Straight Time
Directed by Dustin Hoffman and Ulu Grosbard
Written by Alvin Sargent, Edward Bunker and Jeffrey Boam from Boam’s novel
1978/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Jerry Schue: Get me outta here. They’re killing me. I can’t make this scene anymore, get me outta here… You got something, I know you got something…
Max Dembo: Yeah, I got something.
Jerry Schue: Well, let’s do it.
Max Dembo: Don’t you wanna know what it is?
Jerry Schue: I don’t give a damn what it is, let’s just do it… What is it?
Solid action flick and study of life on the outside for ex-convicts.
Dustin Hoffman performs a bit out of his comfort zone as Max Dembo, an ex-con newly out of prison. For a few days he attempts to fullfil the conditions of his parole – living in halfway house, not associating with former friends, no driving and no drugs. The only thing this wins him is a romance with Jenny Mercer (Theresa Russell) his employment counselor.
He has a hard-nosed parole officer (M. Emmet Walsh) who is on his back every minute. When the parole officer discovers some drug paraphernalia in Max’s room, Max goes back to prison until his drug test comes back clean.
This makes Max so angry that he assaults the parole officer and begins a crime spree with former cohorts in crime Willy (Gary Busey) and Jerry (Harry Dean Stanton). They go straight for the big money with a highly risky bank robbery and daylight jewelry store robbery. It’s almost like Max wants to get caught.
I enjoyed this movie. Its stellar cast does itself proud and the story is interesting. It is more violent than romantic despite its dreamy poster.
