This film did not meet with much commercial success on release and this is down to a script that just doesn't get any buy in from me. The tale is stale and oft-told: ex-con beset by a mean parole officer meets a beautiful and caring young woman who turns out to not only not care that the ex-con is an ex-con, but adoringly and otherwise inexplicably follows along with him even after learning that he's shot a police officer.
This conceit has been done better many times before and since, with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw's "The Getaway" coming immediately to mind. Dustin Hoffman is miscast, and then plays his part in a far too nice guy vibe; even then it's again inexplicable that he would commit not one but two murders.
The story is authored by a real ex-con, who also co-wrote the screenplay, and it reads a lot like a boyhood fantasy in which fate shapes events that throw the girl of one's dreams into one's lap.
Good performances by Gary Busey and Harry Dean Stanton, some gritty mid-1970s vibe, but neither a compelling nor rewarding watch.
This conceit has been done better many times before and since, with Steve McQueen and Ali McGraw's "The Getaway" coming immediately to mind. Dustin Hoffman is miscast, and then plays his part in a far too nice guy vibe; even then it's again inexplicable that he would commit not one but two murders.
The story is authored by a real ex-con, who also co-wrote the screenplay, and it reads a lot like a boyhood fantasy in which fate shapes events that throw the girl of one's dreams into one's lap.
Good performances by Gary Busey and Harry Dean Stanton, some gritty mid-1970s vibe, but neither a compelling nor rewarding watch.