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NOTE : The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. ADDITION: Criterion - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - May 17': The Criterion is advertised as a "New, restored 4K digital transfer". The image has significant differences from the MGM BD (we'll keep the Fremantle captures up as a curiosity - but no need to discuss or compare, it's a total disaster despite showing more information in the frame, and having 2 commentaries). The Criterion's, 4K restored, skin tones are much warmer and the overall visuals are smoother. It looks wonderful on my system. Strangely, beside the Criterion, the MGM 1080P looks a shade green. The Criterion is darker (which we presume to be more accurate) and, hence, it loses a small amount of detail. These details may not have been the filmmakers intention for viewers to see. How can we know. I played the MGM Blu-ray on my system followed by this new Criterion, immediately after. I did 7 scenes and I'd say... the Criterion is superior - certainly in-motion. It has more depth and just looks more film-like to me. I have no idea what it looked like theatrically, but I have seen Straw Dogs at least a dozen times and this is the best image I've viewed so far. No bump, Criterion, predictably, go authentic with a linear PCM 1.0 channel mono track at 1152 kbps (24-bit). Effects are flat with a smidgeon of depth and some impacting silent pauses. Jerry Fielding's ( Scorpio, The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, The Killer Elite, The Mechanic, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and The Getaway) score shifts from countryside serenity to ominous terror. It sounds brilliant in the uncompressed. The Criterion offers optional English (SDH) subtitles and their Blu-ray disc is coded region 'A'. Criterion' Blu-ray repeats most of the extras from their 2003 DVD and adds more new supplements. We get the commentary from 2003 by Stephen Prince, author of Savage Cinema: Sam Peckinpah and the Rise of Ultraviolent Movies. I really enjoyed the a 52-minute long 2003 documentary, Mantrap: “Straw Dogs”—The Final Cut, about the making of the film - hosted by Mark Kermode and directed by Paul Joyce. It returns to the locations where Peckinpah shot Straw Dogs (Cornwall) and it explores the film's production through interviews with cast members and crew including Susan George , Dustin Hoffman, Peter Vaughan and many others. Returning is Sam Peckinpah: Man of Iron, a, 1.5 hour, 1993 documentary returns with snippets including Sam Peckinpah, Kris Kristofferson, Bob Peckinpah, Jason Robards, Monte Hellman, James Coburn and many others, as do archival interviews with actor Susan George , producer Daniel Melnick, and, new to Criterion, Peckinpah biographer Garner Simmons, author of Peckinpah: A Portrait in Montage. He discusses the obstacles he confronted in writing his biography and his views on Peckinpah, who he perceives as driven by conflict and a distorted worldview that is manifest in his body of work. There is a valuable, new (February 2017), 35-minute, conversation between critic Michael Sragow and filmmaker Roger Spottiswoode, one of the editors on the film. Straw Dogs was the first collaboration between Spottiswoode (as editor) and Peckinpah. In this conversation with critic Michael Sragow, Spottiswoode discusses his working relationship with the director as well as Peckinpah's methods for shooting and editing of several iconic scenes of the film. There is also an excellent new, 26-minute, interview with film scholar Linda Williams, author of Screening Sex, about the film’s many controversies, in particular the depiction of the rape of Susan George 's character, Amy Sumnar. We get 7-minutes of behind-the-scenes footage with the caveat of audio drop-outs and jump cuts which are inherent in the source material. The final minute is silent. There is a theatrical trailer and three shorter TV trailers, plus the package contains a liner notes booklet with the same essay by scholar and critic Joshua Clover and a 1974 interview with Peckinpah. The film never fails to impact and, especially, in this 4K restored transfer. It's a masterpiece with themes ranging from honor, self respect, mob rules, small town justice, abuse, sexuality, manipulation, pride... and so much more. The Criterion Blu-ray with its fabulous a/v and supplements has our highest recommendation! *** ADDITION: Fremantle - Region FREE - Blu-ray - November 11': 'Houston, we have a problem'. Lets not waste much time... The package has the same extras as the 2002 Fremantle DVD but something has gone REALLY wrong with the transfer - like someone was leaning on a button. This is the worst Blu-ray transfer of the year... nothing to see here folks, move along... * ** ADDITION: MGM - Region FREE - Blu-ray - August 11': This is probably as good as it's going to get - MGM have transferred to a dual-layered disc, 1080P with a very high bitrate. It is from their best source master and has definite visual advantages over the SD editions. The improvement will depend most on your discerning eye of the level of your HD system. This looks pretty good but not pristine - it's actually better than I expected in motion with some depth sneaking in here and there and detail in close-ups is notable. Audio gets the lossless treatment in a 5.1 surround that is not especially separated but has depth in the explosive parts of the film. Again - quite a bit more robust than the best of the DVDs. There are optional subtitles. Extras are limited to TV spots and a trailer in 480i - essentially nothing really but the Blu-ray price is right for fans of this unforgettably intense film experience. *** ADDITION - MGM DVD (Oct. 2004) - Advertised as the "extended version" of the film - but frankly I don't see it and the time codes tend to confirm it. I guess they mean the "uncut" version that Criterion talks about. The scene in question (as anyone who has watched the film may know - Susan George 's character 'Amy' is raped) seems the same to me. The video quality seems a duplicate of the Criterion as far as I can tell (perhaps Criterion sold them their transfer?). There are no extras though, but they offer some additional subtitle options. For those that only want the film (and the price is right), this looks like the best option, but I am hanging onto my Criterion. *** On initial viewing the Anchor Bay Region 1 shows itself very well in the image department, but I do see shade of contrast boosting. The Criterion, on the other hand is as close to perfection as you can get. I don't know what the problem with the recent FreMantle PAL release is, but the image is quite hazy. The Extras on the Fremantle are well done, but you are talking another step-up for the Criterion, who obviously take their jobs incredibly seriously with a whole 2nd disc of Extras. Because it is a shade darker the Criterion appears to lose the sharpness battle to Anchor Bay, but in fact it does not. You can see some nice film grain in the Criterion. If you are not concerned with the massive extras that the Criterion gives you (and you want to save a penny or two) or you are not bothered by the lack of anamorphic-ism get the Anchor Bay while it is still out there. Film buffs with widescreen TV's will, of course, want the Criterion. - Gary W. Tooze