BUST OUT INTO THE STREETS! Straight Time (1978)

Tonight's movie concerns an ex-con, played by Dustin Hoffman, who enters back into society after serving time in prison, only to arrive in a world full of more hassles on the outside than he can possibly handle. Based on a book written by real life ex-con Edward Bunker, this movie is an excellent expose of underworld criminals who crave the action and release and easy money that robbing and thieving provide. Made in 1978, when the world still had a gritty, seedy, decadent look to it, this movie captures a place and time as far from us as the roaring 20s. Hoffman's nervous, tense performance keeps you interested in the petty mind twist of a life long criminal hell bent on going straight but not having the full understanding how to get there. A sweet artifact and a well played, well made portrait of a man desperate for much more than the hell he got himself into.