361 - Straw Dogs, United Kingdom/United States, 1971. Dir. Sam Peckinpah.

Wednesday, December 27, 2017

361 - Straw Dogs, United Kingdom/United States, 1971.  Dir. Sam Peckinpah.

David Sumner wants to be left alone.

He is a mathematician and he has work to do.  He has recently received a grant for a year's sabbatical, and he has chosen to do his work out of the country.  He has married a beautiful young British woman named Amy, and he has come with her from America to her childhood home in Cornwall, Trencher's Farm.  Her father's farm.  Full of her father's memory.  Full of her father's chairs.

What a perfect situation.  She gets to come home and live where she grew up.  He gets to experience her village culture and meet her old friends.  They can live in a quaint stone house in the Cornish countryside and enjoy one another's company.  He can get his work done.

If only things could work out so easily.

Amy is lonely and jealous of David's time.  He does his work on a large chalkboard in his office, and the chalkboard for her represents a rival for her attention.  She is jealous of it.  She plays games with him as a way of having fun, such as changing a plus sign to a minus sign on a long and complicated formula to see if he will notice.  He does notice, but he is not amused.  He takes his work seriously and does not appreciate her attempts to play with him.  This disappoints her.

She spends time with their cat.  At night, however, when his work is done, they love each other.  They play chess.  The play games.  He does his exercises.  They make love.  But then daytime comes again and he is busy and she is alone.

David wants to be left alone in other ways.  He left America as anti-war protests were spilling over into political upheaval.  He has no use for such distractions.  He has work to do.  Amy calls him "uncommitted."  She wishes he would take some kind of a stand.  He is passive, not pacifist, and it affects her.  She wishes he were more active.  Not only in politics but also in more domestic matters.  If only he could step up and be strong for her.  Be a provider and protector.  Be a defender.  Be a man.  Do things such as swing a hammer, rid the house of rats, finish the garage, participate more freely in social situations, be a good host to visitors such as the local vicar and his wife, stand up to interlopers, defend the home.  Defend her.

David tries.  He goes to the tavern and buys everyone a round of beer.  He agrees to go duck hunting with the locals.  He attends the church social.  He even decides to confront the men finishing garage to see if one of them hanged the cat and left it in the closet for them to find.

David sees the good in people.  Amy knows better.  She grew up here.  She was here when the large, slow Henry Niles got in trouble the first time.  She knows what Janice Hedden is like.  She understands Norman Scutt.  And she used to date Charlie Venner.

Charlie Venner.

He has not forgotten Amy.  And he has not gotten over her either.  She has brought something else back from 1971 America.  Form-fitting, cream-colored sweaters with no bras.  And he spots her entering the village from the moment she tops the horizon.

And the moment David first enters the tavern to buy a pack of cigarettes, Charlie makes his move.  He leans into the car.  Puts his arm around Amy's shoulder.  Leans into her.  Whispers in her ear. 

"Remember when I took care of you, Amy?"

She resists him.

"But you didn't.  Remember?"

He insists.

"There was once a time . . . Mrs. Sumner . . . when you were ready to beg me for it."

She stands her ground.

"Take your hands off me."

This was not the Welcome Home she was looking for.  If only David would hurry up out of the tavern.

If only he had not invited Charlie to come to the house tomorrow to help finish the garage.

Why is he so naive?

David is delayed inside the tavern because he is witnessing the drama of Tom Hedden.  Tom is Janice's father.  He looks like her grandfather.  He is an elderly man.  She is a teenager.  Underage.  Jailbait.  And she seems to take a liking to the married American adult just as quickly as Charlie takes to David's wife.  Uh-oh.  Her father Tom is the town drunk.  He does not have time for Janice.  He spends his days here at the tavern.  Leaving her brother Bobby to look after her.  It is not clear at first that Bobby and Janice are brother and sister.  At first they appear to be dating.  Apparently, Janice longs for attention pretty badly.

Tom is in the middle of causing a scene.  The bartender, Harry Ware, has announced it is closing time.  But Tom is not finished.  And he is willing to tear up the bar and pay for the damages if that is what it takes to get another drink.  The locals watch.  The locals put up with it.  Things flare up.  Things calm down again.  Even the local magistrate, Major John Scott, does not do much.  It all seems like a routine incident in the life of the local village.

In some ways David Sumner should fit right in to this village.  All of the town leaders are passive.  The magistrate, John Scott.  The bartender, Harry Ware.  The vicar, Rev. Barney Hood.  And Henry Niles' brother, John Niles.  All are nice, amiable men who do little to upset the flow of things.  But what good are they when their services are really needed?

Needed because of the other men.  The ones who are not leaders.  The ones who spend all day drinking.  Or wandering the streets.  Or pretending to work when they are not working.

Tom Hedden.  Chris Cawsey.  Riddaway.  Norman Scutt.  Henry Niles.  The girl, Janice Hedden.  And of course, Charlie Venner.

In her loneliness Amy turns to Charlie for attention.  Unfortunately, he gives her more than attention.  What she never asked for.  What she never wanted.  And in her subsequent despair she finds no way to communicate with her own husband.

David cluelessly invites trouble into his home.  His home is breached without his knowledge.  His home is violated without his knowledge.  His wife is violated without his knowledge.  He harbors a fugitive without his knowledge.

And when it all comes to a head, when the final showdown comes, there is going to be payback.  And a heavy price to pay.

David might find that he is active after all.

He might step up.  And be a man.

But in the process he might go too far.

And it might cost him too much.

And he might lose everything.

Maybe not.

Maybe so.

Either way, will he be able to find his way home?