This morning MGM sent us details of their upcoming release of Straw Dogs:

For the full article, including a look at the cover art, click here.

Actually both the Criterion and AA.B. releases were unrated

AB may have slapped a 'false' R rating on their release,but it was uncut compared to the real R rated version.

My Criterion version will do just fine - no sale on this one, even if it is "1 whole minute longer."

I'll be pciking it up for sure.

Even though this is "one whole minute longer", this is not Sam Peckinpah's intended version of the film?

Anyways, I have the Criterion and without any special features, it would be hard to replace.

I bet it is not a 'whole minute' longer. Sure it may say so on the box. But I bet it clocks in at the same length as the Criterion and AB releases,which state 117 minutes. Heck it may be 117 minutes and so many seconds,so they just slapped 118 on the box.

Yet I am sure it will be the same cut of the film. So unless you don't care for the extras and high price of the Criterion. This release will be great for you.

I'll stick w/ my Criterion.

I never bought the CC, so I may pick this one up.

This is one of my all-time favorite DVDs. The extras are pretty great, I like the random Hoffman interviews... I would recommend picking it up since it's still easily-found, before it becomes a real hard to find CC OOP.

Not even tempted .... Criterion is all I need on this one

does anyone know what the extra minute entails?

Quote from Tony Dale on the HTF:

"No point in double (or triple) dipping, According to Peckinpah expert Nick Redman, the MGM DVD will be the exact same UNCUT version as the Freemantle and Criterion releases - they simply don't have a clue in their press release. Furthermore, even though they were offered all the extras the appeared on the Freemantle DVD, plus some new ones, they opted to make it a bare bones release. "

I'll stick with my Criterion (which looks great). Besides, the transfer most likely wouldn't be the same.

MGM have a nasty way of putting out fullscreen replacement versions... take Manhunter, for example.

Chris, any confirmation on the aspect ratio? If they got the runtime stated in the press release wrong, the AR news might be incorrect also...

Watch out for MGM on runtimes. I bought A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die recently that was just released. Every web site including IMDB and the DVD CASE states that it is 118 minutes when it is actually 98 minutes and noticably cut by 20 minutes.

i don't think you will get peckinpah's true vision without a bottle of jack and some cocaine

i bet mgm is full of it. it's probably the same cut as the criterion.
and without all the great features of that dvd.

I suspect the MGM marketing department was brainstorming on how to get people to buy this release in light of the essential Criterion set. So they hit upon the idea of rounding up on the running time (from 117:45 to 118:00) and billing it as a more complete cut. It's all marketing BS.

If you love this film and/or Sam Peckinpah, the Criterion is a must-have (in particular for Stephen Prince's brilliant commentary). This controversial film cries out for context, and the CC provides it in spades.

If you want a cheap, barebones release only, go for the MGM. Though not always true, in this case, you get what you pay for, folks.

I have my Criterion, so I don't even need to bother with this.