Morgan Freeman has had a wonderful career defined by iconic performances playing everything from presidents to God himself, but do you remember that time he played a vicious pimp? Most people don’t. Which is strange because the massive critical acclaim from this stellar performance garnered Freeman his first of five (two wins) Oscar nominations.
Street Smart (1987) is a dark crime drama pitting Freeman’s “Fast Black” against Johnathan Fisher a reporter in way too deep played by a fresh-faced Christopher Reeve. It’s full of amazing performances which helped launch not only Freeman as a household name but was a major factor in Reeve being seen as something more than Superman.
The story surrounds a magazine reporter, Reeve’s Fisher, under a tight deadline who invents a salacious story about a pimp to save his job. His unethical Hail Mary is quickly hailed a sensation not only landing the cover of his trendy New York magazine but launches Fisher as the toast of the town.
The overflowing praise even lands Fisher a TV job on the local news doing real-life city features called “Street Smart”. Fisher’s meteoric rise is cut short by an ambitious assistant DA who threatens to derail his good fortune by compelling him to reveal his sources.
It seems Fisher’s made-up story closely resembles an actual pimp the DA’s office is currently prosecuting for murder. The details of the fictitious “Tyrone” from Fisher’s cover story mirrors Fast Black so much the DA forces Fisher to produce his notes, which don’t actually exist.
To make matters worse, Fast Black appears to enjoy the new found notoriety of Fisher’s fake story and is more than happy to play along with the lie, with a catch. Fisher must claim they were together the night of the murder providing Fast an airtight alibi. In other words, they both benefit from keeping each other’s secret, the reporter gets to keep his prize-winning reputation and the pimp gets away with murder, literally.
But Fisher soon discovers a deal with the devil is no bargain at all.
Street Smart wasn’t the usual 80s film to say the least. For starters it had a much more in common with the dark themes and notably unsavory characters of the previous decade. Much of the credit for this, outside David Freeman’s (no relation to Morgan) outstanding and partially autobiographical screenplay, was due to the visual style of director Jerry Schatzberg. Schatzberg’s previous films included The Seduction of Joe Tynan, as well as two extremely gritty Al Pacino features Panic in Needle Park and Scarecrow.
Outside of film directing, Schatzberg was better known for his iconic still images. Schatzberg didn’t just take famous photographs, his work literally helped define a generation. Perhaps his most iconic image is the out-of-focus portrait of Bob Dylan used for the album cover of Blonde on Blonde.
In Street Smart Schatzberg gives us a claustrophobic vision of New York. The party scenes are packed with extras so thick the leads have to back up against the wall to hold their ground. The street scenes, especially the stand-ups by Fisher reporting for his news segment, are besieged by onlookers attempting to make their way into the shot. Even intimate scenes feel cramped with small apartments, tight restaurant booths, and Fast’s insistence all passengers jam into the front seat while riding in his car. The film keeps us trapped with nowhere to go except along for the ride.
Perhaps part of the reason Schatzberg made New York feel so claustrophobic could be the majority of the film wasn’t actually shot there. The Cannon Group at the time run by Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus had recently paid an enormous amount to buy the Superman film rights from the Salkinds. Golan and Globus were eager to get Reeve to reprise his role in what would turn out to be his last time playing the Man of Steel. Reeve reluctantly agreed, but only on the condition they would agree to finance his passion project as well.
Originally titled Streets of New York, the film couldn’t find any funding despite having Reeve attached for nearly a decade. Reeve, still very much at the height of his fame, used his leverage to get Street Smart made but had to bow to the budget cuts of shooting in Canada instead of the Big Apple. Unlike most other films shot out of town it’s honestly tough to tell the difference here. Schatzberg makes the most of the seedy hooker hangouts and blinking neon wet streets that nothing ever gets lost in translation regardless of budget.
Despite the chopped budget and stand-in New York, Street Smart ultimately wins with its performances.
Freeman, who even in immediate retrospect deserved top billing alongside Reeve, still considers his performance as Fast Black his breakthrough role despite having over two decades of prior work under his belt. Although Freeman had been around for years on stage and screen, starring alongside everyone from Sigourney Weaver to Robert Redford, at that point in his career he was still perhaps best known as “Easy Reader” from the PBS kids show The Electric Company. According to producers Freeman wasn’t fond of his time working on The Electric Company despite the financial stability and notoriety it provided.
Over a decade after leaving the show Freeman would blow up the image of his former smooth talking hipster Easy Reader character by playing Fast Black. Both Fast and Easy undoubtably share similar DNA but with extremely different world views.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Freeman plays Fast with style, class, and a quiet cool that sometimes boils over into furious rage. In Fast’s opening scene we see him survey his territory being driven around by his right-hand man Reggie, played by a baby-faced Erik King who would later gain fame as Sgt. “surprise motherfucker!” Doakes in Showtime’s Dexter. Fast and Reggie come to the aide of one of their prostitutes who is being savagely beaten by a John. Fast is immediately kind, even understanding to the furious John as he attempts to defuse the volatile situation before kicking the guy in the balls causing him to have a heart attack.
