James Marsden, Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard spar in three new clips from 'Straw Dogs'

New remake proves it sucks to be a city boy in Confederate flag country

By Chris Eggertsen Tuesday, Aug 30, 2011 6:20 PM

Oh god, not another Tea Party rally!

Credit: Sony

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.

Chris Eggertsen
Producer

A former contributor to sites including Bloody-Disgusting and AfterElton, Eggertsen enjoys rock music, rainy days and smelling the pages of old books. You should read all of his articles and follow him on Twitter because it's the right thing to do.

Related Searches: straw dogs, James Marsden, kate bosworth, Alexander Skarsgard, Screen Gems, Dustin Hoffman, Sam Peckinpah, Rod Lurie

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Matt C.

Nice... as someone from the "deep" South (whatever the frak that means), clock this piece of garbage as something I'll never see.

I know we're just flyover country to some of y'all (except when you have to layover in my airport, which you almost always do), but I have to wonder if some of these people who make films like this have ever stepped foot in a small Southern town.

Come to Athens, or to Columbia, SC, or Auburn, AL, or Helen, GA, or any town in the South, and you won't find any of these racist, backwoods charactictures anywhere.

Most of my family is from New York, and I can tell y'all without a doubt, I've encountered FAR more racism and backwards thinking in the North than in the South.

But that's just me. Have fun indulging in your stereotypes.
August 30, 2011 at 8:46PM EST Reply to Comment
- Otto Man Please, I'm a fellow southerner, so you can lay off the victim act.
  
  Two of my siblings went to Auburn, for instance, and I can guarantee these backwoods caricatures are found in that town. My brother roomed with a guy who looked *exactly* like one of the guys in the pickup scene.
  
  And Auburn's one of the more enlightened places in the state, far outnumbered by redneck towns like Boaz and Deatsville.
  
  For every Athens in Georgia, there's a hundred Zebulons, etc. etc.
  August 30, 2011 at 8:58PM EST
- Otto Man Oh, and Athens is a town of more than 100,000 people with a massive state university in it. Not exactly a typical southern "small town."
  
  Same with Auburn.
  
  Nice try, though. The victimized southerner is my own favorite stereotype.
  August 30, 2011 at 9:03PM EST
Barry

Thanks, Matt C., but your post straight from the Hooterville Board of Tourism is a trifle too defensive. Some stereotypes exist for a reason, and that of the uneducated, racist Southerner is one. One need only look at the Tea Party movement for confirmation that such people exist ... and they're not prowling the streets of Manhattan.
September 4, 2011 at 1:10PM EST Reply to Comment