Straw Dogs (2011 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Straw Dogs (2011 film)
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Straw Dogs
Theatrical release poster
Directed by
Rod Lurie
Produced by
Rod Lurie
Marc Frydman
Screenplay by
Rod Lurie
Story by
David Zelag Goodman
Sam Peckinpah
Based on
The Siege of Trencher's Farm by
Gordon Williams
Straw Dogs by
Sam Peckinpah
Starring
James Marsden
Kate Bosworth
Alexander Skarsg?rd
Dominic Purcell
Laz Alonso
Willa Holland
James Woods
Music by
Larry Group¨¦
Cinematography
Alik Sakharov
Editing by
Sarah Boyd
Studio
Battleplan Productions
Distributed by
Screen Gems
Release date(s)
September 16, 2011 (2011-09-16)
Running time
110 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$25 million[2]
Box office
$10,324,441 [3]
Straw Dogs is a 2011 American thriller film directed, produced, and written by Rod Lurie. It is a remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 film of the same name, itself based on the Gordon Williams novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm. Reception of the film was mixed, and it performed poorly at the box office.
Contents
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Release
4.1 Critical reception
4.2 Box office
5 References
6 External links
[edit] Plot
Los Angeles scriptwriter David Sumner (James Marsden) and his wife, TV actress Amy Sumner (Kate Bosworth), move to Blackwater, Mississippi, where Amy grew up, to rebuild Amy's recently deceased father's house, and so that David can finish a script. David meets Amy's ex-boyfriend Charlie Venner (Alexander Skarsg?rd) and his friends Norman (Rhys Coiro), Chris (Billy Lush) and Bic (Drew Powell), whom he hires to fix the barn's roof, which was recently badly damaged by a hurricane. David also meets former football coach Tom Heddon (James Woods), whose 15-year-old daughter Janice (Willa Holland) is attracted to a local mentally handicapped man, Jeremy Niles (Dominic Purcell), who lives with his brother Daniel (Walton Goggins). Heddon often bullies Jeremy, who may have committed a crime in the past, and believes Jeremy is stalking his daughter.
Charlie and his friends begin taunting David, who is initially condescending to their customs. The taunting escalates into harassment as they make crude remarks towards Amy and play loud music to annoy David and prevent him from working on his screenplay. They break into the house and strangle the couple's cat while they are at a social gathering. David is hesitant to confront the men about the cat's death without evidence of their involvement, so Amy does it. Shortly thereafter, while David is away hunting with the men, Charlie forces his way into the house and overpowers Amy, raping her on the couch as she tries to fight him off. While she is recovering, Norman appears and violently rapes her across the back of the couch while Charlie watches from the other side of the room.
David returns, having been abandoned in the woods by the men, but Amy doesn't tell him about the rape. David fires the men the following day. At Amy's insistence, they go to a local football game, where Amy and Charlie meet. Meanwhile, Janice takes Jeremy to an empty locker area and attempts to give him oral sex. Heddon notices her absence and begins looking for her. Jeremy, scared of Heddon, puts his hand over Janice's mouth to silence her, accidentally smothering her to death. He runs away just as Heddon informs Charlie and his friends of Janice's disappearance and deduces that Jeremy has done something to her.
Amy becomes uncomfortable with Charlie and asks David to take her home. On the way, she tells him she wants to return to Los Angeles, surprising him and causing him to accidentally run over Jeremy. David and Amy take him to their home and call Sheriff John Burke (Laz Alonso). Heddon finds out and goes to David and Amy's house with Charlie, Norman, Chris and Bic. Heddon confronts David, but David says he will only turn Jeremy over to the state authorities. Frustrated, Heddon kills the Sheriff at the front door as David watches through the peephole, and Heddon attempts to enter the house. David takes Amy and Jeremy upstairs to the bedroom and prepares to fight off the men.
Chris attempts to break into the house through a window, so David nails his hand to the wall with a nail gun, then tells him he hopes the glass slits his throat. When Heddon tries to follow, David burns his face with boiling vegetable oil. Heddon and Charlie decide to ram one of the house's walls with Charlie's pick-up truck. They succeed, but Charlie is momentarily knocked unconscious. Meanwhile, David overpowers Heddon, causing Heddon to accidentally shoot his own foot. David then takes the opportunity to shoot Heddon in the chest, killing him. He then beats Bic to death with a fireplace poker. Upstairs, Amy and Jeremy are attacked by Norman who has climbed through a window with a ladder. Norman is preparing to rape Amy again when David and Charlie appear. Charlie and Norman draw on each other when Norman threatens to kill Amy. Focusing on each other, they don't see Amy retrieve a shotgun. She shoots Norman to death.
David and Charlie fight, and Charlie overpowers David downstairs. As Charlie puts his pistol to David's forehead, Amy aims the shotgun at Charlie. Charlie reminds Amy that the gun is empty, but the distraction gives David the opportunity to kill him by ensnaring his head with a bear trap. David and Amy watch as Charlie is strangled by the trap and dies on the floor. As sirens approach, David walks outside and looks at the burning barn, announcing that he "got them all".
[edit] Cast
James Marsden as David Sumner
Kate Bosworth as Amy Sumner
Alexander Skarsg?rd as Charlie Venner
James Woods as "Coach" Tom Heddon
Dominic Purcell as Jeremy Niles
Rhys Coiro as Norman
Billy Lush as Chris
Laz Alonso as Sheriff John Burke
Willa Holland as Janice Heddon
Walton Goggins as Daniel Niles
Anson Mount as Coach Milkens
Drew Powell as Bic
[edit] Production
The film was originally scheduled for release on February 25, 2011. However the date was pushed to September 16, 2011.
The film began shooting on August 16, 2009 in Shreveport[4][5] and Vivian, Louisiana.[6]
[edit] Release
The film was shown at Brandeis University in a special pre-release screening on September 8.[citation needed]
[edit] Critical reception
Straw Dogs received mostly mixed and negative reviews; Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 42% based on reviews from 102 critics, with the consensus "This remakes [sic] streamlines the plot but ultimately makes a fatal mistake: It celebrates violence".[7] Metacritic gives the film a score of 45% based on 29 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[8]
Carrie Rickey of the Philadelphia Inquirer gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars stating that Straw Dogs "almost succeeds as an object lesson in the difference between being a man and being a macho animal. But it fails as a gripping home-invasion thriller".[9] Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune called the film "a bird-brained remake" that is "miscast, barely functional in terms of technique, stupid and unnecessary" and rated it 1 out of 4 stars.[10]Wesley Morris of the Boston Globe, wrote that watching Straw Dogs was like "being waterboarded by liberals outside a Democratic National Committee event".[11]
Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of a possible 4 stars, and states "This new version of "Straw Dogs" is a reasonably close adaptation of the 1971 film by Sam Peckinpah. Change the location from England to Mississippi, change a mathematician into a screenwriter, keep the bear trap and the cat found strangled, and it tells the same story. It is every bit as violent. I found it visceral, disturbing and well-made", and said he preferred it to the original.[12] Elizabeth Weitzman of the New York Daily News was also favorable towards the film, giving it 4 out of 5 stars, declaring that "while Lurie could have gone lighter on the symbolism, he ratchets up the tension with deft intelligence. He's not just making a thriller but a horror film, and we feel his own fear in every scene".[13]
[edit] Box office
The film opened on September 16, 2011 with $1,980,000 for the day[14] and took $5.1 million in its opening weekend.[3]
[edit] References
^ "Straw Dogs (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 2011-08-26. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/BFF281018/. Retrieved 2011-08-31.
^ Kaufman, Amy (September 15, 2011). "Movie Projector: 3-D version of 'Lion King' to reign at box office". Los Angeles Times. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/09/box-office-lion-king-straw-dogs-drive-.html. Retrieved September 17, 2011.
^ a b Straw Dogs at Box Office Mojo
^ Michael Fleming (2009-08-16). "Cast set for 'Straw Dogs' remake". Variety. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118007327.html?categoryid=13&cs=1. Retrieved 2009-09-21.
^ "Straw Dogs (2010)". ComingSoon.net. http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=49005. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
^ "Sony Screen Gems' Violent Confrontation with 'Straw Dogs' Delayed". Bloody-Disgusting.com. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/19285. Retrieved 2010-11-20.
^ Straw Dogs at Rotten Tomatoes
^ Straw Dogs at Metacritic
^ Carrie Rickey (2011-09-16). "Remake fails as home-invasion thriller". Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/movies/20110916_Remake_fails_as_home-invasion_thriller.html. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
^ Phillips, Michael (September 15, 2011). "'Straw Dogs' a '70s provocation rendered senseless by a remake". Chicago Tribune. http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/sc-mov-0915-straw-dogs-20110916,0,517390.column. Retrieved October 2, 2011.
^ Wesley Morris (2011-09-16). "Straw Dogs". Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/articles/2011/09/16/remake_of_straw_dogs_spits_up_a_queasy_mess/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+Movie+news. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
^ Roger Ebert (2011-09-14). "Straw Dogs". Chicago Sun Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110914/REVIEWS/110919991. Retrieved 2011-09-18.
^ Elizabeth Weitzman (2011-09-16). "Straw Dogs". New York Daily News. http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/2011/09/16/2011-09-16_straw_dogs_review_james_marsden_kate_bosworth__alex_skarsgard_star_in_remake_of_.html?r=entertainment/movies. Retrieved 2011-09-30.
^ "Straw Dogs (2011) (2011) - Daily Box Office Results - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. 2011-09-18. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=strawdogs10.htm. Retrieved 2011-09-18.
[edit] External links
Official website
Straw Dogs at the Internet Movie Database
Straw Dogs at AllRovi
Straw Dogs at Box Office Mojo
Straw Dogs at Rotten Tomatoes
Straw Dogs at Metacritic
v
d
e
Films directed by Rod Lurie
1990s
Deterrence (1999)
2000s
The Contender (2000)
The Last Castle (2001)
Resurrecting the Champ (2007)
Nothing But the Truth (2008)
2010s
Straw Dogs (2011)
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