Straight Time

After three years behind bars, Max Dembo faces Straight Time. He hopes it will mean a new life, a job, a place to call home, perhaps even a girl of his own. Instead, it's a one-way ticket to disaster. Dustin Hoffman plays Max, a freed con trapped by an indifferent criminal system and his self-destructive bent. Before and during the film's shoot, Hoffman apprenticed himself to Edward Bunker, the ex-con whose book No Beast So Fierce inspired the movie. The resulting experience is intensely real and superbly acted by Hoffman and a terrific ensemble (Theresa Russell, Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Bussey. E. Emmet Walsh and Kathy Bates). As Newsweek's David Ansen wrote, Straight Time has an edgy, lingering intensity. Commentary by Dustin Hoffman and Director Ulu Grosbard Vintage Featurette Straight Time: He Wrote it for Criminals Theatrical Trailer