Straw Dogs: Thoughts on Humans and Other Animals

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Zimmerman of Newsweek stated, "It is hard to imagine that Sam Peckinpah will ever make a better movie than Straw Dogs. It's clear that Wittgenstein hadn't spent much time with lions,' commented the gambler and conservationist John Aspinall. One of the most important books published this year, and will probably prove to be one of the most important this century. Others hammered it, as the movie strays too far from actual entertainment, leaving audiences unnerved and disgusted.

Straw Dogs (1972) - Turner Classic Movies Straw Dogs (1972) - Turner Classic Movies

It is this double rape scene which stirs a lot of the controversy, naturally, it is horrific, brutal, and unsettling. The violence provoked strong reactions, many critics seeing it an endorsement of violence as redemption, and the film as fascist celebration of violence and vigilantism. It was a massively damaging career move and so – nursing an alcohol and drug problem – Peckinpah brought his no-holds-barred film-making to a quiet little village near Land’s End.

In this manner, force-fed violence makes him a better person, so acts of barbarity in that respect are good.

Straw Dogs’: Peckinpah’s Most Controversial Blade Hasn’t ‘Straw Dogs’: Peckinpah’s Most Controversial Blade Hasn’t

It is a strange fancy to suppose that science can bring reason to an irrational world, when all it can ever do is give another twist to a normal madness.

There are some key differences of emphasis, and Lurie to his credit doesn't attempt to up the ante on sex and violence as a means of recreating the sensational response to the 1971 version.