Straight Time

Directed by Ulu Grosbard, Straight Time follows Dustin Hoffman’s Max Dembo as he attempts to assimilate in society after serving a six-year prison sentence for armed robbery. It’s a spare premise that’s employed to predominantly (and increasingly) enthralling effect by Grosbard, as the filmmaker, working from a script by Alvin Sargent, Edward Bunker, and Jeffrey Boam, delivers a slow-moving yet completely captivating character study that benefits substantially from Hoffman’s lived-in and thoroughly compelling work as the sympathetic protagonist – with the actor’s subtle, commanding efforts matched by a roster of such first-class periphery players as Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, and M. Emmet Walsh. (The latter, cast as Max’s smug, passive-aggressive parole officer, offers up an exceedingly memorable performance that ensures his reprehensible figure deserves a place among the ’70s best villains.) There’s little doubt, as well, that Straight Time‘s progressively absorbing atmosphere is perpetuated by a narrative that boasts far more twists and unexpected turns than one might’ve anticipated, and it’s clear, too, that the ongoing inclusion of overtly electrifying sequences, including a couple of exciting heist interludes, paves the way for a brisk, surprising second half that culminates with a satisfying (and heartbreaking) finale – which ultimately cements the picture’s place as a top-tier 1970s drama that rarely, if ever, follows the trajectory associated with stories of this ilk.

**** out of ****