Search - Straw Dogs [Uncut] [Criterion Collection] on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Graphic Violence, Rape & Sexual Abuse, Not For Children, Profanity Movie Release: 1971 DVD Release: 03/25/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Edition: Dual Layered Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 2 Number of Discs: 2 Run Time: 1 hrs 57 mins Studio: Criterion Members Wishing: 39 Genres: Thriller, Psychological Thriller See Also: Straw Dogs, Straw Dogs

Sam Peckinpah examines the instinctual capacity for violence in his controversial 1971 film, loosely based on the novel -The Siege of Trencher's Farm. To avoid the Vietnam-era social chaos in the U.S., American mathematician David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman) moves with his British wife, Amy (Susan George), to the isolated Cornish town where she grew up, but their presence provokes antagonism among the village's men. As the hostilities escalate from routine bullying to the gang rape of his wife, David finds his pacifistic self backed into a corner. When the hooligans attack his house, David finally resorts to the gruesome violence that he abhors. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

Dustin Hoffman - David
Susan George - Amy
Peter Vaughan - Tom Hedden
T.P. McKenna - Maj. Scott
David Warner - Henry Niles
Colin Welland - Rev. hood
Cherina Mann - Mrs. Hood

From packaging to sound quality to supplemental material, the Criterion Collection's two-disc Straw Dogs set is a stellar example of how to treat a major release from a maverick director -- the overall package is so good, in fact, it might even win over a few of the film's detractors. Director Sam Peckinpah's adaptation of Gordon Williams' -The Siege of Trencher's Farm raised the ire of more than a few viewers upon its release, primarily for its ambiguous rape scene and visceral, hyper-violent retribution reel. Criterion's greatest triumph with this disc, then, is to transport viewers back to the maelstrom of controversy that surrounded the film, through letters, reviews, and a few choice interviews with the cast and crew. Susan George is the best of the modern-day interview subjects, revealing that she herself refused to continue performing in the film until Peckinpah had an airtight rationale for his particular portrayal of sexual violence. The commentary track by scholar Stephen Prince is nothing if not academic, but it's always compelling, and the speaker offers up persuasive arguments for Peckinpah's complexly amoral world view, and for the director's oft-ignored humanism. The three supplemental documentaries included on disc two are of varying interest, the best being "On Location: Dustin Hoffman," a loopy, goofy, solipsistic look at Dustin Hoffman's behavior off the set of the film. In terms of the other two, the black-and-white BBC footage of the shooting of the film is interesting from a journalistic standpoint, but the PBS documentary Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron seems somewhat superfluous here, given that it spans the director's entire career (with a particular emphasis on The Wild Bunch), and doesn't include clips of his films due to copyright issues. Still, if the worst that can be said about Criterion's edition is that they provided one too many documentaries, that's a minor flaw indeed. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide