Peckinpah’s Cornish revenge drama is finally let loose on DVD.

Sam Peckinpah used to urinate on his rushes and regularly threaten studio execs, crew and actors with a loaded gun. You get the picture? He made Straw Dogs in 1971 and it caused such an outcry in the UK that the BBFC removed their certificate and it’s been effectively banned since. Until now.

So what’s all the fuss about? Set in Cornwall, it stars a young Dustin Hoffman and Susan George recently relocating to the countryside. Soon George is getting the locals all hot and bothered, and the film contains a brutal rape scene where she is repeatedly abused, but then starts enjoying it. It was re-edited, but looked even worse (if that was possible).

Straw Dogs is a study of what a man will do when pushed to the edge, and Hoffman’s revenge is suitably bloody. Peckinpah’s vision of humanity was bleak and this film displays that view in uncompromising detail. It isn’t his best work by miles (see The Wild Bunch or Cross Of Iron instead). In fact it’s misogynistic and exploitative. However, the handsome bundle of DVD extras, including an interview with producer Daniel Melnick, make this a useful artefact of social history, rather than a great moment in cinema. RB 03 October 02

Straw Dogs dvd, released 07 October 02.