(Photo Courtesy of Cinerama Releasing Corporation)It felt great to review carefree “Yellow Submarine” last week — so many happy feels and embarrassing sing-along moments — so the question is: What happily-ever-after movie is next?
The answer is 1971’s “Straw Dogs,” notorious for its lengthy rape scene and extreme violence.
Oops.
It sounded like “A Clockwork Orange” all over again. When I came across it on the list, I was surprised, because I was thinking of the recent 2011 film of the same name, which I soon found out was a remake of the 1971 original that starred Dustin Hoffman.
After reading a short review, I thought it sounded pretty raunchy, but thought, “Why not? I’ve gone there before.”
So here it is: “Straw Dogs”
Based on Gordon Williams’s novel “The Siege of Trencher’s Farm,” “Straw Dogs” focuses on David Sumner, a mathematician who, on a grant to write a book, has moved with his wife to her old home in England. Being the only American in the movie, David deals with the harassment of the townspeople, mostly the four men renovating his garage, while trying to take his work seriously. His career begins to hurt his marriage when Amy, his wife, feels that he pays attention to nothing but his equation-filled blackboard.
The marital trouble continues when the couple finds their cat, strangled, in their closet. The only possible suspects are the men working on the garage. The men, while David tries to assess the situation, invite him to go duck hunting.
While they are shooting, one of the men, Charlie, slips away, back to David’s house. There, he attacks Amy and rapes her. Soon another one of the workers, Norman, arrives at the house, pointing a gun at Charlie. Instead of saving Amy, Norman also rapes her. David returns later, after the men are gone; Amy says nothing of the assault, but faces disturbing flashbacks at a church function when she sees her attackers.
At this same event, Henry Niles goes off with the daughter of Tom, the town drunk. Henry becomes scared when he hears people searching for him and unintentionally strangles the girls while trying to keep her quiet. He then goes on the run, but David hits him with his car — also unintentional. David takes Henry to his and Amy’s home to wait for the doctor, but Tom and all of his buddies show up first, demanding Henry. Soon, a huge battle begins as the townsmen try to break into the house. David finds himself doing everything in his power to protect his home.
I had two huge problems with “Straw Dogs.” The first was the rape scene, after which I had to pause the film. There was a great amount of controversy surrounding this scene in 1971 because of the content, but also because of a certain ambiguity on the part of Amy. During the scene, Amy starts to caress Charlie and bring his face closer to hers. She does this as if she were enjoying the attack, which the filmmakers have admitted was not the intention whatsoever. This ambiguity was enough to make me uncomfortable during the scene, because it didn’t seem like that was what was supposed to be occurring.
My other problem is that David never learns of the rape. Of course, Amy had no obligation to tell him, but it was strange to watch David fight so hard to save his home and land, when had no clue of what happened to his wife. By the end of the film, I thought it would have been much more interesting if David found out about the assault and then tracked down Charlie and Norman. This wouldn’t have been innovative storytelling, but it would have provided an interesting look at David’s psyche. All in all, I couldn't care less about watching him fight for his land.
I’m not quite sure why this film has a cult following; perhaps because of the gruesome scenes, but nothing spectacular is presented here. For the first time in this series of reviews, I am disappointed.
Reach for the reporter at wruof@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @willruof.
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