Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Prison movies always score big with many of the viewers because it reveals what happens when things fail and what becomes of the men involved. Here we get to find out. Its a raw, hard-hitting reality movie of what it is like to be an ex-convict and how things line up against you quite fast if you don't get a handle on yourself. Hoffman delivers a fine performance along with an outstanding support cast. The way it ends is interesting and unconventional leaving the viewer to wonder. Good heist scenes and reminds us all that the best time in the world, free of stress, virtues and honesty that is easy to live and one can do is....

Wow! Where do I begin? This movie had a 7.4 rating on IMDb, and it had Dustin Hoffman, Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Jake Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, and Kathy Bates. How could I go wrong?Well I found out. I should have know it wasn't going to be good since it was filmed in the 70's. I don't know what it is, but there seems to be something fundamentally wrong with movies shot in that decade.The movie had some really stupid dialogue, and one of the most awkward seduction scenes I've ever seen. I mean they just looked at each other for what seemed like two minutes. I found myself wondering "How do they keep from busting out laughing?" I was about to. The music was loud and terrible (very 70's), and Hoffman's actions just were not believable. He was stupid and greedy, and I just could not buy him as a tough guy. I guess he'll always be Benjamin Braddock to me. And Theresa Russell was very wooden. The only characters worth their salt were Harry Dean Stanton and M Emmet Walsh.And I couldn't fathom what the heck the final line was supposed to mean. This was a very disappointing film to me.

This is one of these films that's been shown on British network television a couple of times in the 1980s then has totally disappeared never to be seen again . A pity because I did remember enjoying it in my youth so when I had the opportunity of watching it again I took it with both hands I can understand why I did enjoy because some scenes really stuck out such as a scene where anti-hero Max Dembo is driven to a halfway house by his parole officer "HEY FATSO" and the scenes of the robberies taking place are genuinely tense and hair raising . These are unfortunately surrounded by lots of long scenes where nothing much happens This shouldn't be taken as a massive criticism because STRAIGHT TIME is very much a product of New Hollywood which was heavily influenced by the French New Wave and the long fairly empty and realistic scenes are in keeping with cinema verite . Everything here seems natural and naturalistic , everything from the performances to the background noiseReading some of the comments on this page it's interesting that some people have mentioned that Edward Bunker's source novel makes Dembo out to be a "victim of the system" where as in the film version he's not really any type of victim and more of an author of his own problems . One would think in the more touchy feely hypocrisy of the 21st Century armed robbery is the fault of everyone except the armed robber themselves . Again this is in keeping with with the ethos of New Hollywood when American film making was at a peak . Dembo isn't the most unlikable criminal anti-hero to appear in a 1970s Hollywood and it's difficult to dislike anyone played by Dustin HoffmanAs it stands this is one of Hoffman's more forgotten films which is ironic because it'll stay in the memory . That said it's mainly down to the fact some scenes are absolutely outstanding "HEY FATSO" while the film as a whole is merely just good

Little seen late 70's Dustin Hoffman film which I was pleased to catch airing on TCM and which shows its star was more than up to the "challenge" of playing "street", a la the younger competition De Niro and Pacino in a tough urban tale of a small-time thief released back into society but who drifts back to crime with disastrous results.The film moves us deftly through the key relationships that Hoffman's Max Dembo character enters, which all inform the narrative, starting with his petty tyrannical parole officer M Emmet Walsh, strung-out driver/buddy Gary Busey, young female interest Thelma Russell and cut-from-the-same-cloth fellow hoodlum Harry Dean Stanton, none of whom really profit from the experience (Busey & Stanton in particular!) before he heads out on the run to L.A., all chance of a "normal" life blown to bits.Looking a little Latino with his handlebar moustache, I've rarely seen Hoffman act better than this and it's something of a revelation seeing him here on top of his game given how much he's mellowed into his avuncular old age in recent years. He captures the edginess and essential loneliness of his character, erupting into rage when pushed just too far but just about capable of tenderness with the hero-worshipping Russell. His return to old ways starts small but inevitably builds up to violence and murder as his life spirals out of control.The film readily captures the mundaneness of Hoffman's ill-fated attempts to fit back into society and these are contrasted well with the action set pieces. The four main supporting roles mentioned above are all excellently played, by Walsh, Busey, Russell and Stanton and there's no time in the film when you don't believe you're seeing real-life characters. What humour there is, is sparing and grim, (it's doubtful that pesky parole officer will be able to hold his head up again in public, for one thing) and there's also a fluid, sympathetic musical soundtrack too to maintain interest, with themes a little reminiscent at times of "Midnight Cowboy".I didn't quite accept however the phot-montage ending which seemed to indicate that Dembo always was the proverbial leopard unable to change his spots from youth, as with the right breaks, one has to hope in modern society that offenders released back into the community can be rehabilitated.As an indictment of the U.S. parole system of the time however, this gritty, uncompromising movie makes its point effectively and further confirms me in the belief that the genre of Hollywood 70's contemporary drama was a rich one indeed.