University of Virginia Library

CINEMA

'Straw Dogs': Worm Becomes Superhero

By CHRIS DICKEY

"Straw Dogs" was adapted
from a book called The Siege
of Trencher's Farm. The siege
is what the action and moral of
the film hinge on, and the siege
is just as violent and bloody as
director Sam Peckinpah can
make it.

Peckinpah has been building
his skill with violent action
through a long string of
westerns from "Ride the High
Country," which had some
artistic pretensions, to "Major
Dundee," which didn't. More
recently, "The Wild Bunch"
showed us his appreciation and,
preoccupation with gore, and
"The Ballad of Cable Hogue"
demonstrated his shortcomings
as a thinker. All those films,
you might note, were westerns.
Good guys — grubby but tough
as leather — fought bad guys
who were also grubby, but not
quite so tough.

"Straw Dogs" is not a
western. In fact it takes place
in modern England, though
there is no particular reason
why it couldn't take place in

a rural part of America. And
Dustin Hoffman as David is
only grubby in a sort of
mid-sixties collegiate way. And
he is the hero, no doubt about
that. The problem in the
beginning, however, is that he's
not tough. He's a worm.

The characters of "Straw
Dogs" are divided rather neatly
into three groups: the Worms,
the Tough Guys, and the
Women. Our tendency is to
identify, uncomfortably
because inevitably, with David
the Worm. He's educated, he
thinks, he's sensitive, and, in
case that's not enough for us,
he's American.

The Tough Guys walk all
over him. They hang his cat
(one of far too many too
obvious symbols in the film).
They rape his wife, who
doesn't put up much
resistance, because, after all,
that's what the Women are for
in this film.

Then, for the last quarter of
the film, because he is
apparently fed up with all this
plebeian abuse, David decides
to defend his home and hearth
and, incidentally, a degenerate
child molester from the Tough
Guys. Suddenly, he's not a
weakling anymore. Why, he's
almost James Bond!

He keeps his cool and we
get sucked right into the
action. We've had enough of all
those proles. They aren't going
to break into our house. Yeah,
come on David, blow that old
bastard's feet off! Throw that
boiling oil! Clamp that
man-trap on that bugger's
neck!

All the technicians working
on "Straw Dogs" have taken
enormous pains to make the
film realistic. The editing is
tight and quick. John
Coquillon's photography and
lighting are unobtrusive. The
compositions are complete
without being stylized. The
color is muted, even grey,
which is perfect for this
picture. The exteriors are
mostly existing buildings, the
interiors are realistic ceilinged
sets.

The supporting cast is
generally ugly enough to be
real, though Peter Vaughan as
the chief tough guy is perhaps
a little too handsome. The
women, especially Susan
George as David's wife, are
sexy without being beautiful,
which is right and real. And the
naturalism of the special
effects and make-up is, true to
Peckinpah's usual standards, all
too grotesquely convincing.

All of this realism seems to
be leading us into a dismally
tragic ending, but it does not.
Peckinpah has decided to show
all of us worms that we too can
be superheroes. We don't even
need guns to defeat the bad
guys, all we need is a little cool
and we can wipe them out like
Clint Eastwood in a spaghetti
western. If you enjoy believing
that, and I have to admit I do,
you'll enjoy "Straw Dogs."

(Now at the University)