A column in the 3 Feb 1975 Publishers Weekly outlined the development of the novel No Beast So Fierce, by Edward Bunker, the source material for Straight Time. When Bunker was an inmate at San Quentin State Prison in the early 1960s, he contacted New York literary agent Armitage Watkins, who agreed to advise him about writing. Bunker had already obtained a typewriter from Louise Wallis, a former actress and wife of producer Hal B. Wallis, and he would later participate in the Creative Writing Workshop founded by Robert Dellinger at the Federal Correctional Institution in Terminal Island, CA, as noted in a 20 Jul 1976 HR article and a 9 Feb 1977 LAT article. Dellinger was an inmate who had successfully transitioned from prison into writing for television series, such as Serpico, Streets of San Francisco and Switch. Watkins eventually submitted Bunker’s manuscript about a paroled convict to W.W. Norton & Co. in Jan 1972, and No Beast So Fierce was published the following year. Mirroring his fictional story, Bunker was paroled in Jun 1973, but re-entered prison after participating in a bank robbery. According to an item in a 15 Jun 1977 DV, the production company ImageNation shot behind-the-scenes footage of Straight Time for a television special on Bunker. The footage was included on the 2007 DVD edition as a featurette titled Straight Time: He Wrote It For Criminals, and indicated Bunker was released once again from prison on 23 Dec 1976, allowing him to work as a consultant and dialogue writer on set, in addition to his credits as a screenwriter and cast member.
       Producer Herbert Hirschman optioned the screen rights to Bunker’s novel months before publication, according to announcements in a 4 Oct 1972 DV brief and a 6 Oct 1972 HR brief. Dustin Hoffman, through his company Sweetwall Productions, Inc., took over Hirschman’s option and purchased the property in 1974, as noted in a 3 Feb 1975 Publishers Weekly column. An item in a 15 Mar 1974 HR article added that Hoffman acquired the rights for $80,000 while a 20 Jul 1976 HR news item listed the payment as $50,000, plus a percentage.
       An article in the 31 Oct 1975 DV stated that No Beast So Fierce, would be the first project for Hoffman under a new contract with The First Artists Production Company, Ltd. Hoffman signed with FAP in 1972, joining in a partnership with Paul Newman, Sidney Poitier, Barbra Streisand and Steve McQueen, and agreed to trade upfront salary for artistic autonomy, as the star and producer of two films, plus a share of the profits and gross, as described in DV articles from 14 Jan 1975 and 26 Jan 1979. Production costs were covered by an arrangement between FAP and Warner Bros. Pictures, who acted as distributor.
       A 28 Dec 2014 NYT article reported that filmmaker Michael Mann worked as an uncredited screenwriter on the film.
       Referring to the original title, No Beast So Fierce, a 20 Jul 1976 HR article listed Hal Ashby as the director, with a start date of 15 Oct 1976 in Los Angeles, CA. As noted in news briefs from a 9 Feb 1977 DV and a 28 Mar 1977 Box, the actual first day of production was 9 Feb 1977 at Folsom Prison near Sacramento, CA, with Hoffman making his directorial debut. The briefs also named Bonnie Bedelia as a cast member, but she was not credited in the film, and there was no additional information in the AMPAS production file regarding the outcome of her role.
       After a few days, filming was delayed when Hoffman stepped down as director. In his 10 Mar 1977 DV column, Army Archerd reported that Hoffman relinquished the responsibility by choice, after spending four days on location juggling the duties of a director, a starring role and an uncredited producer. In a NYT editorial dated 15 Sep 1998, Hoffman’s first assistant director, Jerry Ziesmer, recalled the first day of filming at Folsom involving a basic establishing shot of the prison. Hoffman requested constant resets, and by that evening, the crew still had not completed a single frame. According to Ziesmer, Hoffman spent only one day in the director’s chair. Archerd’s column named Ulu Grosbard as the new director, beginning on 28 Mar 1977. Following Grosbard’s involvement, news items referred to the film as Straight Time, a title that Grosbard called, in the 2007 DVD commentary, a simpler representation of the story’s theme than the literary name No Beast So Fierce.
       Press material confirmed that the film was primarily shot in the Los Angeles area, and the end credits acknowledged The Burbank Studios in Burbank, CA. In addition to Folsom Prison, the production used the county jail in San Bernardino, CA, according to a 21 Apr 1977 DV news item. The action sequence on the freeway with Hoffman and M. Emmett Walsh was filmed near the Sylmar neighborhood of Los Angeles and involved 11 stuntmen, as noted in a 16 May 1977 Box brief.
       A 23 Feb 1978 HR article mentioned that principal photography was completed in Sept 1977. However, in a 26 Jan 1979 DV interview, Hoffman stated that the production went on hiatus in July 1977 at the suggestion of FAP and did not resume filming. Hoffman alleged that the president of FAP, Phil Feldman, deceived him by not informing him that the mid-summer break was being considered as the end of the shooting schedule. If that were the case, Hoffman would not have consented to the recess.
       This conflict with Feldman was part of a larger dispute, represented by Hoffman’s filing of a $66 million lawsuit on 22 Feb 1978, accusing Feldman, FAP and Warner Bros. of seizing creative control of Straight Time as well as his second project for FAP,Agatha (1979, see entry). The lawsuit made headlines in a 23 Feb 1978 HR article, less than a month before the film’s release. Although Hoffman’s contract included a “takeover clause” in the event of budget or finishing date problems, the actor asserted that FAP’s illegal actions did not comply with that stipulation. A 26 Jan 1979 DV interview was Hoffman’s first published statement about the litigation, in which he emphasized that the disagreement was with Feldman and not his fellow artists and partners in FAP. Hoffman’s central objection was that Feldman had reneged on the promise of artistic autonomy by not allowing him to complete a final cut. In a 21 Mar 1979 NYT article, Hoffman maintained that, with the exception of the first 20 minutes, Straight Time was not his film. FAP filed a cross-complaint in Oct 1978, the details of which are reported in a 11 Oct 1978 DV article, including allegations that the film cost $5 million, $1 million over budget, and that the approved 61-day shooting schedule was stretched an extra 23 days. The cross-complaint also accused Hoffman of “‘neglecting’” to assemble a final cut in time for the agreed release day and “‘making derogatory statements’” about the project, which sabotaged the film’s reception and earnings. The outcome of the lawsuits has not been determined.
       The film’s box office was reported as a disappointing $4 million in film rentals by a 21 Mar 1979 NYT article. In a 15 Feb 1979 HR column, FAP stated that the financial results were responsible for a substantial decline in their overall revenues.