Dembo sure made his parole officer look like an idiot
Do you think Earl will still have a job after all of that?
shareThis topic brings me to a fatal flaw in the script. In the scene where Walsh surprises Hoffman in his new $17-a-week room, Dustin actually REVEALS that he is dating a girl at the employment agency who got him the canning job. My point is, once Hoffman stupidly attacks Walsh in the car and goes on the lam, he actually continues seeing Theresa Russell and even stays at her place!!!
It would've taken Walsh and the police no more than 24 hours to actually track Dusty down and send him back to the slammer. This is why the film perplexed me, as I kept waiting for Walsh to reenter the picture.
But the performances were all fantastic, especially the late great Sandy Baron.
But I don't think Max (Hoffman) ever gave the P.O. the name of his date, the name of her employment agency or the name of the canning factory. In Los Angeles, there's thousands of factories like that, thousands of employment agencies and thousands of pretty blondes. More important of all, there's thousands of Max Dembos on the lam.
I don't think what you mentioned was a fatal flaw in the script, it just showed the P.O. character Earl (Walsh) as ineffectual and too focused on using his authoritative position as a bargaining tool (eventhough he was dealing with an unreformed felon.)
I saw Straight Time a lot of years ago and thought it was mostly a good movie, a very 70's movie, but the scene when Max attacks his P.O. officer just didn't ring true. It seems like such a commotion would attract attention, even in L.A., and that could've hindered Max's escape. And even if he did escape, couldn't the police just circulate Max's mugshot and info to all the canneries and employment agencies in the area, especially if that's all done by referral? Not every place wants to deal with or hire ex-cons so that could narrow the focus.
I haven't read the novel Straight Time is based upon, but I'm thinking that Earl Frank, the P.O. character, was written as a petty tyrant and somewhat of a buffoon who tells off color jokes and dresses in loud clothes, his characterization in the script seems that way. But M. Emmett Walsh's portrayal of Earl Frank seemed more menacing and authoritative than the way it was written in the script, and Walsh certainly held his own against Dustin Hoffman who is one of the great actors of his era.
I thought it would have made more sense if Max allowed the P.O. to take him to the halfway house, then when the P.O. finally gets tired of needling him and leaves him alone, he can try to make his hook up with old pal Jerry Schue and go from there without the worry of law enforcement searching for him. Just a thought.
We have to think the PO was as a dirty low down skunk. That is why we don't hear too much of a stink about Max beating him up and stealing his car and why they did not find him asap. I had a feeling he had a million complaints about him. And this might have happened to him before. And him bringing the incident up about Max might cast more light on those complaints. See if you know a person is corrupt or has a lot to hide you can do things to him like Max did because we know no one is going to complain. And chances are Max being street wise knew that PO was going to nothing.
shareI thought it would have made more sense if Max allowed the P.O. to take him to the halfway house,
Based on the conversation in the car, I doubt the halfway house is where Earl Frank (Walsh) was really going to take Max Dembo (Hoffman).
This is how I construed Earl finding the recently lit match in Dembo's room:
1. Earl thought Max was doing drugs.
2. Earl arrested Max to have him checked for drug use.
3. Max was clean, so that would mean it was someone Max let into the room.
4. #3 would have been a violation of Max's parole, and an even bigger violation considering the drug user Willy (Busey) was also a felon.
5. Earl kept pressuring Max to tell him who the drug user was. If Max didn't tell him, he subtly threatened to send him back to jail. On the other hand, if Max did reveal who it was, he would go back to jail anyway and eventually prison for associating with another felon.
IMHO, the reassurance that Earl was taking Max to a halfway house was diversion to have Max confess who did the drugs. No parole officer would have let that slide, and the P.O. already used diversion tactics to apprehend Max without a struggle.