HitFix

James Marsden emasculated in three new ‘Straw Dogs’ clips

by: Uproxx authors

I think we can all agree that there have been far too many remakes over the last several years, and one of the last movies that needs an updating is director Sam Peckinpah’s controversial 1971 classic “Straw Dogs”.

Nevertheless, writer/director Rod Lurie is giving it the old school try anyway with this new version (courtesy of Screen Gems, whose output has arguably improved recently) starring James Marsden and Kate Bosworth. This time the setting has been relocated to the American deep South, with Marsden taking on the Dustin Hoffman role and Kate Bosworth playing his wife (a part originated by Susan George).

In the reboot, the David Sumner character has been reimagined as a Hollywood screenwriter who returns with wife Amy to her childhood home to prepare it for sale following the death of her father. Unfortunately Amy hails from the deep South, and the good ol’ boys in town don’t much appreciate David’s city-slicker ways.

In this first clip, a clearly distraught Amy calls poor David a coward, echoing the original film’s thread of emasculation:

Next up, we’ve got David being confronted by Alexander Skarsgard’s Charlie Venner, the leader of the town’s gang of hillbilly creeps, after skipping out in the middle of Sunday church service. Hey, at least he shows a little fight here.
And finally we have the closest to a traditional “action” clip on offer in this batch, with David being urged by Charlie and his friends to pass by their pickup truck on a two-lane road – only to find a surprise waiting at the other end. In fairness, he kind of had it coming playing that Nancy Sinatra song.
“Straw Dogs” opens in theaters on September 16th.