A scene from the 1978 cult film, STRAIGHT TIME. Stars a mustached Dustin Hoffman as a criminal trying to go 'straight' after being released from prison. He belts his parole officer (M. Emmett Walsh) and gets away.
Well done my friend. This is one of Dustin Hoffman's best performances and no-one ever talks about it !!! I try to descibe hoew scary Dustin's charcter is in this film but I can tell they don't belive me. You have to see the film to understand how good he is in this role.
it's my favorite DH film. imagine, kids, that half-naked parole officer didn't have folks riding by w/ cell phones .no telling how long he'd be there .Max starts robbing full time, now.
Fun Fact: According to the director, Everything in that scene was in the script except for Hoffman pulling down his pants... M. Emmet Walsh playing the Parole Officer was mad at Hoffman up until they finished filming.
Joe Lazarus LOL!! Joe, that's a great detail, one I'd never heard. But, as I commented above, Dustin had that split second "Am I do this shit or not?" in his FACE you can see it! I bet he was SO in the character that the pulling down the pants was an improvisational thing...that poor fatso Emmet, though...I mean, everybody on an L.A. freeway gotta see your fat ass and junk?
Dustin Hoffman on the DVD commentary said he asked Emmett Walsh before filming if he was okay having his pants pulled down and Walsh said yes. I have to believe he did because Walsh would have killed him! Or at least demanded it not be used. Hoffman came up with the idea because it happened to him in high school. He worked up the courage to talk to a girl he liked and then a bully pulled down his pants exposing him to the whole school.
Paisley Princess--- He deserved to die but Max had to bounce. A PO like that will be looking for something the entire time you are on parole, to put you back in. That is, unless you smooch his ass enough, be his punk and chota...I tell you though, that guy who played the PO was GOOD, man! He had that "type" down cold. "Hey, 'MAN', we share a couple a pussy jokes it's like we boys, right?" Fucking cops. Dustin Hoffman, in that split second decision to toss it all out the window---"Am I gonna spend the next few years in fear of this piece a power hungry shitbag just aching to gig me? OR, do I go to the street where I at least, even as a fugitive, have my own brand of freedom for as long as I can last? Anybody that's ever been in the system recognizes so much in this great movie.
Another one of my favorite movies.Dustin Hoffman is an amazing actor.All the performances were outstanding.He definitely deserved it but I always felt a little bad for the P.O. when they were yelling fatso at him.
I should have done that to my previous life skills coach who forced me to get a haircut and withdraw money from a bank in which I don't have an account stored in. He was using me to do things for him.
It always seemed to me that they would have caught up to Max fairly quick. He told the parole officer he was seeing that chick from the unemployment office, plus they could have looked up his old criminal associates. I don't think he would have made it to the jewelry heist before they caught him.
yeah, great scene.he had to navigate as well as assault the driver. and it's shot well. Hoffman apparently didn't have a great experience on this shoot, and doesn't talk about it much. I think he was on...'actor's studio'' w/ Lipton, and it didn't even come up. Harry Dean Stanton, as usual, was great in a supporting role.
Thanks so much for posting these scenes from Straight Time, a great, underrated (or at least under-known) film. This has got to be one of the most memorable film scenes of all time.
Great movie, great acting, great cast, great screenplay and no one's ever heard of it. Amazing. Yet they hyped "Good Will Hunting," or "Shipping News" movies that are an colossal waste of celluloid.
I'm an old man in his 70s, never did any time. In the drunk tank a couple of times, but nothing. I've known some serious men in my life. Long dead. Smitty from Texas, Red from Oklahoma. They both did serious state time for violent felonies. Whenever I watch this scene, I smile for my memory of them.
For an interesting story: google Theresa Russell ( the lead actress.... Hoffman's girl) and Pete Townshend....in his memoir he talks about being obsessed with her based on the movie Bad Timing.....
Last night I saw this movie in a cinema. The first act is good but after this scene, the movie sucks- it becomes a POS robbery movie with a very unrealistic love story
