The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Streetwise, a documentary directed by Martin Bell, tells a story about a group of runaways living on the streets of downtown Seattle. This film follows the lives a few different runaways. Each has a distinct personality, story and method to survive on the streets. Streetwise was inspired by the LIFE magazine article, Streets of the Lost, written by Cheryl McCall and photographed by Mary Ellen Mark. The overall message of this movie is that the life of a runaway is tough and you have to be "streetwise" to make it on grungy Pike Street. Many of these runaways are no older than 16 years old and live on the streets because there is nowhere else for them to go. Broken homes, abusive parents and abandonment are lives that the runaways know too well and choose to leave in favor of the streets. I can't blame these kids. Of the two parents shown in the film, one was in jail and the other referred to her daughter being a prostitute as "just a phase."These runaways are quite resourceful. They sell anything they can get their hands on, including themselves, to make enough money to survive. The runaways have found an abandoned hotel to call their home and furnished the hotel with old couches and beds. When the runaways get hungry, they find food from dumpster diving, begging and even go as far as ordering an obscure pizza that will never be claimed and wait patiently until the pizzeria has thrown away the unwanted pie. The story that Bell tells is quite remarkable. He is able to accurately capture the lives of the runaways and provide great insight as to how these kids live, think and believe. In a particularly beautiful scene, Bell shows Erin, a runaway who makes her money turning tricks. Erin is in a medical clinic and a doctor is asking her what she would do if she became pregnant. Erin responds she would keep the baby, even if the father was "a trick," because getting an abortion is like murdering a baby and it is not the baby's fault if she gets pregnant.Not only are the stories of the street kids remarkable and moving, but the cinematography was beautiful as well. The movie has a great flow and Bell does an excellent job of pulling the viewers into the world of the runaways. While watching the film, you learn to understand the lives of the runaways. These runaways are nothing more than kids who have been dealt a bad hand, and even though they need help, they are too proud to ask. Streetwise makes you wonder how these kids can survive such a hard life at such a young age. These runaways try so hard convincing themselves and others that they are content with the lives that they live, but if you look into their eyes, you find that this is not the case at all. Streetwise also makes you see how truly rough the streets are. Seeing a 16 year old boy sell blood to make enough money to pay for lunch is truly troubling. This is almost as troubling as hearing that a 14 year old girl has been raped 8 times and still continues to be a prostitute. However, nothing is as tough as learning that 16 year old Dewayne committed suicide. These children are in really dire situations and are too young to be dealing with the problems that life has thrust upon them.This film beautifully portrays an important piece of history that is still relevant today. I would recommend Streetwise to anyone, even those who do not particularly like documentaries. There are no formal interviews in Streetwise and no narrator guiding you through the story like a History Channel special. Watching Streetwise is more like watching a feature length film than a documentary. This film is genuine and the stories these kids tell deserve to be heard. Watch Streetwise! You will not be disappointed.

I first saw this film the night before I left for Navy boot camp October 7th 1986. I watched it 4 times that night and was blown away. I had just turned 18 and had been living on the streets for a year and just returned home. My dad and I watched it together he asked me if I had ever hustled my body for money and I truthfully told him no. (I seen a lot of guys do sick stuff for cash.) This film reminded me of so many people I left behind who are locked up, or dead. There are very interesting scenes, such as the doctor or nurse speaking to Tiny does not try to push condom use, the tattoo artist wears no gloves, and the young man Jimmy who turns tricks is donating Plasma. Wow! Talk about high risk. Since the Navy I have been working the streets of the United States as a bounty Hunter for 15 years. I have been in several documentaries and have been asked to redo a conversation or take another shot on several occasions. It's a fact that when the cameras are around things change to an extent you have to accept that, and if it seems too good to be true remember the magic is in the editing. I have also been told to kick doors and get the fugitives violent. I seen thousands of kids like this and it breaks your heart. I get so sick of seeing 15 year old girls in Camden or Philly nodding off on heroin while they are in the streets tricking. A friend of mine from Turkey told me that the lowest form of life in his country is a pimp. The time I spent on the streets is what made me into a good bounty hunter because I would treat everyone with compassion, respect, and understanding. I don't think for one minute that this was scripted here is some proof. Tiny answers her mother with "Whatever" before it became popular ten years later. All of these kids have been talking street since they said their first words. Except for Kimberly who you could tell came from a better situation. Anyone who comes in daily contact with the streets knows this was for real. Every city of the United States has its own street lingo. Street terms for drugs, sex, cops, snitches and prostitution vary from city to city. If this was scripted the director from the UK would have not known the local slang and dialect. These kids were pure street, they were also masters of street psychology something that cannot be learned through a book, or film class. This has to be one of the best films ever. Why did it not take with the main stream media? Well I will answer this. Timing... America was not ready to face its demons. The Polo shirt wearing execs that controlled the film industry shoving coke up there noses in massive amounts figured that America was more obsessed and better represented by John Hughes suburban brat packers, Family Ties, and Karate Kid than the castaways of the trailer parks and projects. Had this film came out ten or more years later on HBO it would have had inspired a series. The filmmakers new they had something explosive but there was no internet or mass media delivery other than the conventional channels. Simply put before it's time. This was generation X at its youth. Ask your self this..b was Quentin Tarantino influenced by this movie? There is some one named Alabama on the credits! True Romance featured Alabama as call girl from the south. We need to know not through websites but through another documentary exactly where the survivors are and how they are living. Rat, Tina, and LuLu were the most likable. I could care less for the pimps. Watch this then watch celebrity rehab with Dr. Drew. It will make the celebrities look more like the whining babies they actually are. This was the first reality show! Plus I would love to see the outtakes from the first one! A second Streetwise would generate a lot of dough and I'm sure that Erin and her husband with all those kids could use the cash, and Rat probably wouldn't mind extra dough either right. Some one contact the film maker and get this project started.

...but all in all it is a fairly accurate portrayal of life on the Seattle streets at that time. Back then there were hundreds of kids living on the streets and the film mainly follows the most visible (The ones who were ALWAYS on first and pike). I was involved as a periphery player in that scene from 1978 until about 1984 when MDA and cocaine flooded the Seattle streets and destroyed what was left of the downtown runaway youth culture that flourished there. Most of my friends from that era are either dead, in prison or god only knows where. Several died of cocaine overdoses or aids. It was a sad, despairing chapter of my life but there were many, many good kids on those streets. It would be interesting to find out what happened to a lot of those people.

I just saw this at a film festival in NY with the director present to answer questions plus the follow up mini movie on tiny and her life now.. yes she has 9 kids not all from different fathers just 3 are. She is married and lives with her husband and children she still smokes like a chimney and made some bad decisions while pregnant(such as doing drugs and drinking). The director told us that most of the kids were killed or died from AIDS and that Roberta Hayes was a victim of the green river killer. He said that rat was driving a truck at night after doing a lot of time in prison. The saddest thing about this was those that did survive went on to live terrible lives and have children who unfortunately followed in their footsteps.