Streetwise (1984 film)
| Streetwise | |
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| Directed by | Martin Bell |
| Produced by | Cheryl McCall |
| Written by | Cheryl McCall |
| Starring |
Baby Gramps Tom Waits |
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Release date
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Running time
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91 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Streetwise is a 1984 documentary film by director Martin Bell. It followed in the wake of a July 1983 Life magazine article, "Streets of the Lost", by writer Cheryl McCall and photographer Mary Ellen Mark, Bell's wife.
According to Mark's accompanying 1988 book, eponymously titled Streetwise, McCall and Mark traveled to Seattle specifically to reveal that even in a town that billed itself as America's most livable city, there still existed rampant homelessness and desperation. After making connections with several homeless children during the writing of the article, Mark convinced Bell that the children were worthy of his making a documentary based on their lives. McCall and Mark were also instrumental in making the film. Streetwise follows the lives of several homeless teenagers, although it focuses most on 14-year-old Erin Blackwell, a child prostitute who goes by the name of Tiny. Much of the time, Tiny stays at the home of her alcoholic mother, Pat, who seems unfazed by her daughter's prostitution, calling it a "phase".
Bell's follow-up documentary, named Tiny: The Life of Erin Blackwell, was released in 2016.
Streetwise portrays the lives of nine desperate teenagers. Thrown too young into a seedy, grown-up world, these runaways and castaways survive, but just barely. Rat, the dumpster diver; Tiny, the teenage prostitute; Shellie, the baby-faced one; and DeWayne, the hustler, are all old beyond their years. All are underage survivors fighting for life and love on the streets of downtown Seattle, Washington.
The film was acclaimed by audiences. On Rotten Tomatoes, the audience gave it a score of 98%.
At the premiere of the sequel in Seattle in 2016 Bell announced that a DVD release of the first film is being planned. Currently only VHS copies are available at Vidiots in Santa Monica and Scarecrow in Seattle. Scarecrow also has a PAL copy.
Mark photographed many of the children throughout the filming of Streetwise and published a book of the same name in 1988. The photographs are captioned with quotations from the film. The transcript of Bell's film appears at the end of the book, with only minor differences.
(Corresponds to the order of the cast list)
In March 2013 a Streetwise Facebook group was opened up in hopes of finding the kids from the documentary. Almost all the main characters (and some minor characters) were found. The group has recent pictures of Rat, Munchkin, Tiny, Justin, Lillie and many others. There are also memorials set up for the kids who are deceased. Old videos and pictures of the kids were found and posted. As of 2015, over 1,700 fans and Streetwise alumni participate and post in the group. Both Martin Bell and Mary Ellen Mark (posthumously) commented that they greatly enjoyed seeing all the kids they filmed over 30 years ago.
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Wikipedia