Straw Dogs 1971

Violence flows in original ‘Straw Dogs’

ABC Pictures
IT'S THE CALM before the storm in the original “Straw Dogs” for Dustin Hoffman and Susan George.

If you frequented the drive-in theaters back around 1971, chances are you discovered “Straw Dogs.”
I think for the entire summer, it was the second feature at every theater. You could have “Bambi” followed by the Sam Peckinpah, violence-ridden “Straw Dogs.”
Peckinpah was a leader in realistic violence in films. Before him, people who were shot showed no blood. It’s as if they were shot and died of a heart attack.
Well, there was the union soldier who got his face blown off in “Gone With the Wind,” but that didn’t happen too often.
Peckinpah gave us spraying blood and great heaps of guts on walls behind where people were shot.
“Straw Dogs” has kitty cats hung, a sex-charged girl strangled and many others killed with guns, animal traps and more. It has rats running around. Baby, this film has everything. It was indeed a drive-in classic.
A “Straw Dogs” remake will be released next week, so you need to get out and see the original in preparation. I’ll be checking to make certain you do.
I did my duty and pulled out the $6 version I bought at Half Price Books. Now there is a Blu-Ray version with a DVD of extras. Prepare to pay more than $6.
Dustin Hoffman is a bookish, Clark Kent-cloned American living in a hard drinking English village with his mouth-watering wife, played by Linda George. She wears skirts the size of a washcloth and no bra. She gets two stars just for her appearance.
George’s character happens to be from that village and had a relationship with one of the burly louts there, played by Del Henney.
The Henney character and the other yokels spend most of their time in a pub and when not, working on the Hoffman character’s garage, putting on a new roof.
OK, they spend time there. Little work is done. Who can concentrate on work when the George character parades in front of her window topless?
Plus, time must be spent raiding her underwear drawer.
Little pranks are pulled and the yokels on the roof roar with laughter.
Even when the family cat is found strangled, the Hoffman character lets it role off his back.
Until things get REAL bad. Then it’s time to take action. You see, the patriarch of the yokels discovers his horny daughter has taken off with the town dullard (played by David Warner) and is missing. The Warner character, after accidentally killing the girl, is whacked by Hoffman’s car. Hoffman takes him to his home and all of the village cutthroats descend on the house to bring the killer out.
“Straw Dogs” is best known for its rape scene which engrosses and repels, along with its endless string of violence at the end.
The film is well executed and interesting. There is a sincere attempt to provide real characters, too. Hoffman’s character is a mathematician who received a grant to write a book. But with all of the violence and incidents leading to violence, the poor guy never gets anything done.
The new “Straw Dogs” moves the action to the deep South, rather than a charming English village.
We’ll see about the new version, but the old “Straw Dogs” holds up just fine, thank you.

STRAW DOGS 1971
• Directed by Sam Peckinpah
• Written by David Zelaq, with screenplay by Peckinpah
• Runtime: 118 minutes
• Rated R for lots of violence and sex, including rape
• 31⁄2 stars out of 4