User Reviews

This 24-minute documentary provides an interesting and illuminating portrait of ex-con turned writer Edward Bunker, whose gritty novel "No Beast So Fierce" was adapted into the film "Straight Time" starring Dustin Hoffman as a character based on Bunker. Bunker talks about how his parents divorced when he was only four years old and being made a ward of the state, which led to him falling into a life of crime and becoming the youngest convict to be incarcerated at San Quentin at age seventeen. Moreover, we also see Bunker working as a technical consultant on the set of "Straight Time" and see a clip of Bunker playing a small part in the movie. In addition, we also see former bank robber John Carlen serving as a consultant for the bank robbery set piece and writer Joseph Wambaugh points out that Bunker's writing is at its weakest dealing with square people due to all the time that Bunker spent in prison. Worth a watch.