# "Straw Dogs" Redux: Wait for the DVD? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straw-dogs-redux-wait-for-the-dvd/596739 "2011-09-18T20:15:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straw-dogs-redux-wait-for-the-dvd/596739/1 "2011-09-18T20:15:38Z")
I’m a major Peckinpah fan, and \*Straw Dogs \* is second only to _The Wild Bunch_ as one of my favorite Peckinpah films. Now they’ve gone and done a remake. Has anybody seen it? Does it hold a candle to the original? Would it be worth watching for its own sake if it hadn’t been a remake of a classic film that explored disturbing aspects of violence and human nature? The critics at Rotten Tomatoes give the remake a 32% favorable rating, while the audience rating gives it 52%. I kind of want to be fair and give the remake a reasonable chance, which means watching it in a theater where it’s intended to be seen, but at the same time going to the movies is expensive these days. I’d really be pissed if I plunked down a fair sized chunk of change only to get yet another mediocre thriller. So, has anybody seen the remake? Has anybody seen both the remake and the original? Should I break open my piggy bank or wait for the Netflix DVD? ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straw-dogs-redux-wait-for-the-dvd/596739/2 "2011-09-18T20:52:29Z")
You already gave it a fair chance when you thought to check the reviews on rottentomatoes instead of rightfully assuming it’s shit. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straw-dogs-redux-wait-for-the-dvd/596739/3 "2011-09-18T20:55:01Z")
I’m skeptical as well. Knowing it’s been remade just makes me want to see the original again, except that I saw it not too many years ago. I can’t think of anything that needed improving, and it doesn’t seem dated. Can’t imagine Kate Bosworth being an improvement on Susan George. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straw-dogs-redux-wait-for-the-dvd/596739/4 "2011-09-18T21:31:17Z")
I have always considered both Kate Bosworth and James Marsden to be totally wooden, wretched “actors”. But Kate Bosworth _especially._ I really cannot stand her. She was an _astonishingly_ awful Lois Lane in _Superman Returns_. I so despise her, I can’t even begin to describe how much I hate her screen presence, though she might in fact be a good person. I also generally hate remakes, and I hate the idea of remaking a Sam Peckinpah movie, as his movies are so distinctively his own that they should not be reinterpreted by other directors. And, most of all, I hate the fact that the setting of the movie is being changed from rural Cornwall (England) - which is _such_ a distinctive setting - to the American “redneck country.” (Just what we need - another “evil rednex are teh skary” movie.) All that being said: I _will_ be seeing the _Straw Dogs_ remake in the theater. The reason why? Walton Goggins. It is well worth the fee to see this incomparable actor in any production. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straw-dogs-redux-wait-for-the-dvd/596739/5 "2011-09-19T11:27:27Z")
I saw it this weekend. Not bad. Can’t say particularly good, tho. Loved the ending, the end of the conflict. I can’t remember how the original ended, but, it seems that the original had better suspense. Nothing inspirational, but the consensus of me and gf: Not terrible. If you have nothing better to watch, and just \*have \*to get out to the movies, it beats _Priest_. hh ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straw-dogs-redux-wait-for-the-dvd/596739/6 "2011-09-19T12:48:58Z")
I thought the Susan George nudity in the original was very effectively unsettling, foreboding, added to the tension and sense of danger. As far as I know, Kate Bosworth has never done any nude scenes. I’m assuming there isn’t an exception made here. Am I wrong? Really not a movie that can be “cleaned up” and remain effective. Also, the conflict in defining “manhood”. Manhood was defined differently back then, and notably, was in a transitional stage. The sophisticated intellectual taking on the tough guys worked as a look at changing gender roles in greater society (not that there weren’t sophisticated intellectuals before this time, just that the answer to which of these guys is a “real man” would have been more of a no-brainer). The wife, herself, is conflicted about her husband’s score on the manliness meter. I just don’t see a movie in 2011 effectively projecting this conflict. We’ve come out on the other side of the transition that was happening when the original film was made. Nowadays, the no-brainer is going to be that the tough guys are backward neanderthal thugs. **handsomeharry** , you saw it. Your thoughts? ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straw-dogs-redux-wait-for-the-dvd/596739/7 "2011-09-19T15:50:58Z")
I don’t know anything about this version. But I find the [Turkish version](http://thatguywiththeglasses.com/videolinks/ir/eg/dv/32444-turkish-straw-dogs) to be quite interesting. Note about the link: It’s a video review of the actual Turkish rippoff. I couldn’t figure out why I thought I’d seen this movie before, and then I remembered his review. And the reviewer is the most professional I’ve ever seen on the web.