Street Smart
March. 20,1987 RA New York journalist lies when his fake story about a pimp describes a real pimp up for murder.
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Reviews
Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike
Film Perfection
The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
Morgan Freeman has a commanding presence and he does it with such little ease. Here is no different in a pimp role, as you could say outside the fittingly gritty and authentic urban location work that really puts you there. He is the best thing about this movie. Giving his character plenty of personality with weight, but an underlining edginess that sees him playing it rough when he "had" too. That's not taking anything away from the likes of Christopher Reeve, Kathy Baker and Mimi Rogers. Reeves is rather accomplished as the reporter who finds himself in a difficult position --- career and personal life, but his morals are really put to the test. The ladies are the ones who come off being the ones you care for. New York journalist Jonathan Fisher is not getting anywhere in his attempt to write an article on prostitution, so he writes a fictional expose on a pimp, that ends up seeing him gather numerous praise for its realism. However this fake piece seems to resemble that of a real life pimp; "Fast Black" who's on trail for murder. As things become unstuck, Fisher now finds himself caught in a dangerous predicament with the distract attorney on one side wanting these notes and Fast Black on the other trying to get him on his side by showing him in the real life of a pimp. How one little lie can escalate into something much more. This smoky dramatic thriller doesn't exploit the glamorous nature, but gets dirty as things spiral out of control and circumstances are manipulated to suit one's own favour. This leads to some dangerous consequences for both sides. The interplay between Freeman and Reeves' characters are always gripping and at times quite intense and spontaneous. The rigid narrative does have some questionable details, but remains digestible and cleverly explosive up until its sudden ending of street justice that the courts couldn't supply. Also memorable is the swaying jazz flavour to the music soundtrack and Baker as one of Fast Black's hookers. This enterprise was produced by Cannon."We don't like to lose."
If only Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Jon Voight, or maybe Pater Falk or Robert Blake, or even Robert Redford played that part, it would have been much better. Reeve was weak, and did not deliver what was needed. AND it needed a good soundtrack, something like shaft. There is also some bad editing and direction. What is amazing is the locations. New York has changed so much and so fast, it's really great to see the street scenes I forgot, especially when SOHO was still somewhat not overcrowded. And many interior shots of the run down buildings are just great. What they missed was fitting in a few landmarks, and the fulton fish market, of course. Still, Reeve was good for the comic strip Superman portrayal, but I have never seen him do anything worthy of praise. He had looks, and was well rewarded for that.
I found this movie to be very entertaining and well done, with good performances across the board. I agree with previous reviewers that the late Chris Reeve's performances in other movies, and at times this one, could be seen as wooden. That being said, I think he played his role extremely well, because it was able to work with Morgan Freeman's outbursts and explosions. Because of the problems encountered by his fabricated story, Reeve's performance was handled well being outside of his environment as much as he was. He was unsure and understated, and being a reporter, being unemotional was in his well being. On the other end, Morgan Freeman was fantastic! Seeing him in a role like this makes you want to see him take on a role where he can be the loose cannon. This movie can show what happens when you "create" a story and you do it TOO well. More people should see it and comment on it.
This film brought Morgan Freeman to my attention for the first time. After, I became a devoted fan. The "scissor scene" between he and Kathy Baker was absolutely chilling and a tribute to both actors. I was mesmerized. The love scene between Christopher Reeves and Baker was sensuality personified.