TCM Alert: Straight Time (1978)


This Thursday at 12:45 AM EST you can catch Straight Time on Turner Classic Movies. Straight Time is a rare late seventies neo-noir gem starring Dustin Hoffman as recent parolee Max Dembo, who aims to go it "straight" and avoid returning to the clink.

But, fate has other plans for Dembo as he's entrapped by his cruel parole office (M. Emmet Walsh) and falls back into crime, hatching a big jewel heist with his old crew (Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Busey). Based on the novel No Beast So Fierce by convict turned screenwriter Edward Bunker, Straight Time began as a project directed by Hoffman himself, but with studio fears and self doubt about being in over one's head, Hoffman turned the gate over to Ulu Grosbard. 

Set in roaming L.A. County during the late seventies, Straight Time evokes a similar feel to another cult classic from that same year, Walter Hill's The Driver. Michael Mann was an uncredited co-writer and the nerve racking jewel heist sequence in Straight Time serves as a primer to the bank robberies that take place in Mann's Heat. Like DeNiro in Heat, Hoffman's Dembo is a relatable anti-hero that is easy to root for as both films showcase the disquieting solitude of criminal life.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Oscar Preview Part II: Thoughts and predictions

Image
The Oscars are tomorrow and despite my best efforts, I was not able to watch all of the Best Picture nominees in time for Sunday's award show. Based on my impressions and from the general consensus, the two films I didn't catch -- Hidden Figures and Lion -- seem to be after thoughts compared to the heavily favored fare of La La Land, Moonlight and ..... is there a third runner up? Let's take a look at those Best Picture picks.. La La Land -It's the favorite, it's deserving and will probably win. Moonlight -Definitely the critic's choice and absolutely deserving of all its accolades. Unlike many critically lauded films that have gone on to win awards, Moonlight is different in that it's a watershed movie and totally unforgettable. That stark, beautiful movie poster is going to be just as bootlegged and influential as Al Pacino's Scarface artwork is someday. Fences - Fences strikes a happy medium between La La Land and Moonlight and...
Read more

Family Plot: Jordan Peele's "Get Out" (2017)

Image
Following the "whitelash" election of Donald Trump to the Oval Office last November, Jordan Peele's timely directorial debut Get Out emerges as a winking, cunning comedy-thriller satire that roasts identity politics and race relations in the age of this neu-American nightmare that is the Trump administration. The film's plot and twists have been widely spelled out in the trailer: black boyfriend goes away for the weekend with this white girlfriend to meet the parents in the country, but something is not quite right and it becomes Guess Who's Coming To Dinner meets The 'Burbs . It has recently been revealed that face-punched white nationalist Richard Spencer comes from a wealthy family of cotton farmers whose old money originates from the Jim Crow south ; Spencer is an open racist but Get Out critiques something more frightening, the hidden agendas of the limousine liberal sect -- those who use terms such as "super-predators" and have "p...
Read more

Sean Connery's Cold Wars: The Glasnost politics of 1990's "The Russia House" -- The kangaroo justice in 1972's "The Offence" and its parallels with Fritz Lang's 1931 pre-Nazi Germany classic "M"

Image
Sean Connery will always be remembered as Bond, James Bond. And who could forget the famous quote turned internet meme "You're the man now, dog!" from his late-career turn in 2000's Finding Forrester . But beyond playing the original 007 in the swingin' sixties (and even a hilarious middle-aged reprisal in the '70s and '83's Never Say Never Again ), Connery is one of the screen's most beloved treasures, with a diverse filmography that stretches from '70's heist thrillers such as The Anderson Tapes , working with Hitchcock in Marnie , playing Indiana Jones' father or his Oscar winning role as Jim Malone in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987). But deep in Connery's canon are some rare gems including The Offence , a chilly psychological thriller from 1972 directed by the great Sidney Lument ( A Dog Day Afternoon , Network , 12 Angry Men , etc etc). The Offence is a morbid masterpiece, a gloomy slice of police-procedura...
Read more