STREET SMART *

"Street Smart" is a mostly mediocre movie, (most Globus and Golan productions were mediocre movies), directed by Jerry Schatzberg, (I expected more from the man who made "Scarecrow" and "The Panic in Needle Park"), that still managed to pick up a slew of acting prizes thanks to Morgan Freeman and Kathy Baker, both excellent as a murderous pimp and one of the women who works for him. Between them, they just about redeem an extremely far-fetched story about a journalist, (Christopher Reeves, far from his best), who makes up a story about a New York pimp that is taken to be true by the Establishment and in particular by the courts. There is something rather unpleasant about the stereotyping in a movie that, I gather, is really about the dismantling of stereotypes. It's Reeves' character who comes up with name 'Street Smart' for the title of his article; Street Stupid would have been more appropriate.