Dustin Hoffman gives one of his finest, scrappiest and least sappy performances as Max Dembo, a cagey, scuzzy, ferociously self-reliant sociopathic ex-con who gets sprung from the joint and makes a game, albeit futile attempt at going legit, only to wind up resorting to his old criminal ways after his browbeating, grossly unfair and overzealous parole officer (a superbly slimy M. Emmet Walsh) fouls up his chances at becoming a decent, law-abiding citizen with some trumped-up bulls**t drug charge.
Under Ulu Grosbard's tight, no-frills, naturalistic direction, this marvelously gritty and hard-hitting semi-verite crime drama makes for a terrifically tough-minded adaptation of real-life reformed hoodlum Edward Bunker's exceptional semi-autobiographical novel "No Beast So Fierce" (Bunker co-wrote the rough, resolutely unromantic no-nonsense script and has a funny bit part as one of Max's connected underworld pals) as well as a savagely trenchant indictment of our society's cruelly ineffectual prison reformation system and a provocative meditation on the struggle for redemption. The supporting cast makes the grade with flying colors: the gorgeous Theresa Russell as a guileless, but headstrong welfare worker who gets more than she bargained for when she hooks up with Max; Gary Busey as a deplorably craven, heroin-addicted wheelman with a backbone of jello, a then unknown Kathy Bates as Busey's loving wife, and, best of all, the ever-awesome Harry Dean Stanton as an uncomfortably mellowed-out erstwhile jailbird who gladly chucks away his hideously banal suburbanite existence in order to embark on an exciting robbing spree with Max. Further strengthened by David Shire's sprightly blues score, Owen Roizman's agile, but scruffy cinematography, a suitably harsh and unglamorous depiction of brutish low-life crooks and the grimy, seedy, and dangerous down'n'dirty milieu they inhibit, a lively, adrenaline-pumping jewelry store heist sequence, and a rigorously grim, downbeat, unsentimental tone that stays bleakly true to itself to the literal bitter end, this extremely powerful knock-out undeservedly tanked at the box office, but has rightfully amassed a sizable cult following which correctly proclaims it as one of the single most remarkable and shamefully underrated sleepers from the 70's.
Under Ulu Grosbard's tight, no-frills, naturalistic direction, this marvelously gritty and hard-hitting semi-verite crime drama makes for a terrifically tough-minded adaptation of real-life reformed hoodlum Edward Bunker's exceptional semi-autobiographical novel "No Beast So Fierce" (Bunker co-wrote the rough, resolutely unromantic no-nonsense script and has a funny bit part as one of Max's connected underworld pals) as well as a savagely trenchant indictment of our society's cruelly ineffectual prison reformation system and a provocative meditation on the struggle for redemption. The supporting cast makes the grade with flying colors: the gorgeous Theresa Russell as a guileless, but headstrong welfare worker who gets more than she bargained for when she hooks up with Max; Gary Busey as a deplorably craven, heroin-addicted wheelman with a backbone of jello, a then unknown Kathy Bates as Busey's loving wife, and, best of all, the ever-awesome Harry Dean Stanton as an uncomfortably mellowed-out erstwhile jailbird who gladly chucks away his hideously banal suburbanite existence in order to embark on an exciting robbing spree with Max. Further strengthened by David Shire's sprightly blues score, Owen Roizman's agile, but scruffy cinematography, a suitably harsh and unglamorous depiction of brutish low-life crooks and the grimy, seedy, and dangerous down'n'dirty milieu they inhibit, a lively, adrenaline-pumping jewelry store heist sequence, and a rigorously grim, downbeat, unsentimental tone that stays bleakly true to itself to the literal bitter end, this extremely powerful knock-out undeservedly tanked at the box office, but has rightfully amassed a sizable cult following which correctly proclaims it as one of the single most remarkable and shamefully underrated sleepers from the 70's.