STREETWISE, a riveting 1984 doc that follows runaway kids in Seattle
March 23, 2015 6:57 AM Subscribe
Streetwise is an oscar nominated 1984 vérité doc that follows teenage vagrants and prostitutes in downtown Seattle.
The doc stemmed from a Life magazine photo essay about runaway kids in Seattle. The Jeff Bridges movie American Heart is based on one of the stories in the doc and the Streetwise crew also served as the inspiration for AMC's The Killing. You can find out where the kids are now, but I recommend watching the doc first!
The doc stemmed from a Life magazine photo essay about runaway kids in Seattle. The Jeff Bridges movie American Heart is based on one of the stories in the doc and the Streetwise crew also served as the inspiration for AMC's The Killing. You can find out where the kids are now, but I recommend watching the doc first!
I saw both Streetwise and American Heart, which I believe were both by the same director. I remember the street kids had a method for phoning a pizza order with unusual toppings that was unlikely to get pawned off on another customer. When the person who ordered the pizza never showed up, the pizza place would often put it in a dumpster, and the kids would go back there and get it.
posted by jonp72 at 7:29 AM on March 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by jonp72 at 7:29 AM on March 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Oh wow, I didn't notice that American Heart is by the same director. Thanks for that.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 7:36 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 7:36 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
I saw this a couple of years after it came out and have always remembered it as an amazing movie. It's great to see it popping up again.
posted by alms at 7:45 AM on March 23, 2015
posted by alms at 7:45 AM on March 23, 2015
Thank you for this. I remember reading that Life magazine photo essay as a kid and just feeling appalled at what these kids had to deal with.
posted by magstheaxe at 8:00 AM on March 23, 2015
posted by magstheaxe at 8:00 AM on March 23, 2015
Our teacher showed us this in High School in the late 80s. Forgot it about it. It was heavy.
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:11 AM on March 23, 2015
posted by Liquidwolf at 8:11 AM on March 23, 2015
Mary Ellen Mark is a phenomenal documentary photographer. She followed up with Tiny in 1991 and 2004 and made a film about her life after the Streetwise period.
posted by msbrauer at 8:38 AM on March 23, 2015
posted by msbrauer at 8:38 AM on March 23, 2015
"Streetwise and American Heart, which I believe were both by the same director."
Yes. Martin Bell, who is Mary Ellen Mark's husband.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:15 AM on March 23, 2015
Yes. Martin Bell, who is Mary Ellen Mark's husband.
posted by Ideefixe at 9:15 AM on March 23, 2015
A lot of Streetwise was staged and edited to make it look as if interactions were happening among characters that never happened, were blocks or days apart. Like Scared Straight, another oscar-nominated doc (which did monstrous damage by promoting a disastrously ineffective "magic bullet" for delinquency prevention), has to be watched skeptically.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:26 AM on March 23, 2015
posted by ethnomethodologist at 9:26 AM on March 23, 2015
A lot of Streetwise was staged and edited to make it look as if interactions were happening among characters that never happened, were blocks or days apart. Like Scared Straight, another oscar-nominated doc (which did monstrous damage by promoting a disastrously ineffective "magic bullet" for delinquency prevention), has to be watched skeptically.
Skeptical of what? The realities of the daily struggles these kids deal with living on the streets? The issues that drove them there? Or just skeptical of specific pieces of dialogue?
posted by ghostiger at 9:48 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
Skeptical of what? The realities of the daily struggles these kids deal with living on the streets? The issues that drove them there? Or just skeptical of specific pieces of dialogue?
posted by ghostiger at 9:48 AM on March 23, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's also an amazing document of how much Seattle has changed and how much it hasn't. I grew up in a Seattle with a very different downtown than exists today. Not exaclly 42nd st. but it had it's fair share of Porno theaters, dive bars, streetwalking prostitutes, pawn shops, and peep shows. It was a scary place for a 13 year old kid with a bus pass. But the lure of some great comic shops and arcades was too much to avoid.
Downtown Seattle has gone through a few waves of redevelopment since those days, but that square block of Pike/Pine between 2nd and 3rd where much of this doc is filmed remains forever sketchy.
posted by billyfleetwood at 12:26 PM on March 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
Downtown Seattle has gone through a few waves of redevelopment since those days, but that square block of Pike/Pine between 2nd and 3rd where much of this doc is filmed remains forever sketchy.
posted by billyfleetwood at 12:26 PM on March 23, 2015 [2 favorites]
brb stealing an anchovy and pineapple pizza from a dumpster before the clever youths get to it
posted by 3urypteris at 3:51 PM on March 23, 2015
posted by 3urypteris at 3:51 PM on March 23, 2015
I was surprised by how many homeless teens there were when I started hanging out in Seattle in 1988. More than one person had the theory that it was because people had seen Streetwise and decided to move here.
Everyone had a friend of a friend who'd been in Streetwise, just like everyone had a friend of a friend who'd been in Suburbia.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:53 PM on March 24, 2015
Everyone had a friend of a friend who'd been in Streetwise, just like everyone had a friend of a friend who'd been in Suburbia.
posted by The corpse in the library at 7:53 PM on March 24, 2015
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