In an age when crime cinema is now commonly packaged with quirky camera angles, non stop car chase's, massive explosions, and wise cracking leading men/women, 'Srtaight Time' may on the surface seem dreadfully dated. Films such as 'Pulp Fiction' may have done much to convey the modern day crime flick with its polished production and multi-million dollar budgets as the norm, but the building blocks to such movies can be surprisingly rewarding. One such building block is 'Striaght Time', based on Edward Bunkers brilliant novel. Set in seventies America it finds Dustin Hoffman portraying 'Max Dembo', a career criminal attempting to lead a lawful existence, after being released from a five year sentence for armed robbery. To help him do this his parole officer, Earl Davis, played by the ever reliable M. Emmet Walsh, sets about instructing Dembo of his strict conditions, which include finding accommodation and a job 'by the end of the week'. In an attempt to meet these conditions Dembo goes to a job agency and gets himself a job at the national can company, a boring mundane career path, but lawful non the less. During this time he meets his love interest played by a young Therisa Russel (whom dembo met at the job agency) and hooks up with former criminal friend played by Gary Busey. Busy drops by Dembo's bedsit and shoots up heroin, which breaks Dembo's parole conditions. The oppressive Earl Davis visits Dembo's place unannounced when Dembo's at work and discovers the foil wrap, which is enough for him to have dembo locked up for drug tests. This is the moment when Hoffan's character's fate is sealed as he sees no justice and no hope. One thing leads to another and before long he's arranging to rob card games and hold up banks. The climax is quite unlike most movies of its ilk, as there is no riding off into the sunset with the girl, no happy conclusion, and commendably, no preachy moral undercurrent. Its simply a portrayal of a man out of step with society, at odds with himself and those closest to him. Its without doubt one of Hoffmans finest performance's, and should be on the watch list of any crime film fan. With major contributions from the supporting cast, and subtle direction, 'Striaght Time' is certainly an underrated classic.
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