Main Cast: Wendell B. Harris, Jr., Angela Leslie, Amina Fakir, Paula McGee, Anthony Ennis
Release Year: 1989
Country: US
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Wendell B. Harris wrote, directed, and stars in Chameleon Street, a sly comedy based loosely on the real-life exploits of conman William Douglas Street, who demonstrates a gift for becoming what people want him to be. The film opens with Street (Harris) being interviewed by a prison psychiatrist. In this scene, he expresses what is basically his mantra, "I think, therefore I scam." The film then flashes back to Street's earlier days, living with his parents, and working for his taciturn father installing burglar alarms. Street eventually marries a beautiful, intelligent woman, Gabrielle (Angela Leslie), who sends him off each day with the same message -- "Make some money." Overcome by boredom and desperate for cash, Street concocts a shakedown scheme that completely backfires when his accomplice, Curtis (Anthony Ennis), signs Street's name to the extortion note, and sends it to the local papers. Ironically, no charges are pressed, and the scam turns Street, briefly, into a media darling. He finds he enjoys the spotlight. Gabrielle is less pleased. Street next tries to pass himself off as a writer from Time Magazine in order to interview a women's basketball player (Paula McGee, who plays herself). "She had the four 'B's," he exults, "Black, Beauty, Brains, and Basketball." As his relationship with his now pregnant wife disintegrates, Street engages in his most ambitious scheme yet -- posing as an Harvard-educated intern at a local hospital. Everything is going smoothly until he's called upon to perform a hysterectomy. Harris' low-budget film won the grand prize at the Sundance Film Festival, but only received limited theatrical distribution. Harris disappeared from national view until his memorable supporting role in Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight in 1998. He also had a small part in the 2000 teen comedy Road Trip. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Review
Chameleon Street is a fascinating, funny, and literate examination of black identity. It was released in a hopeful time for black filmmakers. But along with another uniquely intelligent and thoughtful examination of black life, Charles Burnett's To Sleep With Anger, it didn't find the audience it deserved. The film's budgetary limitations are clearly visible in the threadbare production. It was Wendell B. Harris' feature debut as a writer, director, and actor, and the uneven performances may reflect his lack of experience. But Harris' ambition and erudition more than compensate for the film's technical shortcomings. Harris plays Doug Street as a charismatic, clever, and deeply troubled man. Harris never soft-pedals Street's misogyny or his cynicism; he allows the viewer to see how close Street is to the edge of sanity. But Harris also incisively portrays the societal pressures that push Street to criminality, and the character's determination to live by his wits is oddly heartening. With Harris' booming bass narration deconstructing every scene, referencing Jean Cocteau and Edith Piaf, one finds oneself rooting for Street. There are three scenes in Chameleon Street that particularly point to its singular unconventionality. In Street's skillful verbal destruction of a "peckerwood" racist, in his completely unqualified performance of major surgery, and in his grotesque "play" with his young daughter, the film achieves a synthesis of tension and wit that is rarely matched in cinema. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Cast
Wendell B. Harris, Jr. - William Douglas Street
Angela Leslie - Gabrielle
Amina Fakir - Tatiana
Paula McGee - Herself
Anthony Ennis - Curtis
Daven Kiley; Dave Barber - Himself; Alfred Bruce Bradley - Smooth; Mano Breckenridge - Neelish Ratnayaka; Anita Gordon - Darlene Street; Colette Haywood - Melissa; Gary Irwin - Dr. Hardy; Richard Kiley - Dr. Hand; Dimitri Muganias - Robespiere; Henry Watkins - Eugene Raymond; Coleman Young - Himself; Dan Lawton - Aldo "Jerry Lewis" Falco; Bryan McCree; Lynette Mance; Peppy Rosenthal; Michael Barron; Jacky King; Dora King
Credit
Tim Alvaro - Art Director, Dr. Wendell B. Harris, Sr. - Associate Producer, Wendell B. Harris, Jr. - Director, Helen B. Harris - Executive Producer, Peter S. Moore - Composer (Music Score), Daniel S. Noga - Cinematographer, Dale Janni - Production Manager, Helen B. Harris - Producer, Dan Lawton - Producer, Phil Spradlin - Sound/Sound Designer, Wendell B. Harris, Jr. - Screenwriter, Matthew Mallinson - Supervising Editor, Al Rizzo - Musical Performer, Laurence E. MacDonald - Musical Performer, Kirk R. Gardner - Steadicam Operator
Chameleon Street is a 1989independent film written, directed by and starring Wendell B. Harris, Jr.. It tells the story of a social chameleon who impersonates reporters, doctors and lawyers in order to make money.
The film is a satire based on the life of Detroit con artist and high school drop-out William Douglas Street, Jr., who successfully impersonated professional reporters, lawyers, athletes, extortionists, and surgeons, going so far as to perform more than 36 successful hysterectomies. A Sundance Film Festival press release in 2008 described it as "one of the first films to examine how mellifluously race, class, and role-playing morph into the social fabric of America."[1]Chameleon Street won the Grand Jury Prize at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival.
References
^sex, lies, and videotape and Chameleon Street selected for 25th Sundance Film Festival From the Collection Screenings. [1]
