Straw Dogs
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Year: 1971
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George
Looking for something to watch that "isn't too violent- not a war movie or a horror film", Dan decides to pick Straw Dogs. Because THAT will cheer us up when we're tired and (in my case at least) very hungover. I did warn him it wouldn't be happy...
I didn't know a lot about this film, other than that it (or at least parts of it) were banned on its release (I'm a little hazy on the facts, I should do my homework better), and it involved a rape scene and not a particularly cheerful plot. The story focuses on David and Amy Sumner, a couple who move to a British village (I think it was in England, but there were some odd accents in there) and have to deal with the not-especially-hospitable locals.
For the first three quarters of the film it was hard to like any of the characters - the more we learnt about any of them, the less likeable they were. The final quarter of the film we did enjoy, but this may have had more to do with the inventive ways that were being found to hurt/ maim the myriad of unlikeable characters, albeit by other unlikeable characters. I'm pretty sure there's plenty in this film to study if you're on a film studies course, but as a film to enjoy watching, I'm not so sure...
Rating: 3 out of 5
About Me
- Anna Lawson
- I live in Bristol with my husband Dan (who I married in July 2007), my son Joe (born 2012) and daughter Jess (born 2015). I work at UWE (the University of the West of England) in Bristol as a Research and Open Access Librarian. I'm orginally from Exeter, so moving back to Bristol is a bit like coming home - especially as I studied for my undergraduate degree here (also at UWE). I love travelling and movies, although I get to do a lot less of both since the birth of our children. Although we have still managed to fit in holidays to the Isles of Scilly, Chamonix and a summer in California since Joe was born.
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