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Straight Time (1978)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
9/21
9/21:
So, what's the message behind Straight Time?
There isn't any. It's about an undisciplined fuck-up who doesn't realize he has a chance to start his life all over again
with a beautiful girlfriend. Instead, he throws it away for one big score which will never be the last because the juice is
that addictive.
On the positive side, the acting is solid. Dustin Hoffman carries the film, and the secondary cast is full of young
well-known players such as Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, M. Emmet Walsh, Harry Dean Stanton, and Kathy Bates. I figured
it out when I saw the resemblance the blond-haired kid had to Gary Busey; it's his son Jake. Co-writing the screenplay that's adapted
from his book No Beast So Fierce, the long-time criminal Edward Bunker has a small part. Michael Mann did the
first draft and worked with Bunker for three months.
Dustin Hoffman was originally the director but decided to step down after a few days because he didn't know what he was doing.
After Ulu Grosbard took over, the screenplay was rewritten, and Michael Mann ultimately received no credit. Regardless, there
are a lot of parallelisms between Straight Time and Heat with a bit of Point Break thrown in. It explains
why Jon Voight in Heat plays an Eddie Bunker type of character while Dustin Hoffman's character closely resembles Robert
De Niro's Neil McCauley.
All in all, a precursor to Heat, Straight Time is a well-acted picture about unsympathetic characters who don't
know any better.