7.7 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
To avoid the Vietnam-era social chaos in the U.S., American mathematician David Sumner moves with his British wife, Amy, to the isolated Cornish town where she grew up, but their presence provokes antagonism among the village's men.
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna, Del HenneyDrama | 100% |
Psychological thriller | 33% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Crime | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, French, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 0.5 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
“A man’s home is his castle.” As a saying, it’s tidy and seemingly innocuous enough, but in the disturbing and still-controversial Straw Dogs, outlaw filmmaker Sam Peckinpah rips open the axiom to examine its underlying assumptions about manhood, possession, and machismo. Made shortly after his nihilistic revisionist western The Wild Bunch—which established Peckinpah’s international reputation as a provocateur—Straw Dogs came to U.S. theaters in December of 1971, just two weeks after the premiere of Stanley Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange. Beyond the fact that both were made in England by American-born directors who never quite fit the Hollywood mold, the two films were immediately compared for their shared use of brutal on-screen ultra-violence and their unflinching depictions of rape. But while Kubrick used violence primarily as an intellectual agent—his is the more philosophical film, positing the power of individual free will over state-sponsored mind control—Peckinpah goes straight for his audiences’ guts. To this day, Straw Dogs remains a visceral experience that lays man’s animal instincts bare.
Straw Dogs receives a solid upgrade on Blu-ray, with a 1080p/AVC-encoded transfer faithfully framed in the film's original 1.85:1 aspect ratio. Most other aspects of the transfer seem faithful as well. DNR hasn't been used to slather the film's textures to oblivion—grain remains rich, if noticeably heavy at times—and there are no halo-ish leftovers from injudiciously applied edge enhancement. The print used probably could've been cleaned up a bit better—there are semi-frequent but small white specks that would've been easy to remove with enough time and effort—but there are no major scratches, stains, or warpage. Clarity is much as you'd expect, not quite as sharp as most contemporary films, but more than suitably resolved in high definition, with fine detail visible in close-ups and no instances of pervasive softness. While the scene where David goes duck hunting looks a little rough —extremely grainy and softer than the rest of the film—I don't suspect much could've been done about this. Peckinpah captures the moodiness of the moors here, and the Blu-ray handles the color cinematography well, with dense neutrals and balanced skin tones. Black levels are plenty deep and even in the darkest scenes—the home invasions sequence—you can still make out shadow detail where it's intended. Compression artifacts are limited to some light noise and splotchiness in certain flat colors. I have no doubt the film could look slightly better—in the hands of the Criterion Collection, say—but fans should be pleased with this presentation of Straw Dogs.
Straw Dogs original mono soundtrack has been expanded into a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track, but fret not, purists; the mix features no shoed-in new sound effects or unnecessary alterations. The rear channels now mostly serve as bleeding room for Jerry Fielding's score, which sounds wonderful here, albeit a bit on the thin side, as you'd expect from a film now forty years old. The surround speakers also play host to some quiet ambience and occasional effects, but nothing particularly noteworthy or standout-ish; you really have to pay attention to notice any of it. And this, I think, is a good course of action. Rather than taking the gimmicky route—re-engineering the track so that all gunshots ping through the rears, for example—MGM has simply given the original audio a slightly wider berth. Most importantly, dialogue is always clean and easy to understand and there are no distracting hisses, crackles, or drop-outs. The disc includes optional English SDH, Spanish, and French subtitles.
Unfortunately, MGM's Blu-ray release of Straw Dogs inherits none of the supplements from Criterion's 2-disc DVD set, which included a commentary track, a documentary on Peckinpah, interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and more. The only features here are three short TV spots and a theatrical trailer, all in standard definition.
After making several westerns, Straw Dogs was Sam Peckinpah's first foray into other genres, and I think it stands as one of his best films— terrifying, violent as hell, and still controversial forty years later. On the one hand, I'm glad to finally have the film in high definition—and the Blu-ray looks great—but I am slightly disappointed that MGM wasn't able to license any of the special features from Criterion's 2-disc DVD set, let alone create any new supplements. So, don't throw away that old copy of Straw Dogs just yet, but if you don't yet own the film it's hard to pass it up in 1080p. Yes, there's a remake coming out on the 16th—this time the film is set in the upper-case Deep South—but I can't imagine it'll even come close to touching the incendiary power of the original. Highly recommended!
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Tom à la ferme / English packaging / Version française
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M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder
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