Straight Time

Max Dembo, a burglar, leaves prison on parole and tries to build an ordinary life: steady work, no trouble, staying within the rules. His parole officer, Earl Frank, makes that almost impossible, and after Max is sent back to jail he concludes that honest life has been closed off to him. Returning to Los Angeles, he finds a factory job through Jenny Mercer, but the pressure from his supervisor and the pull of his old contacts push him toward crime again, drawing in figures such as Willy Darin and Jerry Schue.

The film was directed by Ulu Grosbard and released in 1978, the first of the four features he directed, ahead of True Confessions, Falling in Love and The Deep End of the Ocean. Dustin Hoffman plays Max, with Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, M. Emmet Walsh and Rita Taggart among the cast. The screenplay was written by Jeffrey Boam, Edward Bunker and Alvin Sargent, and the film was produced by Tim Zinnemann and Stanley Beck.

Made for about four million dollars, it took roughly ten million worldwide, a solid return. Viewers rate it well: 7.4 out of 10 on IMDb from around eleven thousand votes and 7.1 out of 10 on TMDB from over two hundred. Critics were more enthusiastic still, giving it 8.3 out of 10 across eleven reviews.