Street Smart 1987.

Street Smart, 1987, Christopher Reeve, Morgan Freeman, Kathy Baker.

Not a bad little movie.

Christopher Reeve plays an ambitious journalist who is struggling to find a story that will get him noticed. Under threat of losing his job, he decides to invent a story about a pimp who has befriended and has been giving him warts and all information about how he works. Naturally the story is sensational and he is praised by his bosses. Until real life pimp Morgan Freeman sees similarities to his situation and assumes Reeve is writing about him. Naturally Freeman seeks Reeve out and an uneasy relationship begins. There are some interesting twists and turns as Freeman is up for murder, and sees his relationship with Reeve as a way to manipulate himself out of the situation.

It's an interesting premise, and while its not a bad film its not all it could have been. Its good to see Reeve play a different kind of role, and he is good if not spectacular. Kathy Baker invests the 'tart with a heart' role with more nuance than you would expect. But its Morgan Freeman that is the revelation here. Much younger, and at once terrifyingly threatening and friendly, as likely to shove a bottle in your face as to shake your hand. His performance reminded me of a younger Richard Pryor with a dash of Samuel Jackson thrown in. In fact Freeman was nominated for an oscar for this role.

But few people would know any of this because as usual, Cannon films who made it barely released it at all. In fact, this was a pet project of Reeves that he wanted to make, and he had a deal with Golan and Globus that he would make Superman 4 in return for them financing this movie. And we all know how that turned out...