IMO it's Sam Peckinpah's masterpiece. It is however also violent, misogynistic and disturbing. Not as bad as stuff like Salo or I Spit on Your Grave.

Remember that "Straw Dogs" remake from a few years ago, when the director took it upon himself to "correct" Peckinpah's "error", and



Way to miss the entire goddamn point of the scene, fuckface.

Thanks for the comparisons. Salo, you couldn't pay me to watch...I've heard so much about that movie, I felt like I've seen it. I Spit On Your Grave, saw it in college, that was enough for me. Actually the bathroom scene was enough for me. So maybe this is along the lines (or a little worse) of say...the Dragon Tattoo movies (just trying to think of a good comparison, violence wise).

I would say Dragon Tattoo is worse.

..straw dogs is an excellent early peckinpah movie with outstanding performances by Dustin Hoffman and Susan George...I can't wait to pick up this bluray by criterion...

IMO, it's not any more visually graphic than anything else you've likely seen in your life, and probably a good bit less so on average.

However the violence here is actually effective because it has narrative and philosophical meaning and weight. I also have come to realize that the charges of misogyny are kind of clueless, SJW hand-wringing. There is a lot more validity in what transpires in that scene (the mixed signals shown to the audience) than most 'level headed' people are willing to acknowledge.

It's a film to experience and then mull over for years after. I can't imagine a better time to watch the film for the first time or reassess it considering everything that is transpiring in Western societies now.

Was going to pass on this as I still have the MGM disc on the shelf waiting to be spun, as well as the original Criterion features ripped off the DVD set I had.
But the film is a library essential to me now, so I might as well just get one edition that does it justice. The new 4K transfer is a lure too.

There's nothing more violent about it than The Wild Bunch. The rape scene is chilling, but not graphic. Peckinpaugh edits around and makes it more abstract.

It's been a long time since I've seen it but IIRC, the rape scene, while disturbing (it is a rape scene after all), is mostly controversial due to Susan George slightly smiling in one shot. IMO, it's debatable whether it was even a "smile".

Based upon the treatment of women in Peckinpah's films, it's questionable.

I've been meaning to watch those, what's the deal with them?

Graphic rape scene.

I found out that Criterion did a second printing of Do The Right Thing - why would they do that? It's the same DVD in a slimmer packaging. Is that the reason?

Maybe at some point those thicker cases were no longer available? I know I stopped seeing them long before I started switching to buying blu-rays. I imagine some of their thicker booklets wouldn't fit in the slim 2 disc DVD cases.

They've done that with a number of their DVD releases. Salo and The Royal Tenenbaums come to mind.

Le Samourai might be coming soon.

https://www.reddit.com/r/criterion/c..._bluray_is_on/

I don't think this has been mentioned, but the Special Features have been updated with a Scarlett Johansson interview added. They showed a snippet of the interview setup on Criterion's Facebook and Instagram pages this past day.


https://www.criterion.com/films/28687-ghost-world



If they could top it off with a Steve Buscemi interview, that would be perfect.

Very nice!

Buscemi lives in NYC, I believe? Hopefully, they can set something up.

I guess Thora Birch found someone to cover her shift at Starbucks so she could participate in the interview.

Good news on ScarJo, but what is Buscemi doing that he couldn't do something?

Please! I've been dying for an announcement.

Latest newsletter email clue:

Breaking Point.

Point Break :-D

Wow! Gary Busey was in Breaking Point and Point Break?

This guy knows his points and how to break them!