Street Smart is based, in part, on real-life experiences of screenwriter David Freeman, who fabricated a story about a pimp for a prestigious news magazine and got away with it. The 30 Mar 1987 issue of New York magazine reported that Freeman was working as one of its writers in the late 1960s, and wrote a much heralded piece titled “The Lifestyle of a Pimp” for the 5 May 1969 issue. The magazine was relatively new at that point and did not have a fact-checking department, so Freeman’s deception was never discovered. During an interview to promote the movie in the 30 Mar 1987 issue, however, the magazine’s film critic, David Denby, quizzed the screenwriter about the truthfulness of the 1969 story, and Freeman confessed that he made the entire story up, saying, “I was trying to write fiction in the form of journalism.”
       In the late 1970s, Freeman wrote his screenplay, then titled Streets of New York, and Filmways Pictures was set to make it. The 18 Apr 1980 DV reported that Sydney Pollack was producing the film, with an $8 million budget and a fall 1980 start date. However, nothing happened with the project.
       In Nov 1985, actor Christopher Reeve was looking for his next film. Promotional materials in AMPAS library files indicate Reeve noticed the screenplay on his bookshelf. He had received it four years earlier, but had not read it at the time. He loved the script, and contacted his agent, who informed him that David Freeman had revised the screenplay in 1984 and changed the name to Street Smart.
       Meanwhile, in Jun 1985, Cannon Pictures purchased the rights to the Superman movie franchise from Alexander and Ilya Salkind, the father-and-son producing team who brought the “Man of Steel” from the comic book pages to the big screen with 1978’s Superman, 1981’s Superman II, and 1983’s Superman III (see entries). Reeve had become a star playing “Superman” in those three films, but as the 3 Jun 1986 HR explained, he swore off the part following his disappointment with the way Superman III turned out. Cannon was determined to cast Reeve in another “Superman” movie, but he declined their offers.
       Once Reeve found the Street Smart script, he contacted Cannon chairman Menahem Golan in Dec 1985 and worked out a deal. The 5 Feb 1986 DV announced a two-picture contract in which Cannon would finance Street Smart with a $7-million budget in exchange for Reeve’s commitment to wear the Superman cape once again. Reeve also pitched the story idea that was used for Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987, see entry).
       Similarly, Reeve was involved in rewriting the Street Smart script. Promotional materials in AMPAS library files show that Reeve, David Freeman, and newly hired director Jerry Schatzberg revised the script twice in early 1986, while Reeve also did ride-alongs with New York City television reporters and policemen to research the role.
       Principal photography began on 21 Apr 1986 in Montreal, Canada, according to a 7 May 1986 DV production chart. Producers initially planned to film in Pittsburgh, PA, but decided it did not resemble New York enough, so they moved to Montreal, the 3 Jun 1986 HR reported. However, American-style props such a phone booths, mailboxes, advertisements, and New York lottery signs had to be shipped to Montreal, while signs written in French had to be covered up. The 30 Apr 1986 Var noted that Dianne Wiest was in Montreal to appear in the film, but she was not involved in the final project.
       After two months, production moved to New York City for two final weeks of location shooting, which were plagued with problems. On 16 Jun 1986, the first day of shooting in New York, union picketers staged a strike at the film’s Midtown Manhattan production offices, the 18 Jun 1986 Var reported. Fifteen picketers from eight unions including studio mechanics, makeup artists, wardrobe attendants, script supervisors, scenic artists, and Teamsters protested, claiming Cannon was using a non-union crew and consequently paying below-standard wages. Cannon officials agreed to hire a union crew for its next New York City shoot, the 27 Jun 1986 HR reported, and the strike was called off. In the meantime, Christopher Reeve, who was on the Council of Actors Equity and a union supporter, was forced to cross the picket line due to a “no-strike clause” in his contract, according to the 29 Jun 1986 LAT.
       Reeve missed several days of shooting when he was hospitalized with an attack of acute appendicitis on 24 Jun 1986, but was back on the set on 27 Jun 1986. The crew shot around him during his absence.
       While filming in Harlem on 26 Jun 1986, a neighborhood group protested the perceived racial stereotypes being used in the film, but producers met with the group to hear their issues and agreed to hire locals for day jobs on the set.
       Street Smart opened on 207 screens on 20 Mar 1987, earning $325,835 in its opening weekend, the 24 Mar 1987 DV reported. Reviews were mixed. The 2 Mar 1987 DV called it “a well-made, but unpersuasive concoction about an uptown journalist who gets caught in the downtown world of pimps and prostitutes.” The 4 Mar 1987 HR called it an “angry version of Meet John Doe,” while the 26 Mar 1987 WSJ said the film’s “hard-nosed wit quickly gets overtaken by a flabby adventure story: white boy among the pimps.”
       After a month in release, the film had earned just under $1 million, the 21 Apr 1987 DV reported. In his 1998 memoir, Still Me (Random House), Reeve stated that Cannon allowed the film to die at the box office without advertising or promotion.
       Actor Morgan Freeman earned an Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as “Fast Black.”
       End credits state: “Special Thanks to: Service de Police de la Ville de Montreal; Surete du Quebec; First Quebec Corporation; La Ville de Montreal; Phillips Electronics, Inc.; Les Pharmacies d’ Escompte Coutu; Aquanature Montreal, Inc.; Champs Elysse Fashions, Inc.; J.E. McComber Fourrures, Inc.; Bausch and Lomb, Canada, Inc.; and the New York City Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting.”