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Streetwise

  • 19841984
  • 1h 31m
IMDb RATING
8.2/10
2.4K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
23,889
3,621
Streetwise (1984)
Official Trailer
Play trailer2:43
1 Video
67 Photos
DocumentaryDrama
Gritty documentary that looks at the lives of teenagers living on the streets of Seattle.Gritty documentary that looks at the lives of teenagers living on the streets of Seattle.Gritty documentary that looks at the lives of teenagers living on the streets of Seattle.
IMDb RATING
8.2/10
2.4K
YOUR RATING
POPULARITY
23,889
3,621
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Director
      • Martin Bell
    • Writer
      • Cheryl McCall(story "Streets of the Lost")
    • Stars
      • Annie
      • Eddie
      • Antoine
    Top credits
    • Director
      • Martin Bell
    • Writer
      • Cheryl McCall(story "Streets of the Lost")
    • Stars
      • Annie
      • Eddie
      • Antoine
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 42User reviews
    • 18Critic reviews
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 2 wins & 3 nominations total

    Videos1

    Streetwise
    Trailer 2:43
    Streetwise

    Photos67

    Sandra Bernhard at an event for Streetwise (1984)
    Erin Blackwell in Streetwise (1984)
    Erin Blackwell and Rat in Streetwise (1984)
    Kim in Streetwise (1984)
    Lillie in Streetwise (1984)
    Erin Blackwell in Streetwise (1984)
    Rat in Streetwise (1984)
    Kim in Streetwise (1984)
    Erin Blackwell and Kim in Streetwise (1984)
    Erin Blackwell in Streetwise (1984)
    Dewayne Pomeroy in Streetwise (1984)
    Erin Blackwell and Rat in Streetwise (1984)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Annie
    • Self
    Eddie
    • Self
    Antoine
    • Self
    Erica
    • Self
    Kimberly Marsh
    • Self
    • (as Biker Kim)
    Erin Blackwell
    Erin Blackwell
    • Self
    • (as Erin 'Tiny')
    Black Junior
    • Self
    Floyd
    • Self
    Brandia Taamu
    • Self
    • (as Breezy)
    Buddha
    • Self
    J.R.
    • Self
    James
    • Self
    Butch
    • Self
    Jimi
    • Self
    Calvin
    • Self
    John
    • Self
    Chrissie
    • Self
    Juan
    • Self
    • Director
      • Martin Bell
    • Writer
      • Cheryl McCall(story "Streets of the Lost")
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Picked by Entertainment Weekly magazine as one of the "50 Greatest Independent Films" in a special supplement devoted to independent films that was only distributed to subscribers in November 1997.
    • Quotes

      Rat: I love to fly. It's just, you're alone with peace and quiet, nothing around you but clear, blue sky. No one to hassle you. No one to tell you where to go or what to do. The only bad part about flying is having to come back down to the fucking world.

    • Connections
      Featured in At the Movies: Cat's Eye/Stick/Streetwise (1985)
    • Soundtracks
      The Teddy Bear's Picnic
      Music by John W. Bratton

      Lyrics by Jimmy Kennedy

      Performed by Baby Gramps

    User reviews42

    Review
    Review
    Top review
    10/10
    The city of the lost children. (spoilers)
    Streetwise is a documentary that follows several runaway youth in the 1980s living on the streets of Seattle. Most are no older than 16, but already have made careers for themselves as pimps and prostitutes, thieves and muggers, panhandlers and dumpster divers, and doing what they can to survive.

    In a 2006 edition of the New Yorker, a critic suggested that these kids are kind of led by a sense of street freedom, but as another viewer commented, it is likely that a lot of these people, even Rat, were probably miserable, despite the best attempts to hide it or convince themselves otherwise (This was made clear by Rat's opening remark about the things he hated about flying--"coming back to the f***in' earth.") Clearly, Dewayne was, as he committed suicide at the age of 16. The sad thing is that these were kids of children themselves. Not in the sense that they were born to teenagers (which may actually be the case), but that many of their parents had not yet matured beyond their own selfishness to care for these kids as they needed to be (Tiny's mother rationalized her daughter's prostitution as a "phase"). Some of the young girls, 14 and hooking, tell us about their abusive fathers and stepfathers that, despite miserable marriages, their mothers still stuck by them irregardless of the negative consequences to their own children. Rat tells about this too, where he was tired of being between his helpless, divorced parents feuding. Or just parents who seemed capable of having kids, but not raising them. And since no one cared for them as children (most of them, I'm not sure what the background was on the young black man who was pimping the girls, the one who's mother and probably grandmother later show up and ask him to come home), they took the streets and became, as Tiny's mother says, 14 going on 21. They were the city of the lost children.

    Some might criticize this movie as being unrealistic, and at least the things coming from Dewayne's dad when talking to his son sounds like something from a film, although the Sound Recordist for the film has assured in his own comments that this is not the case. That there was no script. It makes the events all the more heartbreaking. If the purpose of the film was to raise awareness of the life of young runaways, it makes it point and drives it home hard. It also drives home hard that the policies of Regeanomics (joked by Dewayne later in the film) were hurting those lowest on the income scales (and consequently, moving many into the street). And it makes me wonder what the numbers of runaways and street kids are these days. Washington, DC (where I live now) has a large homeless population relative to the size of the district, but I never see any young panhandlers or prostitutes and wonder, is the situation still the same? Are the institutions working more to get kids off the streets? What has become of the Streetwise now?
    helpful•17
    0
    • vertigo_14
    • Mar 24, 2006

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • October 26, 1984 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Законы улицы
    • Filming locations
      • Seattle, Washington, USA
    • Production company
      • Bear Creek
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Gross US & Canada
      • $9,904
    • Opening weekend US & Canada
      • $5,006
      • Jul 21, 2019
    • Gross worldwide
      • $9,904
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      1 hour 31 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Mono
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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