Joshua Reviews Joan Freeman’s Streetwalkin’ [DVD Review]

Everyone starts somewhere, right?

While she may now be best known as having the title of Oscar Award Winner tossed before her name at every turn, actress Melissa Leo truly got her start thanks to the same man who gave starts to the careers of people like Francis Ford Coppola and Jonathan Demme.   That’s right, Melissa Leo is an alum of the filmmaking school of the iconic Roger Corman.

Shout! Factory, in their continuing run of Corman-related releases, have given the world a brand new DVD release of Leo’s vehicle, the oddly intriguing, if not intensely flawed, Streetwalkin’.   The 1985 feature, from director Joan Freeman, marks one of Leo’s first true-blue feature film projects, and while the film as a whole is deeply problematic, it’s also quite interesting.

The film follows Cookie, who we meet as she gives a hurried and emotional phone call to her mother, after running away from what appears to be a sexually abusive stepfather.   With her younger brother in toe, the pair leave for New York, where Cookie sparks a relationship with an evil and controlling pimp named Duke.   She starts working for him, and from there, our story truly takes off.   Featuring a stark look into the life of a prostitute, Streetwalkin’ is an oddly paced neo-character study that lacks in a true emotional core.

Obviously, the biggest star of this film is Leo.   She’s fine here, but the issues I have with her character are ultimately the same issues I have with the entire film.   For one, her performance is a bit one note.   We meet her giving a frantic phone call, and from there on, we never get the chance to see her relax until one scene, a card game, near the end of the film.   It’s a lot of histrionics, and it makes for a fine, but possibly off putting performance.   I found myself more intrigued by performance from Dale Midkiff, who plays Duke.   It’s a stereotypical pimp performance, but there is a visceral nature to the physicality of Midkiff’s performance, that it’s really hard to not keep your eyes absolutely glued to the screen whenever he adorns it.   The supporting cast however, including performances from the likes of Khandi Alexander, Leon Robinson, Antonio Fargas and Randall Batinkoff are more along the lines of Leo’s turn, making this a loudly melodramatic bit of filmmaking.

Freeman does make quite an interesting project however.   A look into the world of prostitution, the film may be a bit melodramatic, but then again, that’s the name of the game in that world.   There is absolutely no grey within this film, as you are either a saint like Cookie, or a sinner like Duke, and that does indeed make for an entertaining bit of cinema.   Freeman isn’t short of style, using a fantastically campy and time capsule-like soundtrack to play in the background of this picture, as well as some fantastic costumes and top notch cinematography.   There are also distinct ticks that Freeman uses during this film, such as what appears to be a hand held shot leading up to an entrance into a scene by Duke.   It is in these moments where the film really and truly shines, and not when the performances do the talking.

As per usual for Shout! Factory Corman-related releases, the features here, while not high in numbers, are top notch.   The transfer is solid for a DVD release, as is the soundtrack, which really allows the music to pop at its highest potential.   A collection of trailers are released here, but it’s the film’s commentary that really shines.   Freeman and Producer/Writer Robert Alden are on the commentary, and give great insights into the film’s production and what the set was like.   One would have hoped for a Leo commentary, since she is very much the focus of this release, but then again, she’s a busy woman, so it’s not fair to fault the release.   It may not be the densest release, but with a solid transfer and an even better commentary, fans of Leo and the world of Roger Corman films will absolutely chew this monster up.   It’s not this writer’s favorite film or this writer’s favorite Roger Corman’s Cult Classics release, but Shout once again proves that they are one of the best when it comes to cult genre pictures and their subsequent DVD releases.