Sam Peckinpah's STRAW DOGS starring Dustin Hoffman & Susan George (1971) Uncut

STRAW DOGS caused lots of controversy and was heavily censored around the world - but today it is considered Peckinpah's best work. Also Sam directs Lee Marvin in Route 66, Jason Robards in NOON WINE.

STRAW DOGS created the home invasion genre which would lead to films like HOME ALONE, but in terms of intensity and shock value STRAW DOGS still has not been topped. From Wiki:

Straw Dogs is a 1971 psychological thriller film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. The screenplay, by Peckinpah and David Zelag Goodman, is based upon Gordon M. Williams's 1969 novel, The Siege of Trencher's Farm. The film's title derives from a discussion in the Tao Te Ching that likens people to the ancient Chinese ceremonial straw dog, being of ceremonial worth, but afterwards discarded with indifference.

The film is noted for its violent concluding sequences and two complicated rape scenes, which were censored by numerous film rating boards. Released theatrically in the same year as A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection, and Dirty Harry, the film sparked heated controversy over a perceived increase of violence in films generally.

The film premiered in the UK in November 1971. Although controversial at the time, Straw Dogs is considered by some critics to be one of Peckinpah's greatest films, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music (Original Dramatic Score).

Watch STRAW DOGS by clicking here

Paul D. Zimmerman of Newsweek stated, "It is hard to imagine that Sam Peckinpah will ever make a better movie than Straw Dogs. It flawlessly expresses his primitive vision of violence — his belief that manhood requires rites of violence, that home and hearth are inviolate and must be defended by blood, that a man must conquer other men to prove his courage and hold on to his woman." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote that even though he disagreed with Peckinpah's apparent worldview that "Man is an animal, and his passion for destroying his own kind lies just beneath his skin," it was nevertheless "a superbly made movie. Peckinpah creates a mood of impending violence with great skill." Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times called it "an overpowering piece of storytelling, certain to remind every viewer of the wells of primal emotion lurking within himself, beneath the fragile veneer of civilized control. It is, I think, a better picture than 'The Wild Bunch,' less ritualistic and less appallingly graphic in its violence, and in fact less cynical."

Watch STRAW DOGS by clicking on this link

Next up for paid and trial subscribers Straw Dogs behind the scenes Interview with Sam Peckinpah, Dustin Hoffman and Susan George plus Noon Wine (TV-1966) SAM PECKINPAH wrote and directed starring Jason Robards plus Sam directs Lee Marvin in a Route 66 episode!

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