Sam Peckinpah examines the instinctual capacity for violence in his controversial 1971 film, loosely based on the novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm . To avoid the Vietnam-era social chaos in the U.S., American mathematician David Sumner ( Dustin Hoffman ) moves to an isolated Cornish town with his British wife Amy ( Susan George ), but their presence provokes antagonism among the village's men. As the hostilities escalate from routine bullying to the gang rape of his wife, David finds his pacifistic self backed into a corner. When the hooligans attack his house, David finally resorts to the gruesome violence that he abhors. — Lucia Bozzola