Straw Dogs
Sam Peckinpah
David, an American mathematician, and his wife go to live in the English countryside so he can focus on his research. He takes on young people from the village to do up his farmhouse. They bully the couple to the point where David's calm and non-violence suddenly shatter.
With : Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, David Warner
Screenplay : Sam Peckinpah, David Zelag Goodman (d'après le roman homonyme de Gordon Williams)
Image : John Coquillon
Editing : Paul Davies, Tony Lawson, Roger Spottiswoode, Robert Wolfe
Decors : Peter James
Music : Jerry Fielding
Screenplay : Sam Peckinpah, David Zelag Goodman (d'après le roman homonyme de Gordon Williams)
Image : John Coquillon
Editing : Paul Davies, Tony Lawson, Roger Spottiswoode, Robert Wolfe
Decors : Peter James
Music : Jerry Fielding
Production : ABC, Cinerama
Distribution: Tamasa Distribution
Distribution: Tamasa Distribution
1971 - a year when violence exploded onto American screens. Within a single month Sam Peckinpah caused a massive controversy with Straw Dogs, while Stanley Kubrick released A Clockwork Orange. Despite audience success, Peckinpah's intentions caused a scandal. "It is a film about the violence that lies within each of us, the violence querying the political condition of the modern world. There are two reasons behind this. I want to create a feeling of catharsis. Someone could feel some sick exultation when seeing this violence, but at that time they must ask themselves the question ‘what is happening in my heart?' I want to achieve catharsis through compassion and fear" (S. Peckinpah). Peckinpah shakes up the archetypes of the representation of violence, a violence that he does not want to hide, to glorify or to condemn, but just to film so as to understand where it comes from.