Sam Peckinpah's two previous films, "The Wild Bunch" and "The Ballad of Cable Hogue", had been made for Warner Bros.-Seven Arts. His connection with the company ended after the chaotic filming of "Cable Hogue" wrapped 19 days over schedule and $3 million over budget (equivalent to $ million in ). Left with a limited number of directing jobs, Peckinpah was forced to travel to England to direct "Straw Dogs". Produced by Daniel Melnick, who had previously worked with Peckinpah on his 1966 television film "Noon Wine", the screenplay began from Gordon Williams' novel "The Siege of Trencher's Farm", with Peckinpah saying "David Goodman and I sat down and tried to make something of validity out of this rotten book. We did. The only thing we kept was the siege itself".