Street Smart (1987) * * *

Directed by:  Jerry Schatzberg

Starring:  Christopher Reeve, Morgan Freeman, Kathy Baker, Mimi Rogers, Andre Gregory

Jonathan Fisher (Reeve) is a desperate journalist for the New Yorker looking to save his job after each of his article ideas is rejected by his editor.  He then befriends a local hooker named Punchy (Baker), who doesn't want to give up information about her pimp, but she tells enough for Jonathan to create a phony article on a pimp named Tyrone.  The article is a success, he is now the toast of the town, and soon Jonathan finds himself on television covering investigative pieces.  All is great, until Punchy's pimp Fast Black (Freeman) is arraigned for murder and his lawyer notices the subject of Jonathan's article sounds an awful lot like his client. 

Jonathan is now caught in a lie, and this has legal ramifications for him should his secret come out.  His editor stands by him, but the court wants his notes, which Jonathan doesn't have of course, and the web of deceit grows larger.   Fast Black, who is as smart as he is ruthless, decides to use Jonathan's deception to his advantage.   He agrees to become Jonathan's interview subject legitimately, if Jonathan makes up notes and provides Fast Black with an alibi for his murder charge.  

Street Smart was Morgan Freeman's breakthrough role and his first Oscar-nominated role.  He can be charming and friendly, but then turn into a murderous monster without any notice.  Ask Punchy, who in a critical scene is reduced to a crying mess by the sheer force of Fast Black's personality.  Christopher Reeve's Jonathan rightly can't hold a candle to Fast Black.  He is out of his league and is being crushed by his own lie.  He's hardly a moral center, but we somewhat want him to get away with it because the other people in his life, except for his girlfriend (Rogers), don't seem to have much in the way of a moral compass either.  

Street Smart doesn't necessarily end convincingly.  Jonathan turns into a hero when he shouldn't, and do we really think he could stay on television after all of the public legal wrangling he was involved in.