeed each other at dizzying speed. There are also wild camera angles and in almost every way Peckinpah is totally reinventing the language of cinema. This is a technically revolutionary film.

Straw Dogs is one of Peckinpah’s two best movies, the other being Junior Bonner. Both tend to be unjustly overshadowed by his more famous films. Straw Dogs is very highly recommended