Hollywood Reporter says Straw Dogs, one of the most controversial films of all-time, is going to be remade. Sam Peckinpah’s 1971 original, starring Dustin Hoffman, shocked many with its violence and the infamous rape of Susan George. Of course, the Americans are setting the movie in the Deep South rather than rural England. All rather predictable – the idea of murder and mayhem in Devon, home of cream teas, is far scarier than murder and mayhem in Alabama, home of murder and mayhem.

Peckinpah’s movie was based on The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon Williams – a very, very out-of-print book published in 1969. The book has many differences to the movie, including no rapes. I wonder if someone would consider republishing it. A signed first edition (pictured) from the wonderful Royal Books in Baltimore will set you back $850.

Williams is still around. He is the author of over 20 novels including From Scenes Like These, shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1969, Walk Don’t Walk, and Growing up in the West. He also ghosted the autobiographies of footballers like Bobby Moore. He also worked as commercial manager for Chelsea – in the old days of the Shed, hooliganism and Ron ‘Chopper’ Harris.