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. Max is enraged about Jerry's death and takes his furry out on Willy (Gary Busey).
Did anyone notice how well Gary played this scene? Exactly right, he was scared, he couldn't cut the pressure, he was nervous to begin with. Yes, Dustin got to play the heavy and he is great at it but, MAN. All that stuff Gary did was subtle stuff, not that easy to play, right? You can just FEEL the intimidation, the fear, the guilt, all at the same time. Beautiful, really beautiful stuff. Not everyone can do that.
They way Busey stumbles over the word "on" is totally real. Like Walken, some people become parodies of themselves and the world forgets what great actors they started as.
Max gives him a bear hug to muffle the .357 slug he's going to put in Willy's gut. That's cold-blooded. Even the way Hoffman walks to his house is criminal and cold rage.
"Gimme a big old bear hug" showing his teeth as he says it. I can't even make it through less than four minutes of this movie without wanting to make like a dozen comments. What a masterpiece this is.
Brilliant acting from both of them..simply brilliant! Max doesn't accept responsibility for not respecting the time limit but he blames others for their shortcomings....this is not equitable. Jerry said he would never work with Max again and he was killed because of Max's stubbornness and greed.
Yeah, a lot of people actually miss that. Sure, Willy was a fuck-up in several ways....but Max also tries to live by some criminal "code" that he applies to everyone but himself. I remember the popular quote from George V. Higgins on Eddie Bunker's book No Beast So Fierce (from which this is based on) where he said: "He (Bunker) wrote it for criminals"....kind of saying it tells things from the criminals point of view and rationalizes some of their actions....to an extent it does....Bunker was well aware of the shortcomings of the penal system and the process of being institutionalized. However, he doesn't let his protagonists off the hook either....it's Max's greed, as you say, and also his almost 100% compulsive nature that's his downfall.
3:33 after the second bullet into Willy. Hoffman's face tells so much in the next few seconds...I could see Max's future pass before his eyes as he goes from sad to resolute in his actions. Max Dembo is now a murderer. No more "straight time" for him after this. Really great old movie. All the actors are so good, they went on and on to many other good films.
I think he probably had killed that cop who shot Harry Dean Stanton already....but I know what you mean....that was a self-preservation move...this was seeking someone out with the express intent to kill them.
You dont ditch your buddy but what do you do sit n wait to get arrested to..everything is Max's fault because he stayed at least 2 minutes past the timer
Busey may had ran off but remember he got Max busted by his parole officer for getting high in his room and getting his friend killed. Max was Justified for what he did.
Max is a bit awkward too. He shouldn't ever asked an addict to do it. Something wrong there. And Max himself put all in danger when during the heist he continued grabbing the juwels waaayyyyyyy too long.
Thanks for posting the clip. Just FYI. The term Straight Time isn't about going "straight" rather it refers to an inmate who just does his full sentence and refuses to participate in programs or anything that will cut time off his sentence.
this is a fabulous movie. great character study. I'd really like to see what he did and where he went for the past number of decades. a new flick should be made showing what happened all those years and where this character is today... still a bad ass.
Poor Willy, what he said was true and Max knew it. Max knows it's his fault Jerry got shot because he dragged ass at the crime scene needing to "grab everything". That's why he was extra mad and Willy had to die. Fuck I love this movie.
Dustin Hoffman was very underappreciated in these kinds of roles. He may not have been as intense or machismo as deniro or Pacino. But he found ways inside himself his version of that persona without caricaturing it. Some actors would over compensate because of their height, size, voice. But Hoffman masterfully always found a way to become the character he was playing even if it was outside of his range. It takes a high level of intelligence and intuition. I remember Kubrick said about Nicholson, he had a quality you can’t teach and that is playing intelligence.
Dustin Hoffman is always impressive, but some of the things he does in Straight Time are examples of his best work, this scene being one of them. Overall the movie has some flaws, with a few parts that drag, and the character as presented isn't always consistent, still, DH saves it.
Yes, Hoffman displays a calibre of acting here reminiscent of his strong work as Ratso Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy. It's unfortunate that his later performances don't reveal the wonderful naturalism he shows as Max Dembo.
If Willie stayed there longer with the car running, all became more and more dangerous, it s about making some money not about friendship . Max is kind of a freak
Yeah but he was still right in this scene. Max DID take way too long in the jewelry store. Underlying everything in this scene is the fact that Max knows it's his fault.
