STRAW DOGS d: Sam Peckinpah

Straw Dogs (1971)
Direction: Sam Peckinpah
Screenplay: David Zelag Goodman and Sam Peckinpah; from Gordon Williams’ novel The Siege of Trencher’s Farm
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Susan George, Peter Vaughan, T.P. McKenna, Del Henney, Jim Norton, Donald Webster, Ken Hutchison, Len Jones, Sally Thomsett, Robert Keegan, Peter Arne
 

Dustin Hoffman, Susan George in Straw Dogs
 

By Dan Schneider of Cosmoetica:
If there has ever been a more over-interpreted and stolidly misinterpreted film than director Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 Straw Dogs, I’ve yet to encounter it. Films like Citizen Kane and 2001: A Space Odyssey have had more ink spilled over them, but most of the ideas tossed about are on the money and far less is read into them. Also, those two classics have one big [...]

by Dan Schneider | February 28, 2007   
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NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA d: Franklin J. Schaffner

Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
Direction: Franklin J. Schaffner
Screenplay: James Goldman; from Robert K. Massie’s 1967 historical novel
Cast: Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, Irene Worth, Laurence Olivier, Tom Baker, Harry Andrews, Michael Bryant, Maurice Denham, Jack Hawkins, Ian Holm, John McEnery, Eric Porter, Michael Redgrave, Alan Webb, Curd Jürgens, Lynne Frederick, Roderic Nobel
 

Nicholas and Alexandra is surely one of the most sumptuous productions ever made. The elaborate sets and costumes, Richard Rodney Bennett’s lush musical score, and the richly textured cinematography (courtesy of frequent David Lean collaborator Frederick A. Young) provide the perfect period atmosphere for this historical epic. Missing, however, is a screenplay that offers dialogue instead of speeches, and a directorial hand that brings out truth instead of melodrama.
Nicholas [...]

by Andre Soares | October 28, 2004   
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