X
  • 1978
  • R
  • Warner Bros.
  • 1 h 54 m
  • 1978
  • R
  • Warner Bros.
  • 1 h 54 m

Summary After being released on parole, a career burglar assaults his former probation officer, returns to a life of crime, and goes on the run.

Directed By: Ulu Grosbard, Dustin Hoffman

Written By: Edward Bunker, Alvin Sargent, Jeffrey Boam, Michael Mann, Nancy Dowd

  • 1978
  • R
  • Warner Bros.
  • 1 h 54 m
  • 1978
  • R
  • Warner Bros.
  • 1 h 54 m

Straight Time

Metascore Generally Favorable Based on 9 Critic Reviews
64
User Score Generally Favorable Based on 6 User Ratings
7.2
My Score
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Where to Watch

Summary After being released on parole, a career burglar assaults his former probation officer, returns to a life of crime, and goes on the run.

Directed By: Ulu Grosbard, Dustin Hoffman

Written By: Edward Bunker, Alvin Sargent, Jeffrey Boam, Michael Mann, Nancy Dowd

Where to Watch

Top Cast

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Critic Reviews

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Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 9 Critic Reviews
64
56% Positive
5 Reviews
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

 View All
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 9 Critic Reviews
64
56% Positive
5 Reviews
44% Mixed
4 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews

  • All Reviews
  • Positive Reviews
  • Mixed Reviews
  • Negative Reviews
80
Straight Time is a powerful film that shows a criminal as he is. The film has no tired explanations for Hoffman's behavior, no fingers are pointed, no apologies or excuses are offered.
FULL REVIEW
80
Straight Time is not a movie to raise the spirits. It is so cool it would leave a chill were it not done with such precision and control that we remain fascinated by a rat, in spite of ourselves.
By Vincent Canby FULL REVIEW
70
Small in scale, grittily realistic, charged with a fierce intelligence about how people live on the other side of the law, the film makes few concessions to an audience's expectations, but it has an edgy, lingering intensity. [03 Apr 1978, p.91]
By David Ansen FULL REVIEW
63
Straight Time is an exquistitely crafted film, loaded with good performances, propelled by excellent direction and brimming with heart-wrenching suspense. Unfortunately, it is also overwhelmingly depressing. [24 Mar 1978]
FULL REVIEW
60
One yearns for a routine cops and robbers story, but Grosbard lingers with illusory impartiality over the technical details of the parole system, the problems of finding accommodation and work, and the nastiness of the backyard pool-and-barbecue life-style of riche America.
FULL REVIEW
50
The script has first-rate, hardheaded, precise, sometimes funny dialogue, but it errs in bringing this girl too much to the center. Dramatically, the film lacks snap; there isn't enough tension in the way Max destroys his freedom, and so the story drags--it seems to have nowhere to go but down.
By Pauline Kael FULL REVIEW
40
Straight Time is a most unlikeable film because Dustin Hoffman, starring as a paroled and longtime criminal, cannot overcome the essentially distasteful and increasingly unsympathetic elements in the character. Ulu Grosbard's sluggish direction doesn't help.
FULL REVIEW

User Reviews

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User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 6 User Ratings
7.2
83% Positive
5 Ratings
17% Mixed
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings

User Reviews

 View All
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 6 User Ratings
7.2
83% Positive
5 Ratings
17% Mixed
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company First Artists, Sweetwall
Release Date Mar 17, 1978
Duration 1 h 54 m
Rating R
Genres
Tagline "Please God, don't let him get caught."
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