disinterested_spectator
"Straight Time" is a movie that can function as a political touchstone, distinguishing the bleeding-heart liberals from the law-and-order conservatives, depending on one's reaction to it. For example, consider the first two sentences of the plot summary here on IMDb: "After being released on parole, a burglar attempts to go straight, get a regular job, and just go by the rules. He soon finds himself back in jail at the hands of a power-hungry parole officer." Well, I take exception to two parts of that summary, that Max attempts to "just go by the rules," and that the parole officer is "power-hungry." That is a bleeding-heart liberal interpretation.The first thing we see Max do is order a hot dog and then "forget" to pay for it. We make excuses for him, since he is not used to paying for food, having spent six years in prison. But if you are a law-and-order conservative, you quickly stop making excuses for him. He shows up late for his meeting with his parole officer, who wants to know where he stayed the night before, because he did not show up at the halfway house, which was required as one of the conditions of his parole, something Max agreed to upon his release from prison. Max says, "Because I just spent six years in prison. I just wanted to look at the lights. I wanted to feel free. I wanted to walk around and not have somebody tell me that I gotta get in bed at ten."Well, isn't that nice. Max believes that what he wants is more important than the rules. Of course, that's why he has such a long rap sheet in the first place, because he thought that the fact that he wanted something that belonged to someone else was more important than the rule that prohibits stealing. The rest of us know that we have to try to satisfy our wants while complying with the rules, but apparently six years in prison was not enough to teach Max that lesson.If I were parole officer Earl Frank, by this time I would be disgusted. He tells Max he has an attitude problem, which he most certainly does. But Max is either dense or purposely acting that way, because he asks what kind of attitude he is supposed to have. Frank patiently explains the facts of life to Max: "Well, you don't decide whether or not you go to a halfway house. I mean, you come to me, we discuss it, then I decide." Sounds reasonable to me, but I guess this is what the critic who summarized the plot meant by saying that Frank was a "power-hungry parole officer." I would have told Max to get his butt over to the halfway house, and that once he had checked in there, he could come back to my office and we could start talking about his finding a job. But Frank is more generous than I would have been, saying, "I'll make a deal with you, Max. If you find a place to sleep today and a job by the end of the week, you don't have to go to a halfway house. Fair?" More than fair, as far as I'm concerned.At the employment agency, Max is given some tests, one of which is typing. The employment agent who is testing him is Jenny. She tells Max three times that his time is up, for him to stop typing, but you know how Max is about the rules. He doesn't want to stop typing, so he figures that entitles him to keep going. Jenny finally has to rip the paper out of the typewriter.Max goes to visit his friend Willy, who has apparently also done time. After Willy leaves the room for a minute, his wife Selma tells Max that it would be best for him not to come around, because Willy has been doing well going straight, and she is afraid that Max might not be a good influence on him. And then she makes a further observation: "You're on parole now, Max. Well, you really shouldn't even be seen with Willy, right?" So here we are again. A condition of Max's parole is that he not associate with convicted felons like Willy, but I guess Max wanted to see Willy, and as we know, what he wants always trumps the rules.If Max had gone to the halfway house and not visited Willy in accordance with the terms of his parole, he could have made a go of it at the National Can Company, and everything would have been fine. And the proof of that, at least within the terms of the movie, is that Willy and Jerry have succeeded in holding down jobs and going straight. But Willy and Jerry don't want to work for a living and have an ordinary life like the rest of us. They throw it all away so they can become criminals again, just as Max throws his chance away by refusing to follow some simple rules.Put me down as a law-and-order conservative.
Claudio Carvalho
After many juvenile detentions and six years in prison, the small time thief and burglar Max Dembo (Dustin Hoffman) is released on parole. Max has an initial friction with his nasty parole officer Earl Frank (M. Emmet Walsh), but the officer agrees to let him live in a hotel room if he gets a job within a week. Max goes to an employment agency and the attendant Jenny Mercer (Theresa Russell) helps him to get a job in a can industry. Max is decided to begin a new life straight and visits his old pal Willy Darin (Gary Busey) and his family. When Willy brings Max home, he injects heroin and leaves his spoon under Max's bed. Max dates Jenny and on the next day after hours, he finds Frank waiting for him snooping around his room. Frank finds the spoon and sends Max to prison for tests to prove whether he had a fix or not. Despite the negative result, Frank leaves Max for a week imprisoned. When Max is released again, Franks gives a ride and presses him to tell who had a fix in his room. Max hits Frank, steals his car and seeks out his former friends to restart his life of crime. Jenny lodges Max at her place and has a love affair with him. Max and his best friend Jerry Schue (Harry Dean Stanton) successfully rob a bank; but after a jewelry heist in Beverly Hills, where Max loses Jerry and Willy, he leaves California and Jenny and heads alone elsewhere."Straight Time" is a small gangster film that shows how impossible is to a smalltime thief to regenerate and begin a straight life in insensitive the American correctional system with abusive parole officers and no assistance to the ex-cons. Dustin Hoffman performs a criminal that is trapped in the underworld, supported by an excellent cast of veterans and promising stars. The twenty-one year-old Theresa Russell in her second movie is incredibly beautiful. I have always been a fan of this talented but underrated actress that has an adorable voice and today I have recalled how gorgeous she was in the beginning of her career. M. Emmet Walsh performs his usual role of a despicable police officer. Gary Busey (with his son Jake), Kathy Bates and Harry Dean Stanton complete the great cast of this quite unknown film that has been just released on DVD in Brazil. My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Liberdade Condicional" ("Parole")
bobbobwhite
Without a doubt, Dustin Hoffman does the very best portrayal in all film of an ex-con who can't get free of that low life and its hold over him. Hoffman becomes Max the sleazebag in this film, he was that good, a criminal lowlife with high hopes of a better way but no real chance of real personal freedom due to old habits that would not die, even though he wanted them to die in the worst way but just could not find the way to do it.See this film for the very best look ever at a criminal's inner thinking and the horrible lives they choose to live when they have been told all their lives that they are worthless crud losers and no good to the core.The innocent and true love of a pretty young woman eventually brought out some long-hidden decency in Max, and he showed her and us that he would rather die first than bring her down with him on his sure road back to the pen or, more likely, death. What a great performance. Jimmy Cagney, eat your heart out.
