Street Smart

Jonathan Fisher, a struggling magazine reporter based in New York City, is having difficulty pitching a story to his editor, Ted Avery. Frustrated and worried about his career prospects, he finally pitches a profile on a real-life street pimp, which Ted finds intriguing but gives him a very narrow deadline to meet. Jonathan pays a prostitute for her time, an upbeat former beautician nicknamed Punchy, but finds himself stonewalled by her fear-based loyalty to her pimp, Leo "Fast Black" Smalls, Jr. Across town, Smalls beats up a patron assaulting one of his girls; the patron has a fatal heart attack and Smalls is indicted for second-degree murder.