A lot of prison cinema in the 70s mined the fairly narrow spectrum between melodrama and exploitation. Ulu Grosbard broke from the mold with Straight Time, a film that touches on the behind-bars experience only in passing and focuses instead on the consequences experienced by a parolee. Based on Edward Bunker’s novel No Beast So Fierce and born from a screenplay co-written by the ex-con author, the film explores how personal choices and predilections can doom a man in perpetuity.
Dustin Hoffman plays Max Dembo, a three-time loser just paroled from prison. A dream assemblage of character actors including M. Emmett Walsh, Harry Dean Stanton and Kathy Bates populates the cast. Even Gary Busey turns in respectable work as Dembo’s heroin-addicted hick friend. The opening credits set the story beautifully, following Dembo from the prison gates through a night spent wandering around Los Angeles rather than checking in at a halfway house, a decision that ends up a determinant in the domino arc of the film.
Walsh is pitch perfect as his parole officer Earl Frank, a by-the-book-when-it-suits-him suit who also exudes a fair bit of sleaze. A surprise inspection of Dembo’s flophouse room reveals a spent book of matches. Walsh immediately connects the dots and concludes that somebody has fixed on the premises, cuffing Dembo and setting in motion a sequence of events that catalyze the latter’s sociopathic tendencies. Hoffman handles the personality sea change beautifully, conveying Dembo’s simmering frustration and his inevitable explosion with an attention to detail that doesn’t completely abandon the character’s earlier charisma. Not only is the deck stacked against Dembo, but he simply isn’t predisposed to play by the rules.
Stanton’s Jerry Schue has successfully assimilated back into society, at least on the surface. He owns an auto repair shop and a rambler in the valley with a swimming pool, but he pines for the adrenaline rush that accompanies a successful score. His conscription into Dembo’s renewed criminal causes comes all too easily, even in the face of mounting evidence indictating the error of such judgment. Bates and Theresa Russell play the only two female characters in what is predictably a male dominant cast. Both are good, but it’s Russell who receives the most screen time as Jenny, Dembo’s love interest. She makes the most of what she’s given, turning in a layered performance that aims for deadpan over drama, the traits of a wounded woman prone to making careless choices in men understated, but tragically apparent.
Grosbard stocks the film with fine and blackly comedic details: The Los Angeles Department of correction office situated in a low rent mall space; the menial indignities of Dembo’s job in a can factory; how relatively little luck and chance play a role in Dembo’s fate. He’s also skilled at sketching the seedy locales of Dembo’s world. Conversing with his new landlady, Dembo inquires: “does the bed come with sheets?” Her flatly inflected “no” speaks volumes. In another scene, Dembo and Busey’s character are discussing where to go out on the town. Dembo reminisces about catching Chet Baker, Hampton Hawes and Howard Rumsey’s Light House All-Stars in earlier years, name drops designed to make the jazzbo viewer grin. A tender scene between Dembo and Jenny unfolds to John Fahey’s rendering of “Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home”. David Shire’s original soundtrack is great too, pivoting on an underdog-oriented pop orchestral theme ironically at odds Dembo’s late film persona.
Themes of personal freedom and respect run deep through the script. Dembo is struggling to achieve and sustain both, but his selfish actions continually undermine his attempts. He’s just not equipped to earn a societal place in a conventional sense and his belief that he’s paid his debt to society falls on largely deaf ears. The interpersonal dynamics with those he comes in contact with, old friends, new lovers, and the like present an indelible roadmap to his downfall. A self-aggrandizing soliloquy to Jenny in a steak house reveals just how out of touch his is, the punch line being his inability to pay for the meal. Suspension of disbelief is required in a few instances. Jenny’s lasting continued attraction to Dembo feels a bit forced, as does the speed with which he renews his criminal associations after a six-year absence. But these are minor inconsistencies and the uniform strength of the performances makes them easy to excuse.
I haven't seen this one in a long time (15-20 years I think), but I remember thinking it was a flawed little gem. I particularly remember the gritty, grainy feel of the cinematography. The settings just smelled of mid-70s low-life LA. Oh, and the performances were all standout. Hoffman was great in this.
Iirc, I thought the middle part was a little too much filler, but it's still well worth watching.
DT, if you haven't yet seen it, check out 'Animal Factory' from another Eddie Bunker novel. This one takes place inside prison. It's directed by Steve Buscemi and stars Willem Dafoe and the kid from T2, not to mention a surprisingly great performance by Tom Arnold (believe it or not).
