Regie:
Sam PeckinpahKamera:
John CoquillonMusik:
Jerry FieldingBesetzung:
Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna, David Warner, Ken Hutchison, Del Henney, Jim Norton, Donald Webster, Len Jones, Sally Thomsett (mehr)Inhalte(1)
Ein junger amerikanischer Mathematiker und seine Frau werden in der englischen Provinz von einigen jungen Männern terrorisiert. Ein brutaler Konflikt bricht aus. Sam Peckinpahs Film mit Hauptdarsteller Dustin Hoffman lässt den Zuschauer in einen Abgrund blicken, der verunsichert, weil er die Brüchigkeit zivilisatorischer Normen zeigt: Urinstinkte, Ohnmachtsgefühle und Ängste reißen in der Eskalation alles mit sich. Mathematiker David Sumner und seine Frau Amy ziehen für einige Zeit in das Haus von Amys verstorbenem Vater in einer kleinen englischen Gemeinde. David will dort in Ruhe arbeiten. Amys Erscheinung, die im Gegensatz zu den bieder-unscheinbaren Frauen des Dorfes steht, entfacht die erotischen Fantasien einiger tumb-zudringlicher Dörfler, die im Auftrag der Sumners an einer Garage bauen. Darunter ist auch Charlie Venner, mit dem Amy früher eine Beziehung hatte und der ihr unverblümt dreiste Avancen macht. Davids linkische Art ruft schnell die Verachtung der Dorfbewohner hervor. Immer wieder versuchen diese, den jungen Amerikaner vorzuführen und zu demütigen. Eines Tages wird Amy vergewaltigt; David erfährt nichts davon. Da aber das Benehmen der jungen Arbeiter immer unverschämter wird, entlässt David sie. Bei einem Dorffest, an dem Amy und David teilnehmen, überredet ein junges Mädchen den geistig zurückgebliebenen Niles, ihr nach draußen zu folgen, und versucht, ihn zu verführen. Bei dem Treffen tötet Niles sie ohne Absicht. Ein Lynchmob, dem Niles schon immer suspekt war, verfolgt ihn. Als David und Amy mit dem Auto nach Hause fahren, läuft ihnen Niles ins Auto. Sie nehmen ihn mit zu sich. (3sat)
(mehr)Kritiken (9)
Über die Rückkehr in die 70er in der Begleitung von Dustin Hoffmann und mit Peckinpahs bravouröser Regie habe ich mich sehr gefreut. Eine schwüle Stimmung, ein unkonventioneller Filmheld und hauptsächlich die für Peckinpah typische Trieb-Dimension der weiblichen Sexualität, wie sie im Mainstream bis heute niemand anderes dargestellt hat. Wo ist die Oscar-Nominierung für den Schnitt geblieben? War er für die Akademiker zu spontan und animalisch, d. h. nicht musterhaft elegant?!
()
The slow beginning is a shame, this film would deserve the highest score otherwise. The final half hour is brilliant and the depressive aftermaths are really impressive. Straw Dogs is one of the most representative yokels-in-action type of films and, together with Deliverance, is one of the cornerstones of the hixploitation horror subgenre – and that is enough for me to like it.
()
Toying with the viewers and their mind is the best that a movie can offer. Alfred Hitchcock already knew that, just like a number of directors who follow his example and try to base their movies off it. Straw Dogs is a pretty rough movie. The main plus is the young Dustin Hoffmann, who transforms from a scaredy young man into a right butcher throughout the movie; aka basic human instincts win over reason. And that’s what the entire movie unfolds from. It has its charm, it’s worth watching, but in my opinion, the three stars are just enough for it.
()
A year before Boorman’s Deliverance, Peckinpah came along with an almost identical idea. The only difference is the setting in the Highlands of Scotland. That’s where American physicist David moves with his English wife with slightly loose morals. The excellent steady rise in tension and perfect actors are the main pluses. Straw Dogs will no longer provoke such controversy as when it was released, but even so, it has much to offer even to today’s viewer.
()
Straw Dogs serves up a study of violence, transformations of human nature, and layers of fear, but in such a bland form that not even the traditionally precise Dustin Hoffman can save anything. When I want to see a transition of the hero from a weakling to a cold defensive machine, I expect more than a helpless guy who suddenly squints his eyes and starts acting. That is not an incredibly built twist for me, but a deus ex machina to benefit Sam Peckinpah, who really has a knack for indulging himself with blood, action, and editing.
()
From my perspective, this is the strongest film by Sam Peckinpah. It is an incredibly powerful, unsettling drama dedicated to the phenomenon of violence. Psychologically accurate, credible, absurdly realistic, hurtful, and very bitter... A slowly unfolding story of the confrontation between an intellectually focused college student and uneducated country folk gradually gains momentum and culminates in a shocking massacre. It is a film about different value systems, the inability to compromise, but above all about dark instincts and suppressed aggressiveness that hide within each of us, and if circumstances allow them to manifest, they can cause unimaginable damage. Overall impression: 95%.
()
The seventies in full glory and just the way we like it in the film industry. An intimate tale of cruel psychological harm and its consequences, delivered without unnecessary clichés and with a searing intensity that lies not so much in the final bloody scene as in the way Peckinpah conveys the plot. Repulsive villagers at every turn, a suffocating atmosphere permeating even between the central married couple, all with excellent editing and music, through which Peckinpah lets the viewer experience the story of the main characters far more intensely than just by sight and sound. Also, Hoffman, as a very atypical film hero, confirmed his enormous acting talent and a large part of the film belongs to him. Ironically, my complete satisfaction is prevented by the final thrilling carnage, which, despite all the precision, seemed somewhat unbelievable, and also by the unclear and strange attitude of the female protagonist (whose side was she on in the end?). Otherwise, however, this is an excellent spectacle in all respects, the quality of which is not matched only by the Oscar nomination for music.
()
To view the film Straw Dogs only as a redneck horror movie is definitely short-sighted. It's a film that raises quite interesting questions about what we are willing to do to protect our loved ones. And where is the boundary beyond which we can no longer go? Is there even a boundary that we cannot approve of? Or is it all because we can awaken the beast within us, which lies dormant, and we are even willing to let it rage? It’s very disturbing, even after all this time. Some movies just don't age.
()
A clear example that even someone who seems harmless can become a threat to their oppressors under oppressive circumstances. Dustin Hoffman as a mathematics teacher convincingly portrayed the transformation from a pushover to an individual fighting for survival, and Susan George in the role of his wife matched him in acting skill perfectly. This finely crafted suspenseful film, with a touch of exaggeration, could be considered a small showcase of repulsive bully characters. Watching the film caused very depressing feelings in me, which I am not going to torture myself with again. (75%)
()
Werbung