Dustin Hoffman in “Straight Time” based on the life of career criminal Edward Bunker
A sadly under appreciated film from Dustin Hoffman’s illustrious filmography is “Straight Time” released in 1978. Directed by Ulu Grosbard, the film is an intimate, gritty character study profiling a career criminal based on the writings of real life career criminal Edward Bunker. He did everything from petty theft to robbing banks and eventually leaving prison and becoming an accomplished writer. He also contributed to the film as an “expert consultant”. We see prison life, parole officers, and the general milieu of an ex-con adjusting to his new found freedom along with the constant temptation to return to the criminal life.
Watching crime films like “Ocean’s Eleven”, “The Italian Job”, and even “The Godfather”, it’s easy to be swept away in the romanticism of criminals on screen. There is no gloss in “Straight Time” and in fact Dustin Hoffman spent time in prison as research for the film along with conducting extensive interviews with Edward Bunker. Mr. Hoffman learned everything from the ins and outs of robbing a bank to the frightening unspoken rules of the criminal underworld.
The DVD features an incredible audio commentary with director Ulu Grosbard and actor/producer Dustin Hoffman who briefly directed the film before hiring long-time friend Ulu Grosbard to complete the film.
The film unfortunately did not receive substantial support in distribution from Warner Brothers and slipped through the cracks. However, the film was given great support by film critic Pauline Kael who praised Hoffman’s performance to even say he deserved the “Best Actor” Oscar over his subsequent film “Kramer vs. Kramer”.
The cast also features a young Kathy Bates, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, and Theresa Russell. The script was co-written by Alvin Sargent who would eventually win Oscars for adapting “Ordinary People” and “Julia” as well as writing the Sam Raimi directed “Spider- Man”.
Check out the trailer below.