Straw Dogs (1971 film) Straw Dogs (1971 film) Straw Dogs is a 1971 psychological thriller film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. The screenplay, by Peckinpah and David Zelag Goodman, is lightly based upon Gordon M. Williams's 1969 novel, "The Siege of Trencher's Farm". The film's title derives from a discussion in the "Tao Te Ching" that likens people to the ancient Chinese ceremonial straw dog, being of ceremonial worth, but afterwards discarded with indifference. The film is noted for its violent concluding sequences and a complicated rape scene. Released theatrically in the same year as "A Clockwork Orange",
The Passions of the Mind Complex. Irving Stone is best renowned for his several biographical novels, the best known being "Lust for Life" and "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (about the artists Vincent Van Gogh and Michelangelo, respectively), which were both adapted into major Hollywood productions. Though less well known, "Passions of the Mind" was an American bestseller upon its release, spending 13 weeks at the top of the "New York Times" Bestseller List (fiction) in the spring of 1971, and nearly 30 weeks in the top 15. The Passions of the Mind The Passions of the Mind is a 1971 novel by American author