Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs ignited fierce debate among censors,
critics and audiences on both sides of the Atlantic on its release
in 1971. When Amy (Susan George) returns to her home village with
her American peacenik husband David (Dustin Hoffman), the residents
of this tight-knit Cornish community slowly turn on them. The
sexual tension and latent violence finally erupt in an explosion of
violence that includes a rape scene that has remained controversial
to this day. The film was heavily cut for theatrical release in the
US, and the pressinspired furore in the UK led to several local
councils cutting or banning it outright. Later, caught in the wake
of the 'video nasties' panic of the 1980s, Straw Dogs was refused a
home-video certificate in the UK for nearly twenty years. Stevie
Simkin's study sheds light on the film's treatment by the British
Board of Film Classification (BBFC) and tracks its subsequent
tortuous journey towards home-video release, buffeted by various
shifts in the BBFC's policy on representations of sexual violence.
But, equally importantly, Simkin provides a highly original
accountof themaking of the film, drawing on extensive research in
Peckinpah's archive, including analysis of draft scripts, notes,
memos and contemporary press items, as well as insights from a
number of Peckinpah's associates, and key figures at the BBFC. 'A
swift, compelling read. Thorough and scholarly without the faintest
whiff of academic stuffiness, Stevie Simkin's study of Straw Dogs
summons up the turmoil of the 1960s and 70s and illuminates the
highly charged subject of sexual violence on film.' Stephen Farber,
Film Critic, The Hollywood Reporter Stevie Simkin is Reader in
Drama and Film at the University of Winchester, UK. He is the
author of, among other works, Revenge Tragedy: A New Casebook
(2001), Early Modern Tragedy and the Cinema of Violence (2005),
and, also in the Controversies series, a volume on Basic Instinct
(forthcoming, 2013).
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