Straw Dogs (1971)

Voti degli utenti:

7.6/10   

Regista:

Sam Peckinpah

Scrittori:

David Zelag Goodman (screenplay) and
Sam Peckinpah (screenplay) ...

Data di uscita:

29 dicembre 1971 (USA)

Genere:

Thriller

Slogan:

The knock at the door meant the birth of one man and the death of seven others!

Plot:

A young American and his English wife come to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment.

Plot Keywords:

Violence | Rural | House | Mathematician | Fight

Premi:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Recensioni degli utenti:

Fantastic thriller that holds its own after 30 years

Cast

Dustin Hoffman	...	David Sumner
Susan George	...	Amy Sumner
Peter Vaughan	...	Tom Hedden
T.P. McKenna	...	Major John Scott
Del Henney	...	Charlie Venner
Jim Norton	...	Chris Cawsey
Donald Webster	...	Riddaway
Ken Hutchison	...	Norman Scutt
Len Jones	...	Bobby Hedden
Sally Thomsett	...	Janice Hedden
Robert Keegan	...	Harry Ware
Peter Arne	...	John Niles
Cherina Schaer	...	Louise Hood
Colin Welland	...	Reverend Barney Hood
resto del cast in ordine alfabetico:
June Brown	...	Mrs. Hedden (scenes deleted)
Chloe Franks	...	Emma Hedden (scenes deleted)
Michael Mundell	...	Bertie Hedden (scenes deleted)

Alias:

Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs (UK) (complete title)
Cane di paglia (Italy) [it]

Durata:

118 min | USA:113 min (R-rated version)

Nazionalità:

UK | USA

Lingua:

Inglese

Colore:

Colore (Eastmancolor) (uncredited)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonoro:

Mono

Divieti:

Finland:K-18 (uncut) (1981) | Finland:K-18 (cut) (1971) | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Iceland:16 | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2007) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | USA:R (cut) | USA:Unrated (uncut) | Brazil:18 | South Korea:18 | Argentina:18 | Australia:MA (DVD re-rating) (2004) | Australia:R (original rating) | France:-16 | Hong Kong:III | Ireland:18 | Italy:VM14 (re-rating) | Italy:VM18 (original rating) | Japan:R-15 | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:(Banned) (video rating) (1999) | UK:18 (video re-rating) (2002) (uncut) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R

Luoghi riprese:

Lamorna Cove, Lamorna, Cornwall, England, UK

Compagnia:

ABC Pictures

Curiosità:

The movie's poster was as #12 of "The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever" by Premiere.

Errori:

Personale o equipaggiamento visibile: As David and Amy Sumner drive up to their house for the first time, the camera crew is reflected in the car's side window.

Citazioni:

David Sumner: Ok, you've had your fun. I'll give you one more chance, and if you don't clear out now, there'll be real trouble. I mean it.

Collegamenti:

Citato in I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue (2008) (TV)

Fantastic thriller that holds its own after 30 years

Straw Dogs is an intense thriller that shows what can happen when you push even the most mild mannered man too far. Dustin Hoffman plays a mathematician who temporarily moves to a house in a rural village in England with his wife, a former resident of the town, played by Susan George. The two withstand incessant needling from several of the townsfolk until George is raped and assaulted and Hoffman is pushed over the edge.

Incidentally, right after watching this film I found a documentary on cable about filmmakers from the late '60s to late '70s and one of the directors profiled was Sam Peckinpah. I had always considered his films to be violent and vaguely shocking, which never surprised me, knowing that he was a hard-living maverick who did things his way - an element that is resplendent in most of his films. A brief mention of Straw Dogs was included in this documentary, where they described it as a "sexist film". There are obvious scenes in the film that could support this criticism, but I think that is overanalyzing the film with a political correctness that is out of place. While the two female characters are both victimized, Susan George also has her moments of empowerment. I may be a female, but I don't consider Peckinpah's tendency to make testosterone-driven films any more sexist than anything that Tarantino puts out, and I'm a big fan of his work as well. It's a dangerous line to draw when one labels a film due to what is *not* included in a film.

What this film does contain is much more stellar - Hoffman is beyond incredible in this film. His character development is amazing to experience. One criticism of the film that I heard from a friend who saw it before me was that it "dragged." I couldn't disagree more. The development of the story until the extremely violent climax is a perfect pace because it made me feel like I was sitting in a dentist chair, knowing that this low boil could explode at any time. After the dust settles, the viewer is left to decide whether Hoffman's character made the right decision, and left to speculate on the ramifications of the choices made. This is by far one of the best films I've seen in recent months and plan to seek out the newly released Criterion edition in my quest to find out as much about this film as I can.

--Shelly