Street Smart

3 Stars (out of four)

One of the things movies can provide an invaluable service, more than any other medium, is to give us a glimpse into the past.  Movies, like all art, are created by what is around them, and reflect the atmosphere from whence they came.  Because of the interactive "feel" they have, they put us in that world and make it more real than we ever could imagine, transporting us back to our youth or giving those who were not there a taste of what was and now isn't.  Street Smart, starring Christopher Reeve and a very early role for Morgan Freeman that we aren't used to seeing, is a bit like that.  But the funny thing is, Street Smart, for all of its posturing grandiosity, is actually relevant today, more than ever.  More on that later.

In Street Smart, Christopher Reeve takes off the big red S and plays Jonathan Fisher, an ambitious reporter in New York, looking for that big story that will give him his break.  He is in a professional rut, until one day in a fit of desperation, he pitches a story to his editor focusing on a Times Square pimp and his life after Rudolph Guiliani's cleanup of that notorious area.  When he finds that no one will speak to him and deadlines looming, he creates a fictional piece about "Tyrone," a fast-living pimp that becomes an instant hit, making Fisher the toast of the town.  The problem is, a real pimp, Fast Black, thinks it's about him.  Fast Black is on trial for murder, and it becomes evident that everyone thinks Fisher's story is about Fast Black.  When confronted about it, Fisher first stonewalls about the story, but when he finally admits it was a lie, nobody believes him.  Fisher is subpoenaed for his notes on the story and Fast Black sees this as an opportunity to give him an alibi by having Fisher say in those notes that he and Fast Black were somewhere else at the time the crime took place.  Fisher finds himself increasingly caught between having to do real time and professional disgrace on the one hand, and Fast Black killing him and everyone he knows on the other.

This movie is significant for two big reasons, Reeve and Freeman.  Both performances are excellent and both actors give a great turn at their respective roles.  It must be remembered that Reeve made this movie as his career was sliding, a year after the dreadful Superman IV: The Quest for Peace and he was actively trying to regain some of the lost luster from his previous superstardom.  This movie is actually very good, but flopped at the box office, providing a tantalizing look at what could have been a career resuscitation.  But the standout in the film is unquestionably Morgan Freeman.  While he had been acting for some time up to this point, and it was two years before 1989, his breakout year when he was in Lean On Me, Driving Miss Daisy, and his Oscar performance in Glory.  His portrayal as the alternatively charming and then menacing pimp Fast Black got him his first Oscar nod, giving us a taste of what would become one of the greatest careers in Hollywood.

The movie, while showing a rotten Montreal doubling as late 80's New York, is interesting and fun, it still has Hollywood's glamorous unglamorous portrayal of the world of prostitution.  Sometimes this is taken to ridiculous, even insulting extremes with hookers that look like Julia Roberts and Laura SanGiocomo in Pretty Woman.  White suburbia's idea of "the life," an exciting walk on the wild side with a little danger lurking on the fringes.  Just safe enough without getting too close to the world of junkies, whores and blood.  But this movie also allows a little realness to creep in occasionally.  While the hookers are a little too pretty and the lowlifes a tad too glamorous, the movie still has an odd touch of realism in it.  Mostly this is due to the two lead actors' superlative performances.

What is also interesting is that the story still has reverberations today, but not from where you'd think.  Recently, there has been the notorious case of the 60 Minutes story where sloppy journalism regarding George W. Bush's Vietnam record got the producer and Dan Rather fired from CBS.  There have been several cases of reporters in the last few years who have gone to jail for contempt of court for refusing to reveal their sources.  Journalistic rights and ethics have rarely been so attacked and yet so often manipulated.  A free press is the bulwark against tyranny, every dictator knows this and is the reason why many countries don't have a free press.  But in an age where the internet gives any yahoo an audience of potential millions (should I have just said that?), strong ethics in journalism have never been more important.  Movies like Street Smart, Network, Absence of Malice, Broadcast News, Good Night and Good Luck, and even Morning Glory and The Newsroom have never more been important on shining a light to induce discussions about these important issues.