Roger Ebert of "The Chicago Sun-Times" rated it 2/4 stars and described the film as "a major disappointment in which Peckinpah's theories about violence seem to have regressed to a sort of 19th-Century mixture of Kipling and machismo." Vincent Canby of "The New York Times" called it "a special disappointment" that is "an intelligent movie, but interesting only in the context of his other works." "Variety" wrote, "The script (from Gordon M. Williams' novel "The Siege of Trencher's Farm") relies on shock and violence to tide it over weakness in development, shallow characterization and lack of motivation." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" wrote, "People who are sensitive to both the sight and the implications of violence will probably be disgusted and angered by 'Straw Dogs' because there is no credible motivation for the violence. For the first time Peckinpah really seems to be specializing in violence rather than exploring its effects and meanings ... I would have walked out of 'Straw Dogs' at several points if I'd been anything but a professional critic."