. . . American womenfolk against the Real Life threats posed by its lead actor? Some people will view STRAIGHT TIME as only that, seeing as how the beleaguered Dustin Hoffman's "Max Dembow" character man-handles the soft-hearted "Jenny," after drinking directly from the quart carton of milk in her refrigerator and just before stealing her baby blue Mustang convertible. An actor who would agree to play a misogynist doing all of this surely has a screw loose; no one would trust such a jerk with their own daughter in Real Life. However, many perceptive viewers have realized that Warner Bros. is extending a warning to we folks of the future that the white female voting demographic--such as STRAIGHT TIME's Jenny--cannot be trusted at the ballot box. In a country that has given this group Title IX, Choice, and ObamaCare, most of them will gravitate to the Max-like "bad boy" (the worse the better) in preference to one of their own, such as Elizabeth Warren, Jane Fonda, or Hillary Clinton. Just wait, Warner warns the USA, if you continue with this trial run of "Women's Suffrage," you'll surely wind up with a president like Hoffman, if not a twice-divorced self-proclaimed serial finger-raping paycheck welsher tax cheat Russian spy.

"Straight Time" demonstrates why the decade of the 1970s was one of the greatest in American cinema. The film was an indie project spearheaded by Dustin Hoffman, who was intending to direct the film, but passed the directorial chores on to Ulu Grosbard.From start to finish, there is a gritty realism in the film locations from the tawdry bars to the dowdy employment referral agency to the slovenly apartment to the prison scenes. The one contrasting scenic location was the sunny, cheerful, and sparkling apartment of Jenny, Max Dembo's erstwhile girlfriend.There is a scene where Dembo observes the sense of permanency apparent in Jenny's apartment. That feeling has undoubtedly been an absent commodity in the life of the convict. Of course, Dembo craves the comfort of that nurturing environment. But the film makes clear that he craves the thrill of crime more than the stable relationship that Jenny offers him.The secondary roles are well-crafted and superbly performed by M. Emmet Walsh as the sleazy parole officer; Theresa Russell as the naive Jenny who seems surprised that she is attracted to Dembo; Gary Busey as Willy, the drug-addicted friend of Dembo; Kathy Bates as the fiercely protective wife of Willy; and Harry Dean Stanton as Dembo's partner in crime, Jerry. There is an unforgettable moment when relaxing in the backyard of his suburban home in the San Fernando valley, Jerry starts strumming a guitar and singing a C&W song, then casually asserting that he is desperate to get out of that world and return to a life of crime.If "Straight Time" were made today, it would surpass almost any mainstream Hollywood film in acting, screenplay, atmosphere, and indepth character portraits. But in the "golden age" of the 1970s, it was only one example of gritty, realistic filmmaking at its finest.

Although this gritty crime drama garnered a great deal of critical recognition at the time of its release, it never achieved the box office success that it deserved and probably this is the reason why it's remained so under-appreciated ever since. Its story about a criminal who tries to go straight, illustrates brilliantly the many factors that make such an undertaking so difficult and also does so in a way that never glorifies the criminal or condemns the institutions that make rehabilitation such a huge challenge.One of the movie's strong points is its appearance of absolute realism and this is, no doubt, attributable to the involvement of career criminal, bank robber and long-term convict Edward Bunker whose novel "No Beast So Fierce" provided the raw material for the plot. His additional contributions as a screenwriter, technical adviser and bit-part player must also have been critical to achieving the level of authenticity that makes "Straight Time" so compelling to watch from start to finish.After serving a six-year sentence at San Quentin for armed robbery, Max Dembo (Dustin Hoffman) has to report to his parole officer Earl Frank (M Emmet Walsh). Their relationship gets off to a bad start because Max had failed to report to the halfway house he was supposed to go to on his first night out of prison and Frank, who's obviously a man who likes abusing his power, treats his newest parolee with utter contempt. Max says he wants to leave his life of crime behind and initially makes good progress by getting a job in a can factory, getting himself somewhere to live and starting to date Jenny Mercer (Theresa Russell), a young clerk he'd met at the employment agency where he's found his job.Max makes contact with his old friend Willy Darin (Gary Busey)an ex-con who's now married with a young son but his enjoyment of the evening he spends at Willy's home is spoiled when Willy's wife makes it clear that she doesn't approve of the two men renewing their acquaintance. Willy subsequently visits Max's room and when they're talking, casually cooks up some heroin. Later, when Frank turns up unexpectedly at Max's place and finds the book of matches that Willy had used, he takes Max to the county jail to be checked for drug-taking. Although the tests confirm that Max hadn't taken any drugs, he's kept in prison for some days before he gets picked up by Frank who intends to drive him to his halfway house. As they travel along the freeway, Frank tries to get Max to tell him who'd been using drugs in his room and when he becomes increasingly insistent, Max flips and beats Frank repeatedly before taking a spectacular form of revenge on him for all the humiliation he'd suffered at his hands.This incident leads to Max losing his job and deciding that his only chance of survival is to go back to the life that he knows best. After renewing his friendship with Jerry Schue (Harry Dean Stanton), an apparently reformed ex-con who soon makes it known that he's bored by the straight life, Max's downward spiral goes into overdrive as they go on to carry out a couple of high-value robberies together."Straight Time" was originally scheduled to provide Dustin Hoffman with his directorial debut but soon after shooting began, it became clear that helming the piece as well as starring in it was going to be too onerous and so Ulu Grosbard was recruited. His style of direction proved to be particularly effective both in the context of providing the required level of focus on the characters and also for the ways in which he filmed the various heists.Hoffman's performance is exceptional, especially for the completely natural way in which he makes his character seem so believable. Harry Dean Stanton and Gary Busey are terrific as Max's associates, M Emmet Walsh is marvellous as the sadistic parole officer and in one of her earliest roles, Theresa Russell expresses the full range of (mostly negative) emotions that the naïve Jenny goes through with all the skill of someone considerably more experienced. "Straight Time" is a great piece of 70s' cinema and really deserves a much higher profile.

Very realistic crime movie, based on No Beast So Fierce, the first book by Eddie Bunker, whom you probably know as Mr Blue in Reservoir Dogs. Bunker was a career criminal with an impressive track record: he was San Quentin's youngest inmate ever and made it all the way to the FBI's most wanted list in the early seventies. During his last stay in prison he wrote No Beast So Fierce, about an ex-convict named Max Dembo, who has a hard time adjusting on the outside. According to Bunker, No Beast So Fierce is supposed to show that most ex-cons who go back to a life of crime don't choose to do so. They're forced by the system and the circumstances. Well, I haven't read the book, but in Straight Time the reason for Max Dembo's inevitable return to crime lies mostly in his character, not in the system. Sure, his parole officer (a superb M. Emmett Walsh) is a complete asshole. But who hasn't had an asshole for a boss? We take the abuse and move on. But not Max Dembo. He just can't. Too proud, too stubborn, too ill adjusted to civilian life. When Dembo attacks his parole officer and there is no way back for him, we see not only panic in his eyes but also relief. His attitude changes as well: while he was clearly uncomfortable trying to adjust to life outside, he is quite resolute and efficient as soon as he is back doing the things he does best, which is robbing banks. It's a great role for Hoffman who had Bunker and another ex-convict called John Carlen advise him throughout the production. That probably added to the realism of this great crime film. In most movies about bank robbers, the criminals are mostly outsiders by choice, with their own set of principles. Straight Time is no different. But unlike The Getaway or Charley Varrick, this one shows us the very tragic consequences of that life.