Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Straw Dogs
Straw Dogs
The film is noted for its violent concluding sequences and two
complicated rape scenes, which were censored by numerous film
rating boards. Released theatrically in the same year as A
Clockwork Orange, The French Connection, and Dirty Harry, the film
sparked heated controversy over a perceived increase of violence in
films generally.[6][7]
When David finds their cat hanging dead in their bedroom, Amy
believes that Cawsey or Scutt is responsible. She presses David to
confront the workmen, but he is too intimidated. The men invite
David to go hunting; they take him to the moors and leave him there
with the promise of driving birds towards him. With David away from
home, Venner goes to Trenchers Farm and pressures Amy sexually;
after a time she submits. While they are still together, Scutt enters
silently, motions Venner to move away at gunpoint and rapes Amy,
with Venner holding her down. David returns much later, smarting
from the men abandoning him. Amy says nothing about the rape,
apart from a cryptic comment that escapes his attention.
David fires the workmen for their slow progress. Later, the Sumners
attend a church social evening where Amy becomes distraught on
seeing her rapists. Janice invites Henry to leave with her and, in a
building hidden away from the crowd, she begins to seduce him.
When Janice's brother notices that she is missing, he is sent to
search for her, and as he calls out for her, Niles panics and kills
Janice. The Sumners leave the social early, driving through thick
fog, and accidentally hit Henry as he is escaping the scene. They
take the injured Henry to their home and phone the pub to report the
accident. The locals, who in the meantime have learned that Janice
was last seen with Henry, are thereby alerted to his whereabouts.
Soon, Hedden, Scutt, Venner, Cawsey and Riddaway are drunkenly
pounding on the Sumners' door. Deducing their intention to lynch
Henry, David refuses to let them take him, despite Amy's pleas. The
standoff seems to unlock a territorial instinct in David: "I will not
allow violence against this house."
David gets into his car to drive Henry back to the village. Henry says
he does not know his way home; David says he does not either.