Straight Time starring Dustin Hoffman

Straight Time (1978)(DVD) Directed by Ulu Grosbard (The Subject Was Roses (1968), Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971), True Confessions (1981), Falling in Love (1984)), starring Dustin Hoffman (Midnight Cowboy (1969), Straw Dogs (1971), Papillon (1973), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and many other excellent films), Harry Dean Stanton (Cool Hand Luke (1967), Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Paris, Texas (1984), The Green Mile (1999) and many others), Gary Busey (The Buddy Holly Story (1978), Point Break (1991), Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas (1998)), Kathy Bates (Misery (1990), Primary Colors (1998), Revolutionary Road (2008)) and others.  Dustin Hoffman, also producer of the film, is excellent as Max Dembo , a rather small-time criminal, with a record going back to when he was 12 years old, who, after getting out of prison for a six-year stint for burglary, gives going straight a very brief attempt, and succumbs, of course, to his usual ways.  Harry Dean Stanton, as one of Dembo’s partners, is excellent, Gary Busey earns his fate, as another of Dembo’s partners.  Kathy Bates, in a small role as Busey’s wife, is just fine.

Ulu Grosbard, an assistant director on such great films as Splendor in the Grass(1961), West Side Story (1961), and The Hustler (1961), also directed Hoffman in Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? and Robert DeNiro in True Confessions and Falling in Love (with Meryl Streep).

Straight Time is most definitely a film worth seeing, despite it being rarely cited as one of Hoffman’s best. (PR)

See our previous post on Straw Dogs, starring Dustin Hoffman.

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Straw Dogs

Straw Dogs, directed by Sam Peckinpah, theatrical release poster

Straw Dogs (1971)(DVD) Directed by Sam Peckinpah (Ride the High Country (1962), The Wild Bunch (1969), The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)), starring Dustin Hoffman (The Graduate (1967), Midnight Cowboy (1969), Rain Man (1988), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006)), Susan George and others.  Despite the controversy surrounding the film at its time of release, focusing on its distinctly ambiguous rape scenes and its violence, Straw Dogs seems relatively tame by current standards.  Hoffman’s portrayal of David Sumner, a rather odiously conflicted American mathematician is on the mark, Susan George is, with dire consequences, and in accordance with Hoffman’s critique of her role, exhibitionistically flirty and an odd match for Hoffman’s character.  Nevertheless, Straw Dogs merits viewing for Peckinpah’s fluidity, as well as its portrayal of personal and cultural vagaries. (PR)

It should be noted that an eponymous remake of the film, directed by Rod Lurie and starring James Marsden and Kate Bosworth was released in the U.S. yesterday. (Straw Dogs, 2011) (read A.O. Scott’s review, “His Credit Cards and Fancy Words Can’t Help Him Here“, in The New York Times)

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