The look on Freeman’s face as he realizes how fucked he is as the man succumbs to death is amazing. What should be a legit open and shut case of involuntary manslaughter becomes a murder two charge at the hands of the ambitious DA potentially landing Fast in jail for decades. Freeman gets you to like, sympathize, and be terrified of Fast all at the same time. A lesser actor might be tempted to play this “one note” but not Freeman. It’s no wonder he was nominated for an Oscar for this. Famed film critic Roger Ebert said of his performance “Freeman has the flashier role, as a smart, very tough man who can be charming or intimidating-whatever’s needed … Freeman creates such an unforgettable villain.”
Freeman would go onto win the Independent Spirit and New York Film Critic’s Awards for playing Fast in Street Smart and would later win a total of thirty awards over the course of his long career including Best Actor for Driving Ms. Daisy (1989) and Best Supporting Actor for Million Dollar Baby (2004).
Reeve is no slouch in this either despite being no match for Fast. A less confident star might have a problem playing lower status especially when top billed but Reeve shows real range as an actor. Reeve’s Fisher wants desperately to be cool and capable but consistently proves himself in over his head.
Prior to making up his magazine story Fisher actually attempts to tell a true one first. He immerses himself into the seedy underworld only to find no one will talk to him. With his deadline looming Fisher attempts a particularly ill-advised stunt in sending his girlfriend Alison played by Mimi Rogers into a lion’s den of lowlifes. Alison immediately runs afoul of Solo, another pimp, played by the late Rick Aviles. Aviles, most famous for playing Willie Lopez in Ghost, makes the most of his terrifying single scene which helps set the tone for the “shit just got real” side of this dark life. Reeve’s Fisher feels guilt, shame, and most of all foolish for allowing Allison to be put in such harm’s way, and for what, a story?
Reeve’s Fisher eventually figures out a way to get his life back from Fast but not before nearly losing everything.
Not only does Fisher go to jail twice for contempt of court but Alison barely survives being stabbed by Reggie at the behest of Fast. Alison’s stabbing occurs in broad daylight on a busy street and is so fast the audience, like Alison, barely registers it happened.
This is deeply disturbing. Fast lets Fisher know he can touch him whenever and wherever he wants. Out of options, Fisher finally finds enough courage to exact his revenge against Fast in a way I won’t spoil.
No discussion of Street Smart is complete without mentioning the amazing Kathy Baker.
Baker plays Punchy one of Fast’s top earning working girls who is both sympathetic and scheming but ultimately too trusting. Although Baker had firmly established herself on stage, most notably winning an Obie Award playing opposite Ed Harris in Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love, she’d only had a handful of films under her belt when she landed the part of Punchy. Still five years away from her three-time-Emmy nominated role as Dr. Jill Brock on TV’s Picket Fences here Baker plays a wildly different role. Baker’s Punchy is a sweet character who manages her seduction routine in such a way both the audience and Fisher wonder if it’s ever real or not. When Fisher asks Punchy partly out of both intellectual reporting and pure curiosity the age-old question of “What’s the strangest thing a guy ever asked you to do?”, she coyly replies, “talk.”
Baker is terrific in every scene in Street Smart but the infamous scissors scene is the most searingly unforgettable. When Fast suspects Punchy of disloyalty he sets out to punish her by announcing she gets to choose which eye he will cut out of her head with a rusty pair of scissors.
What follows is a scene so utterly terrifying it’s tough to describe. Watching Fast move between both of her eyes asking “…which one, the right, or the left?” is both a study in terror and a clinic in acting. Reggie and Harriet, played by Anna Maria Horsford, watch helplessly as Fast insist Punchy choose her punishment knowing they dare not intercede.
It’s worth noting especially in this chilling moment as good as Freeman is, his performance is elevated by the support he gets from King, Horsford, and Baker. The authority overflows in the scissor scene boosted by the trust of these seasoned pros. There have been countless scenes like this over the years but few are as credibly believable as this one is.
As an audience we always judge the main characters decisions. We ask ourselves “what would I do if that were me?” or “how would I get out of this?” Most of the time, especially in thrillers, we see characters make obvious bad choices for dramatic effect. That isn’t true here.
The authenticity of Street Smart lies in its simplicity. It puts us right alongside Reeve’s Fisher stuck firmly between a rock and a hard place. In the end, all of the choices Fisher has left are bad ones which is heartbreaking but damn entertaining. Reeve shows terrific range of emotion in Street Smart and I’m glad he fought to get made.
Street Smart is available for purchase on DVD and Blu-ray and is currently streaming on MGM+, Amazon Prime, The Roku Channel and Tubi.
Fred Shahadi is an award-winning filmmaker, playwright and television writer living in Los Angeles.
