Sidewalk Stories (1989)

Starring:

• Charles Lane
• Nicole Alysia
• Tom Alpern

IMDB.com
Our protagonist is resourceful, tenderhearted, homeless. He finds himself with a baby, someone else's, and suddenly his life shifts focus. The child, thankfully, does not redeem the main character whose actions are a natural extension of who he is-a nameless person. Without home and name doesn't mean without personality, and a life, and the instinct for survival. The main character suddenly has to be concerned for someone other than himself, and this is the charm of the film, charm without sentimentality.

This is an intriguing contrast of the humorous set against the plight of the homeless in NYC; it works, partly because it is so outrageous and comic in its implementation-e.g. the conflict with the other street artist, the use of the bathtub. A gentle, good film whose final moments still resonate in the mind, not because of their greatness, but because of the unexpected but successful shift in focus and technique. It achieves.

Leonard Part 6 (1987)

Starring:

• Bill Cosby
• Moses Gunn
• Tom Courtenay
• Joe Don Baker
• Gloria Foster
• Pat Colbert
• Victoria Rowell
• Anna Thomson

Storyline

Leonard (Bill Cosby) formerly lived a life of danger as a CIA agent. After retiring, he opened a successful restaurant in San Francisco and is now a millionaire. As he revels in the pleasures of luxury and decadence, Leonard entertains little nostalgia for the perilous adventures of his past. But, when a nefarious vegetarian (Gloria Foster) appears poised to take over the world, Leonard resigns himself to saving humanity and takes up battle against the villainess and her army of killer animals.