Street Smart
Short description
Jonathan Fisher is a New York magazine reporter whose position is under threat, so he pitches a piece on street prostitution to his editor. Unable to get close to anyone in that world, he invents a pimp as his subject and writes the profile as though it were real. The fabricated story is a success, and further assignments follow, but the invention takes on a life of its own when the police decide the man in the article is an actual person: Leo Smalls, known as Fast Black, who is suspected of murder. Fisher finds himself caught between the authorities and the criminal he never met.
Street Smart was released in March 1987 and runs 97 minutes. It was directed by Jerry Schatzberg, whose earlier features were The Panic in Needle Park and Scarecrow; this was the third film he directed. David Freeman wrote the screenplay, and Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus produced for Cannon Group and Golan-Globus Productions. Christopher Reeve plays Fisher, with Kathy Baker, Mimi Rogers, Jay Patterson, Andre Gregory and Morgan Freeman, who appears as Leo Smalls. Twenty-five performers are credited.
The film was made for about 5 million dollars and returned roughly 1 million at the worldwide box office. On IMDb it holds 6.4 out of 10 from around 4,500 votes; on TMDB it stands at 6 out of 10 from 90 votes. A critics' rating of 6.1 out of 10 from 15 reviews places it close to the audience scores, indicating a mixed but not dismissive reception.
What's left behind the scenes
- Cannon Group, Inc. agreed to finance this project, a role Christopher Reeve dreamed of playing, only when he agreed to star in another Superman film. The result of this agreement was 'Street Smart' and Sidney J. Furie's science fiction action film 'Superman IV: The Quest for Peace' (1987).
- Christopher Reeve didn't immediately agree to appear in this film. After receiving the script, he read a few pages, decided it wasn't for him, and tossed it into a pile of other scripts in his bedroom. Only weeks later did the script catch his eye again; the actor decided to try reading it one more time, and this time fell in love with it, deciding that this script would be the basis for his next film.
- Some scenes were filmed in the old 'Seville Theater.' By the time of filming, it had been closed for a long time, and the filmmakers decorated it to resemble a 42nd Street, New York adult cinema, leading to rumors among those unaware of the production that it would become a 'porn palace.' However, after filming was completed, all the decorations were removed, and the building remained closed. As of 2006, it was in terrible condition, neglected by the owners, but city officials continued to deny them permission to demolish it, stubbornly calling the facade 'an element of architectural heritage with historical value.'
- Christopher Reeve did not have the most pleasant memories of filming, because producer Menachem Golan (1929-2015) constantly interfered with the process. He was simply obsessed with saving the film's budget. Reeve and director Jerry Schatzberg wanted to shoot the film on the streets of New York, but Golan, in the interest of economy, insisted on filming in Canada.
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