We've just been all wet as of late here in The Underworld...! Lots of things going on including a pretty serious surgery and follow-up for a family member and that has eaten up much of my time. But, apart from that, our May here has been nothing but cold and rain! So taking my cue from Mother Nature, I give you one more tardy April shower post. This one is from the lesser-known (but actually quite compelling) Dustin Hoffman film
Straight Time (1978.) A pet project of his that he initially intended to direct as well as star in, he plays an ex-con who runs into significant trouble trying to acclimate to life on the outside. (He's not helped by an aggressively accusatory parole officer, splendidly played by M. Emmet Walsh.) I've recently been catching some Hoffman movies that previously eluded me (including
Marathon Man, 1976) and have been surprised at how much I've enjoyed them. Straight Time has several strong supporting performances from people such as Walsh, Gary Busey, Harry Dean Stanton, Theresa Russell and even an early role for Miss Kathy Bates.
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Having been paroled and trying to make a go of it, Hoffman is suspected of a violation and is sent to the country jail, pending some lab results.
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A large gaggle of new inmates is thoroughly searched, then stripped down in order to shower, prior to being sent to their cells.
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The camera pans across the newbies as they're briskly washed up.
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Following this, their each handed a towel and lined up for disinfection.
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It is here that we find Hoffman, next in line to be hosed down with the spray.
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The sequence breezes by quickly, but keen-eyed viewers will be able to tell that the actor wasn't wearing any sort of modesty panel or the like...
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I can recommend this movie for reasons apart from this shower scene, including the wild comeuppance that parole officer Walsh receives. I hope to be back soon with more musings. Till next time!
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Great post and glad to hear from you. I'll look for this movie. I didn't know Hoffman was such a hottie.
ReplyDeleteBe sure to take care of yourself!
I remember seeing this in the theatre when it came out and that scene and Dusty's exposure came as a surprise, a welcome one! He was quite the fit specimen in those days and the type of actor who wouldn't hold back on full nudity if that was true to the scene, bless his heart.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could say I liked the film more than I did. I should give it another look, I haven't seen it since that initial view.
He's one of my favorite actors but if I need a Hoffman fix I turn to All the President's Men (one of my top five films ever), Tootsie or the other film you just mentioned having caught up with-Marathon Man. I LOVE that movie!!! Right from the first time I saw it (also in the theatre upon its release) I was completely pulled in by the story and the performances of all but especially Dustin and Laurence Olivier. It's fantastically kinetic, much like Three Days of the Condor, another film I'll watch at least once a year if not more.
Anyway this was a lovely surprise as I was passing by. Thanks for the day brightener!
Good luck with everything. I've seen this movie and it's really good, and I remember he gets a date.
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ReplyDeleteWHAT A BUSH!
Sorry to hear what you're dealing with, Poseidon! Thoughts and prayers that everything goes well!
ReplyDeleteI vaguely remember seeing this in the theater back at the time, though I think it might've been in second-run at an arthouse theater, because of the release date.
This was not a movie that I would've ordinarily seen, but I was talked into going to it on a date. As a result, I only recall very little-- mostly seeing early Gary Busey and Theresa Russell-- and a lot of that '70s gritty, "real" (i.e., low-budget) intensity. (And I don't recall seeing Kathy Bates, as much as I like her.)
Oddly enough, I think the film was chosen because it was directed by Ulu Grosbard, who was once a big thing in theater circles, and my date was a theater major at the time. Or it may have been because of Hoffman, who was still a major draw as an actor.
The shower room nudity isn't really all that surprising, given that particular moment in time. About a year later, THE ONION FIELD featured a shower scene with James Woods, a particularly upsetting scene involving prison sexual abuse. Unfortunately, most prints crop Woods' frontal nudity off the bottom edge, but it's still clear-- as with Hoffman-- that he was nude on set.
Anyway, another great post! Sorry I haven't been commenting recently-- though I have been reading and enjoying each post-- but my time has been a little tight recently, too.
Many thanks for all you do, Poseidon and love to all! Be safe and well, everyone!
A, I've always been pretty Hoffman-resistant, even "The Graduate" to a degree (watched for Anne and Katherine), but lately I've been seen a few things that I've enjoyed more than I expected to. Thank you!
ReplyDeletejoel65913, I have been longing for movies that have a real, loose grit to them - verisimilitude - versus the over-stylized, overly-detailed things that have been the norm for a couple of decades now. Since I missed many 1970s movies when they were released, I can enjoy them now (and in such better condition than when they were on VHS or aired on TV.) I ADORE "Three Days of the Condor." Super movie. And it was really interesting to me that with "Marathon Man," the characters played by Roy Scheider and William Devane were inferred to be lovers! The blatancy of it was removed but little traces remain in the dialogue. Thanks!
Gingerguy, I miss all your comments, even on the rotten posts! I hope all is well. Thanks!
Normadesmond, that's the '70s for you, right?! (Actually, it was the 1870s, too, and before! Ha ha!!)
hsc, Things are going all right. My relative was hacked up like one of those signs you see in a butcher shop with the various cuts outlined by perforated lines...! But he's healing. Kathy Bates played Busey's concerned wife. She has one decent scene with Hoffman and not too much else. It was neat to see her way back then. Whenever I pay tribute to shower scenes, there is inevitably at least one prison sequence! Fertile ground for men under the nozzle...! ;-) Thanks much.
DH is an overrated actor to me, but I still like him. He picked good movies. Nevertheless, I don't connect him with anything resembling sex appeal. Come to think of it, there wasn't much sexuality to the roles he chose. Maybe I'm wrong. Ratso Rizzo anyone?
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