..Gary
Dretzka
..Noah
Forrest
..Leonard
Klady
..R.J.
Matson
..David
Poland
..Douglas
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
..Michael
Wilmington
Straw Dogs
Director: Sam PeckinpahSam Peckinpah's devious look at marriage and defending one's home, Straw Dogs, has been released as a two-platter set by The Criterion Collection (CC1584D, $40). Dustin Hoffman is a mathematician and Susan George is his wife. They move into her childhood home in a remote corner of Britain, and encounter troubles with the young, bored local men. Upon first viewing, it seems like a straightforward film, but the more often one watches it, the more tension one begins to see in the relationship between the couple-what looks like good-natured teasing between them begins to appear more and more like expressions of barely repressed animosity. When the real problems begin, their inability to collaborate on a solution becomes downright comical, until it shifts to violence. Film historian Stephen Prince, providing a commentary on the DVD, even goes so far as to suggest that Hoffman is the movie's villain, though he is more of a klutzy anti-hero, making a mess of everything he touches.
There was not much room for improvement over the Anchor Bay Entertainment release (DV10607), but Criterion has managed to improve upon it anyway, quite significantly. The color transfer is slightly better. Fleshtones are a little warmer and other hues are a little brighter, though the differences are very slight. The picture is also a little cleaner, and there are fewer stray scratches. The image is presented in letterboxed format only, with an aspect ratio of about 1.78:1 and an accommodation for enhanced 16:9 playback. The Anchor Bay presentation did not have 16:9 encoding and the framing was slightly different, to no effect. The monophonic sound is solid and there are optional English subtitles, again something Anchor Bay's presentation lacked. Another audio track presents just the sound effects and Jerry Fielding's superbly dissonant musical score.
Most significantly of all, the Criterion presentation restores subliminal-length cuts to the rape sequence that were missing from Anchor Bay's version and from most home video versions of the film. Fans will undoubtedly want to step through the scene, but even played at normal speed, the emotions of the sequence are greatly enhanced when the 118-minute feature is presented as Peckinpah originally intended.
The film appears on the first platter. Prince's talk is mostly an artistic analysis of the movie, and it follows a fairly strict line of interpretation, but it is still quite rewarding. He maintains that the film is Peckinpah's masterpiece. Prince seems to believe, however, that the movie is and has always been outside of critical fashion and we find that less convincing. While the film certainly has its detractors, there has always been a steady trickle of scholarly articles praising its construction and depth, and the histrionics that it generated upon its initial theatrical release is no different than the initial reactions to most great, daring films. Yet the context of the 1971 film's release is certainly worth noting and Prince deals with it effectively. "I don't mean to suggest here that Peckinpah is making a film about Vietnam, but he's telling a story that can't help but resonate the contemporary social situation, about which he cared very deeply." Beyond an artistic analysis, Prince appears to have obtained most of his inside information about the movie from the editors and speaks with authority about what Peckinpah wanted in the cutting of every major scene. At one point he goes kind of overboard, talking about a sequence that was shot in two different places and edited to appear like it was happening in one locale, as if movies hadn't been doing that for decades, but most of the time his breakdown of the camera angles, Peckinpah's instructions to his editors, and what emotions the editing of those angles creates is consistently thorough and enlightening. While it is not extensive, Prince gives enough production information on the track to supplement the scholarly insights and hold one's interest, even if one disagrees with some of his interpretations, because when it comes to the larger viewpoint, his understanding of the film's dynamics is solid. "This is radical filming that goes to the core of what violent art, as opposed to violent entertainment, is all about."
Star power takes over the second platter. There is a wonderful 82-minute biography of Peckinpah that includes interviews with many of the actors who worked with him, reminiscing about his wild ways and open heart directing methods. Jason Robards sort of 'plays' Peckinpah in the documentary, reading his correspondence and acting out a couple anecdotes. Kris Kristofferson sings several songs that were inspired by Peckinpah and others tell their stories in a more traditional fashion, but the program conveys a clear idea of what his career was like, what it was like to hang out with him, and what it was like to labor under his sometimes frightening eye.
A 26-minute documentary is presented that was produced while the film was being shot and was intended to be a profile of Hoffman-it opens on the film's distinctive location, to the music of Simon & Garfunkel, and pretends to follow Hoffman around for the entire day, from his morning shave to his ride back to the hotel. Nevertheless, the interview is excellent, as Hoffman talks about his work on the stage and in The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, and Little Big Man, as well as discussing the role he is working on that day. Another 8-minute fragment of a production documentary contains some terrific behind-the-scenes footage that shows Peckinpah at work with the actors.
George supplies an excellent 21-minute retrospective interview, talking about Peckinpah, Hoffman and her work in the film, of which she is deservedly proud. She has some terrific anecdotes and holds nothing back in discussing the give and take that went on during the preparation for the rape scene. Finally, the producer, Daniel Melnick, talks for 19 minutes in another retrospective interview, filling in an overview of how the production came together, how he kept Peckinpah on task, and what went on once the film was completed.
None of the material on the second platter is captioned. There is also a trailer, three TV commercials and some marvelous still frame reprints of correspondence that Peckinpah had with several professional and amateur critics, where he himself suggests that Hoffman is the movie's 'heavy.'
August 23, 2003
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