GamerTab That was an excellent one.

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

bhurstgent 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.

MisterWhiplash Jerry Schatzberg (Scarecrow, Panic in Needle Park) can be an attentive director to the mundane and the types of people in urban environments left by the wayside, but he needs something of a really powerful script to work with. For some of its powerful and intriguing and sometimes oddly funny scenes, Street Smart doesn't have a great script. It is mostly conventional, in fact, tailored for Christopher Reeve's pet project (apparently he got to star in this thanks, and/or no thanks, to Superman 4), and it is also tailored for what Reeve can do as a somewhat limited actor. He's a great star in the sense of his presence and charm on camera, but can only be taken so far as to how he can work with other actors, or what he has to work with which is usually not very much. Thankfully, there's one actor that shoots to the moon and outshines everybody by a mile, particularly for this kind of project.(Reeve's) character Jonathan in Street Smart is a journalist who's down on his luck with stories until he comes up with a sure-fire bet to spring him back: the day in the life of a pimp for New York magazine (yes, New York has done and still does these kind of profiles). At first, he just makes it up with a person named 'Tyrone'. But it turns out his story, which includes details of a murder, fits relatively (or a lot) with Fast Black (Morgan Freeman), a take-no-prisoners thug in the guise of a man of the streets who is a force of evil, but a devilishly charming one at that, turning on a dime from street-savvy pimp to ruthless abuser and, as it turns out, killer. Jonathan thinks it'll be alright despite what was or wasn't in the written piece, and meets with and follows along Fast Black for a day. It soon starts to go further down from here.Schatzberg does best in capturing this now (thankfully) wiped-away street life and porno district along Times Square and in other parts of New York, going along at times casually- too casually perhaps- in getting this mood down. He also neglects certain things in the story, like the importance of Jonathan's own flaws and fooling around with a prostitute, and some details about him as a TV news reporter. And yet, even with faults in the writing, Schatzberg got one thing incredibly right: casting Freeman as Fast Black. This is a part that could have been played up, maybe even as an exploitation flick, but Freeman takes hold of it and creates his breakthrough film performance (it was shortly after this he got Lean on Me and Driving Miss Daisy). It would be one thing if he hammed it up, but somehow he doesn't; his Fast Black is a lucid, hot-headed, vicious but somehow human villain in Street Smart, and he ends up bringing out the best in Reeve and Kathy Baker and his other co-stars like his prostitutes, including one terrifying scene where one asks to quit.Years from now, when Freeman likely will get some AFI tribute or something or lifetime achievement on TV, Street Smart might be neglected among his most famous parts but shouldn't be. It's a case of an actor raising material, which is neither spectacular or mediocre but just about alright 80s material, higher than it deserves to be, which is both a credit to him and to Schatzberg for reeling him along just right.

Boyo-2 Morgan Freeman's performance is the only reason to see this movie. Any life the movie has is supplied by him, and quite frankly, its really boring when he's not on the screen. Chris Reeve has a story published about a pimp who is a little too close in description to Freeman, so the D.A. wants all his notes about the interviews. Trouble is, Reeve made up the whole thing. He has no access to the man. But he gets close to him anyway, thanks to Kathy Baker's hooker with social skills. So the D.A. and the courts do not leave Reeve alone, and he soon regrets his own imagination. Freeman commits crimes that put Reeve in jail, because now he has obstructed justice. Mimi Rogers is seen briefly as Reeve's white bread counterpart. There is a stupid scene between her and the late Rick Aviles in a bar that does not seem to serve any purpose. Very little happens of significance. I appreciate this movie if it gave Morgan a chance to be in other movies, and of course his Oscar nomination didn't hurt, I am sure. Movie is beneath him now, though. And me, too. 4/10.

risaacs 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.