Straight Time (1978)

Directed by

Ulu Grosbard

Genre

drama film, crime film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 54m

Rated

R

Rating

7.1 of 10 from 212 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A lifelong thief gets out of prison and tries to go straight, but the outside world does not make it easy for him. He struggles with parole restrictions, finds work, and reconnects with a woman, but his old ways and the system keep pulling him back.

grittytensemelancholicbleakslow-burnunsettlingvisceralclaustrophobic

What happens

Straight Time is a 1978 American neo-noir crime drama film directed by Ulu Grosbard and starring Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh, and Kathy Bates. Its plot follows a lifelong thief in Los Angeles who struggles to assimilate in society after serving a six-year prison sentence. The film is based on the novel No Beast So Fierce by Edward Bunker, who also acts in the film. In addition to starring, Hoffman was originally hired as the film's director, but was replaced by Grosbard after completing a day of shooting. Principal photography took place in California in 1977, with shooting occurring in Los Angeles, Sacramento, and several locations in the Inland Empire. Warner Bros. Pictures released Straight Time on March 17, 1978. The film grossed $10 million at the United States box office, and received largely favorable reviews. In 2003, The New York Times placed the film on its Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

More like this

• On the Yard (1978)
• Mean Dog Blues (1978)
• Nowhere to Run (1978)
• The One Man Jury (1978)
• The Driver (1978)
• Wolf Lake (1978)
• Blue Collar (1978)
• The Glass Cell (1978)