Straight Time (1978) on Netflix
Paroled after six years, Max Dembo takes a job and tries to go straight while his parole officer, Earl Frank, watches him. A friend's drug use lands Max in handcuffs.
- Netflix3.5/5
- IMDb7.4/1011,584 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes82%
Trailer
Plot summary
Max Dembo comes out of prison after six years and reports to his parole officer, Earl Frank, who lets him keep a room of his own as long as he holds down a job. At an employment agency, Jenny Mercer helps him land work at a can factory, and he asks her to dinner. He looks up his old friend Willy Darin, and Willy's heroin use in Max's room brings Earl to the door. Earl handcuffs Max and sends him to jail for drug tests. The tests come back clean, and when Earl collects him and presses him to name the man who was using, Max attacks him, takes the car, and drives away, leaving his parole behind.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Straight Time (1978)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Dustin Hoffman was hired to direct Straight Time as well as star, but after one day of shooting at Folsom State Prison, where his constant calls for camera resets meant not a single frame was captured, he stepped down as director when the studio doubted he could finish on time.
- Straight Time went 23 days over schedule and roughly $1 million over budget, prompting First Artists to take over the film from Hoffman before he finished editing; Hoffman sued claiming his right to final cut was violated, and the studio countersued over his 'derogatory statements' damaging the film's reception and box office.
- Dissatisfied with the finished film, Hoffman refused to promote Straight Time when it opened, saying it was "not my film, in any shape or form" and that he could not in good conscience promote it.
- Hal Ashby was Hoffman's preferred choice to take over as director, but had to withdraw after his lungs filled with dust he had inhaled while making his Woody Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory.
- To prepare for his role as an ex-convict, Dustin Hoffman was processed like a real inmate at the Los Angeles County Jail, where a desk sergeant jokingly ran his name through the police computer and found two unpaid traffic tickets, which Hoffman paid on the spot.
- Harry Dean Stanton spent time sitting isolated in a gas chamber to prepare for his role as a criminal in Straight Time.
- Ulu Grosbard, the director ultimately hired, used improvisation with Dustin Hoffman and often worked evenings writing scenes for the next day's shoot, but the two were reportedly not on speaking terms once production ended.
