Charlie Venner

Charlie Venner is a character in the 1971 film Straw Dogs and its 2011 remake. He is played by Del Henney in the original and Alexander Skarsgard in the remake.

Biography

Charlie Venner is a resident of Wakely, Cornwall where he works as a handyman. He is the nephew of town drunk Tom Hedden (Peter Vaughn). Several years before the events of the film, Charlie was in love with local girl Amy Sumner (Susan George) before she left for America. It is suggested that Charlie did not treat Amy well when they were together.

At the start of the film, Amy returns to Cornwall with her American husband David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman). David hires Venner and his friends Norman Scutt (Ken Hutchison), Chris Cawsey (Jim Norton) and Phil Riddaway (Donald Webster) to help carry out repairs on the garage. When they first meet, Charlie acts friendly towards David. However, Charlie soon resents David for his timid ways. Also, Charlie is still in love with Amy, who rejects his advances.

Although the men openly harrass David, he does nothing to stop them. Amy, who feels neglected by David, flirts with the men. One night, Amy discovers her cat hanging in the closet. She demands that David confronts the men.

Next morning, David makes an attempt to befriend the men, by inviting them in for a drink. He fails to mention their dead cat, and accepts their offer to join in on their hunt the following day. Amy is upset by David's lack of action.

During the hunt, Charlie abandons David and goes to the Sumner house, where Amy is sitting alone. Amy invites him in to question him about the cat. Charlie seduces Amy, who tries to fight him off. This starts a violent rape where Charlie slaps Amy and drags her by the hair onto the sofa. Then he tears off her clothes and proceeds to rape her. During the rape, Amy begins to embrace Charlie. However, Norman Scutt arrives and forces Charlie to hold Amy down while he rapes her too. Amy screams in agony while Charlie looks away in horror.

That night, David returns home to find a withdrawn Amy. She doesn't tell him about the rapes, but David vows to sack the men for betraying him. Next morning, David tells the men they are sacked and to never come to his house again.

David and Amy attend the church social that evening, but Amy is confronted by her attackers and has a mental breakdown. They leave the social. Meanwhile, Venner's cousin Janice (Sally Thomsett) makes off with village idiot Henry Niles (David Warner). Niles is a known pedophile and is despised by most people in the village including Charlie. Janice's brother Bobby (Len Jones) informs his father of Henry accosting Janice. Tom, Charlie and his friends search for Henry and Janice. Hearing the voices of the men, Henry gets scared and accidentally smothers Janice to death. Henry runs away, but gets knocked down by David, who takes him into his house.

David phones the pub to ask for a doctor to see Henry. The barman alerts Tom and his friends of Henry's whereabouts. At the Sumner residence. Charlie, Norman and Chris ask to go in the house while Tom and Phil wait outside. Charlie hits Henry and interrogates him about Janice. David stops the men from hitting Henry and gently questions Henry. David tries to convince the men that Henry is harmless, but they don't believe him as they know what Henry is like. Upon failing to hear about his daughter's whereabouts, Tom attempts to break into David's house. Charlie joins in by throwing bricks through the window. He shouts at David to let them have Niles before someone is hurt. The local magistrate Major Scott (T.P. McKenna) arrives at the scene. He tries to reason with the men, but is shot dead by Tom, who is armed with a shotgun. Knowing that he will be an accomplice to murder, Charlie reasons that they can only continue what he started.

During the seige, Charlie