Masterful build up of tension, if only it ended up with the possibility of a better life for Amy.

At the time this movie came out it was very controversial, violent and nihilistic. But it is still worth watching today even though it is dated. Dustin Hoffman gives an incredible performance as a man possessive of his wife, insecure, jealous, and simultaneously frightened hunted and aggressive, excessively violent hunter. This movie should be watched by all film fans, not to guarantee you will like it but you will at least see a very different film with a unique point of view and some questionable morals.

This disc had been sitting on my shelf for over ten years after its first or second viewing, and I'd been reluctant to re-visit it for some reason, until last night. Now I realise why, because although I hadn't really forgotten it, its deep-reaching and thorough unpleasantness must have seriously turned me off, and warned me away.Somebody likened it to "Irreversible", and I see what they're saying. Peckinpah, although just as over the top, is more realistic and everyday, however. Whatever his themes, you have to admit he regularly gets superbly convincing performances from his actors. In spite of the way he seems to treat them, he also gets very considerable loyalty from many of them. In this case Susan George.He apparently said that it was not about a wimp, but a failed marriage. It's also been said that most of his films are about some kind of treachery or disappointment between buddies. In this case it's the conflict between Hoffman and his totally incompatible wife, with whom he obviously has nothing constructive in common, except sex, which dooms it from the start. This union was clearly a profound mistake, and its disintegration is almost comic. Chess is not going to unite this couple.The only positive outcome of the events depicted is that the odious yokel played by Peter Vaughan never discovered what happened to his pesky little daughter Janice. Impressive work, but not recommended viewing, unless you enjoy torture. The remake is obviously a disaster.

Looking back at Straw Dogs a film that was never shown on UK television for several decades, you get to see how influential it is. Without this movie there would had never been Home Alone!Director Sam Peckinpah might had been contemplating the brutality of the Vietnam war, the rising tide of violence generally in the 1960s counter-culture or just the inherent brutality of man especially when an outsider appears with a local girl.Dustin Hoffman is a mild mannered American university maths professor who have moved into a farmhouse in rural Cornwall where his wife grew up. His wife (Susan George) is flirty, younger and provocatively dressed at times which arouses desires from her ex boyfriend (Del Henney.)The locals are hired to repair the farm house but soon tease the couple, Del Henney takes advantage of George by forcing himself on her and soon she is also raped by one of his friends.When a simpleton local (David Warner) is accused of abducting a girl from the village and ends being protected by Hoffman in his house, the band of locals descend on them and terrorise them. Hoffman realises he needs to fight back in order to protect his wife and Warner.A lot has been said about this movie, the inbred locals, the brutal rape where the victim might have enjoyed part of it, the level of violence.It now looks rather dated, it is a slow burn film, you know where it is going and there is the explosion of violence in the last act with Peckinpah even adding some black humour as two of the thugs chasing each other in kids bicycles. The plot is actually thin and the film felt plodding to me. Hoffman's character seemed to want to integrate with the thuggish locals, maybe to prove he can mix it with the Alpha males, although you have to question how did he end up marrying someone flighty like George who even when the house is under attack wants to runaway from Hoffman who rightly suspects that she will be killed.The film has a curiosity value but I felt that it would not had been highly regarded but for its reputation and banned from a video release for so long by the British censor.