Themes: Going Straight, Down on Their Luck, Crime Gone Awry
Main Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh
Release Year: 1978
Country: US
Run Time: 114 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Paroled criminal Max Dembo (Dustin Hoffman) is compelled to withstand the calculated cruelties of slimy parole officer Earl Frank (M. Emmet Walsh). The more Max tries to go straight, the more he is defeated by circumstance or hectored by the sadistic Frank. It becomes clear after a while that neither Max nor his fellow ex-cons will be able to survive looking for legitimate work. Max is too "far gone" as a human being to succeed at anything other than crime. He goes back to his old thieving ways, inveigling reformed crook Jerry Schue (Harry Dean Stanton) into helping him. A climactic "big caper" goes tragically awry, thanks in great part to the tragic flaws in Max's personality. Based on a novel by Edward Bunker, Straight Time is possibly the most realistic cinematic probe into the sociopathic psyche of the career criminal. Famed theatrical director and instructor Ulu Grosbard directed, with an uncredited assist from star Hoffman; it was their second film together, after Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
While it rolled in and out of theaters quickly during its brief release in 1978 and hasn't gained much of a reputation since, Straight Time was one of Dustin Hoffman's best films of the 1970s, and seen today it still stacks up as one of the finest performances he's ever given onscreen. Hoffman is a fascinating bundle of misdirected energy and guy-wire tension as Max Dembo, an ex-con whose efforts to go straight seem doomed to fail, though his own impulses hardly keep him on the straight and narrow. Hoffman is perfectly natural and compelling as a blue-collar criminal, and he's lucky to have a superb supporting cast. M. Emmet Walsh has never been better as Earl Frank, a duplicitous parole officer, and Theresa Russell delivers an absorbing and ultimately heart-breaking turn as Jenny, a girl who falls in love with Dembo; Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, and Sandy Baron are similarly at the top of their form here. Ulu Grosbard's direction (he took over from Hoffman, who began the project but changed his mind about directing after a few days of shooting) is lean, intelligent, and atmospheric, and the screenplay (by Jeffrey Boam and Edward Bunker, based on Bunker's novel No Beast So Fierce) manages to make Dembo's story tragic and believable without ever asking the audience to forgive or forget his complicity in his crimes. Straight Time is an overlooked and understated masterwork, and well worth searching out on home video. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Rita Taggart - Carol Schue; Kathy Bates - Selma Darin; Sandy Baron - Manny; Jacob Busey - Henry Darin; Edward Bunker - Mickey; James Ray - Jewelry Store Manager; Stuart I. Berton - Salesman No. 1; Barry Cahill - Salesman No. 2; Corey Rand - Carlos; Fran Ryan - Cafe Owner; Peter Jurasik - Bank Teller; Peter Kwong - Grocery Clerk; David Kelly - Counter Man; John Gilgreen - Bank Guard; Tina Menard - Hotel Manager; Betty Jane Howarth - Employment Clerk; Emily LaRue - Girl; John C. Colton - 2nd Beach Boy
Credit
Bernie Pollack - Costume Designer, Jack Roe - First Assistant Director, Ulu Grosbard - Director, Sam O'Steen - Editor, Randy Roberts - Editor, Howard Pine - Executive Producer, David Shire - Composer (Music Score), Stephen B. Grimes - Production Designer, Richard J. Lawrence - Production Designer, James Newport - Production Designer, Paul Lohmann - Cinematographer, Owen Roizman - Cinematographer, Stanley Beck - Producer, Dustin Hoffman - Producer, Howard Pine - Producer, Tim Zinnemann - Producer, Marvin March - Set Designer, Jim Webb - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Portman - Sound/Sound Designer, Dick Ziker - Stunts, Everett Creach - Stunts, Dick Ziker - Stunts Coordinator, Everett Creach - Stunts Coordinator, Edward Bunker - Screenwriter, Jeffrey Boam - Screenwriter, Alvin Sargent - Screenwriter, Edward Bunker - Book Author
Baby boomers may say that he sounds like a cross between Leonard Cohen and Waylon Jennings, but Gen-Xers are more likely to hear the gravelly voice, the lyrical depictions of life on the skids, and the modified country influences and decide that he's a cross between Tom Waits and Brad Roberts (Crash Test Dummies). Either way, the comparisons are apt if insufficient. Although there's more than a trace of Waits in the muttered lyrics and the weak-kneed conga rhythm of "Can't Shake Hands," and some Jennings in the defiant loser portrayed in "Nobody," no one will ever mistake Jim Allen for anyone else. His lyrics are intriguing and sometimes unsettling -- when he sings about going way down to the top of the world so that he can drown and come up smiling again because he knows that's where he'll find his true love, it's hard to know whether to smile or shudder. "Send word to the birds that by flying so high/They'll never get a damn thing done," he sings on "A Pearl in the Ocean." "Conjunto" is just that, an accordion-driven Tex Mex polka supporting lyrics of the grimmest fatalism. "Beauty" is twisted shards of guitar pop that may or may not be about heroin addiction. As with most really good songwriting, there's more to hear the more you listen. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
Paul Siebel (Harmony Vocals), Ray Martin (Engineer), Jim Allen (Guitar (Acoustic)), Jim Allen (Guitar (Electric)), Jim Allen (Voices), Jim Allen (Producer), Jim Allen (Main Performer), Chad Crumm (Fiddle), Richard Julian (Producer), Richard Julian (Harmony), Tom Meltzer (Harmony), David Seitz (Engineer), Daniel Wise (Engineer), Daniel Wise (Mixing), Barbara Allen (Percussion), Barbara Allen (Drums), Barbara Allen (Harmony), Emily Lazar (Mastering), Reaann Zschokke (Engineer), Ryan Smith (Engineer), John Widgren (Pedal Steel), Steve Alcott (Bass (Electric)), Steve Alcott (Bass (Acoustic)), Joseph Hughes (Photography), Karen Takahashi (Design), David Abbenda (Guitar (Electric)), David Abbenda (Slide Guitar), Mark Rubenstein (Organ), Mark Rubenstein (Synthesizer), Mark Rubenstein (Piano), Mark Rubenstein (Accordion), Mark Rubenstein (Engineer)
Max Dembo, a thief, is released from jail but forced to report to a surly and condescending parole officer, Earl.
One of the conditions of parole is that Max find a job. He meets Jenny Mercer, who helps him land legitimate work. They go out to dinner and begin a relationship.
The parole officer Earl pays a surprise visit to Max's apartment and finds evidence that drugs have been used there. Willy, a friend of Max's, is the guilty party, but Max is handcuffed, dragged back to jail and humiliated. And the arrest costs him his job.
Upon release, he gets even with the parole officer, handcuffing him to a post in a public place with his pants lowered. Max has tried going straight but it's not for him. He plans a heist in a jewelry store, with his friend Jerry by his side and Willy driving the getaway car.
They successfully rob the store, only to find Willy has panicked and driven off. Trying to escape on foot, Jerry is shot and killed by a cop.
Max gets away, but is so angry that he goes to Willy's home and shoots him.
He leaves Los Angeles with his girlfriend Jenny insisting on coming along. Outside the city limits, though, he has second thoughts because he knows: "I'm going to get caught." He leaves her there to catch a bus back to L.A., then drives off alone.
Michael Mann also contributed to the screenplay but was uncredited upon the film's release. The novel later served as a source of reference for the character Neil McCauley in Mann's 1995 film Heat[citation needed].
