Straight Time
| Straight Time | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ulu Grosbard |
| Produced by |
Stanley Beck Tim Zinnemann Uncredited: Dustin Hoffman |
| Screenplay by |
Alvin Sargent Edward Bunker Jeffrey Boam Uncredited: Nancy Dowd Michael Mann |
| Based on | Novel No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker |
| Starring |
Dustin Hoffman Harry Dean Stanton Gary Busey Theresa Russell M. Emmet Walsh Kathy Bates |
| Music by | David Shire |
| Cinematography | Owen Roizman |
| Edited by |
Sam O'Steen Randy Roberts |
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Production
company |
First Artists
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
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Running time
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114 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $9,900,000 |
Straight Time is a 1978 American crime drama film directed by Ulu Grosbard, starring Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, and Kathy Bates.
Max Dembo (Dustin Hoffman), lifelong thief, is released from a six-year stint in prison and forced to report to a boorish and condescending parole officer, Earl (M. Emmet Walsh).
One of the conditions of parole is that Max finds a job. At the employment agency, he meets Jenny Mercer (Theresa Russell), who helps him land scale-wage work at a can factory. Jenny accepts his invitation to dinner, where it's clear that she is smitten by this worldly and seemingly gentle ex-con.
Earl pays a surprise visit to Max's room, finding a book of matches that Max's friend Willy (Gary Busey) recently used to cook heroin. Although Max clearly has no track marks or other signs of drug abuse, he is handcuffed and dragged back to jail, out of a job and a home. Jenny visits him and gives him her number to call when he gets out.
After blood tests prove he's clean, Max is picked up by a smug Earl, who feels he actually gave Max a break by not pursuing the fact that someone had been using drugs in his place of residence, which would result in three more years in prison. During their car ride to a halfway house, Earl pushes Max to name the user. Max, realizing he will never get a break, pummels Earl, takes control of his car, and handcuffs him to a highway divider fence with his pants around his ankles.
This stunt now makes straight life impossible. Max returns to a life of crime, robbing a Chinese grocery store and planning bigger heists with some willing old accomplices. After successfully robbing a bank together, Max and his friend Jerry (Harry Dean Stanton) decide to up the ante and clean out a Beverly Hills jewelry store. The job is botched when Max takes too long in trying to steal everything. Willy, acting as getaway driver, panics and takes off, leaving Max and Jerry to flee on foot as police converge on the store.
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Wikipedia