Posted by: SOZ at August 14, 2007 2:49 PMNice write up, D. You know I have loved this film for a long time. Watching it again for like the 10th time, some new things stuck out. Gary Busey reminds me of Richard Buckner--even down to the flannel shirt. Walsh is so damn good and I get so tense watching those scenes with Hoffman. Hoffman looks so scared. Stanton getting talked into the jewel heist. Grosbard was a theater director but he really knows that cinema is about the face. Strange that Hoffman was going to direct this. I really want to see the 'making of' with the new DVD issue and hear the commentary. Word is Grosbard and Hoffman both did it but seperately. Regarding Theresa Russell's Jenny and her relationship seeming forced--I think the script does a great job with this but she is so beautiful and innocent looking (is she even 18 at this point?) that you just don't want to believe her character. It is a bit stereotypical and maybe Bates would have been better off in that role. She, too, is good. So rare to see every performance great. Even Busey's kid, who comes off as simple-minded as his dad. Well, it is his kid after all. Regarding the book, I didn't think it was so hot and find Bunker's performance a lot cooler than his books. Obviously there is a lot more back story in it but it remains pretty forgettable for me. I don't mean to diss because I like Bunker and all but the book just disappointed me.
Posted by: Ted at August 15, 2007 4:56 AMSerge, the dvd transfer on this one is top-flight. The image is clean & grit free, much different than I recall it being also. I saw Animal Factory back when it first came out on video & remember liking it, though I’m drawing a blank on many of the details. Things I do recall: Eddie Furlong being surprisingly tolerable and Mickey Rourke at the beginning of his plasticine-skinned Frankenstein phase. Doesn’t he play a musclebound transvestite in that one? Don’t remember Tom Arnold’s performance or much about Dafoe except he’s bald. I need to watch it again. Speaking of Buscemi, anyone seen his new one Interview?
Thanks, T. I love this one too and it was great having the opportunity to screen it again, thanks. Those first scenes with Walsh and Hoffman are so great. So much goes unsaid and is instead communicated through the facial expressions & mannerisms of each. Dembo’s totally out of his element, trying to read & appeal to Frank in the context of the prison culture he’s just come from and doomed before he starts. Frank holds all the cards and knows it, but instead of portraying him as a complete prick, Walsh brings in some humanity. Dembo’s obviously broken the rules (however minor the infraction), but Frank still opts to offer a deal: “get yourself a room and a job by the end of the week and we can forget the halfway house.” He throws Dembo a bone, which Dembo gladly accepts, & that’s part of what makes the severity of his comeuppance so brutal and surprising.
The scene w/ Stanton and Hoffman sitting poolside & chomping on hamburgers is great too. Schue takes virtually no convincing at all. He’s like “get me outta here man, I don’t care what the score is, just get me outta here.” He’s just withering away in the domesticized role he’s fallen into. There’s the irony too that he’s a far more “professional” theif than Dembo, yet he’s the one who gets seduced back in and turns a blind eye to Dembo's faults. That whole scene has such a cool improv feel, esp. when Stanton breaks out his guitar and sings the song.
Yeah, I think Russell’s innocence & beauty is what throws me w/ the believability. I just can’t help reiterating the question in my mind during their scenes together: “what the hell are you doing w/ this guy.” But she sells it as best she can.
I love the scenes w/ Busey and his kid Jake (who turned into another lame twenty-something actor in later years) and Hoffman’s reactions to their relationship. Just so sweet and natural. They make the tragedy of Busey’s character all the more acute. Bunker’s cameo was okay, but seemed to me little more than that. What’s this about a “making of” featurette & commentary, man? I want to hear that stuff too.
Hey, speaking again of Bunker. Anyone seen the film adaptation of On the Yard?
Posted by: derek at August 15, 2007 8:20 AMhttp://marinocolmano.com/straight.html
I read a review somewhere of the DVD that mentioned the commentary. Can't remember where though.
I should probable buy the DVD but not sure if the German issue is the same as the US one. Probably though. I got the German 'Prince of the City' and it was also a two disc with a little bonus.
That scene at the pool with Stanton is great, but dig his latest wife tossing the burgers. It is so rare that every performance in a film has so many great subtleties.
Posted by: Ted at August 15, 2007 9:59 AMThanks for the link, T. Good stuff.
Oh, man. I read it the other way around: That Schue was her latest husband and those people they rattle off, *her* exes. Her money & privelege looked good at first, but it’s since fenced him in, though he still digs the pampering. I’d watch it to check, but my stinking laptop conked out again & is in the shop.
Posted by: derek at August 15, 2007 10:37 AMDefinitely HER ex husbands they are talking about. Just giving Schue a little history of my own.
Damn, sounds like time for a new laptop, brudda. Then you can get hep to the torrent bandwagon.
Posted by: Ted at August 15, 2007 10:50 AM.................................................. © 2003 - 2006 bagatellen ..................................................