(this is the first entry in an occasional series where WWTW will post critics’ comments to famous films and you have to guess which movie they’re describing …)
“I can think of no other film which screws violence up into so tight a knot of terror that one begins to feel that civilization is crumbling before one’s eyes.” – Tom Milne
“[The director's] fascist tale works both ways: as a dream of male territorial revenge, and as female rape fantasy taken to a shockingly unexpected end.” – Thomas Delapa, Boulder Weekly
“The most offensive thing about the movie is its hypocrisy; it is totally committed to the pornography of violence, but lays on the moral outrage with a shovel.” – Roger Ebert
Hint: This 1970s film marks the first time this director worked outside the genre which made him famous.
Answer after the jump -
The 1971 thriller “Straw Dogs” by director drew plenty of attention for its shocking violence. Viewed by today’s audience, the film is still a visceral assault, but back then its disturbing rape scene and survival storyline stunned movie goers and critics alike.
Suffice to say a remake is in the works, but it can’t have the cultural impact of the original.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
I have to admit I first thought the movie in question was “Dirty Harry” until the mention of the rape scene.
Why do I think the same critics who despise the original “Straw Dogs” are going to praise the remake if it depicts Southerners as villains?
Peckinpah rocks.
I’m having some difficulty with the notion, however, of “Straw Dogs” as “fascistic”. The protagonist is attacked in his home and defends himself violently against violent aggressors. By that notion France, England, Poland and Finland were the “fascists” in WW2.
ADD:
@CToto: Nice idea of taking lefty critic’s poor reviews of what eventually turn out to be classic movies. Keep it up!!
Straw Dogs? I spit on its grave behind the last house on the left!
I got it on the female rape fantasy…. she did appear to “like” the first rape as I recall
I agree with K above. I like introducing the topics of critic reviews and having us guess the movie. This was fun.
And I also agree, Peckinpah rocks.
Sigh…I just read the news about the remake of this movie. Disappointing, but not shocking. I dug through the Internets on more information of the director, Rod Lurie, and found this little tidbit of another movie he’s directing:
“Rod Lurie, director of the upcoming First Amendment drama Nothing But the Truth. I had a lot of questions to ask him about his film, which stars Kate Beckinsale as a journalist who outs a Valerie Plame-like CIA agent and then goes to jail rather than give up her source, especially because as a former journalist and film critic Lurie has an intriguing point of view on the place of the Fourth Estate.”
I quote Dr. Smith when I say, “Oh, the pain…the pain…”
Looking further into his credentials, I see that he also directed “The Contender” and the TV series, “Commander in Chief” (the latter regarded as an advertisement for a Hilary Clinton presidency). Given the themes of the above projects and the fact his remake relocates to the story to the South (Mississippi, but filmed in Louisiana), you know his insipid political views against us southerners will be all over this movie like Rosie O’Donnell on an all-you-can-eat buffet in Las Vegas. There’s no way in hades I will be plopping down $10-plus to be insulted by this hack of a director.
I guess the anti-war movies are falling out of the picture (pun intended) now that Obama is in office (despite his increase in troops in Afghanistan) and that they actually lose money (see “Green Zone”). Next target: Those dumb stupid southerners who should feel enlightened when a smart, intellect like an LA screenwriter decides to move to their town.
Another sigh…
I’m going to continue to avoid the theaters and just turn on AMC or TCM. Or better yet, I think I’ll pop in my copy of “Taken” or “Die Hard” on Blu-Ray.
I don’t remember Ebert being THAT far off base about “Straw Dogs.” I didn’t really understand the movie till I read this truly brilliant review on High Hat Nitrate: http://thehighhat.com/Nitrate/002/straw_dogs.html
I got it on the rape scene too, and also enjoyed the different POV mystery review. Keep up this feature, WWTW!