the Street Cleaner

A while back Herschel was offered the leading role in a movie as a superhero, until someone realised he looked more like a villain.

Undeterred, he became one of the film’s assistant producers instead.


He has no money, no powers, and no competition. He’s London’s first superhero. He calls himself.. The Street Cleaner.

“All the best names are taken.”

It’s a fine premise for a movie – a superhero who actually could be you or I. And the script clearly knows how key a sense of fun is to enjoying the genre.

Despite a deadly serious story in a depressingly mundane world, this script is funny, and most of the humour comes from the head-on collision of comicbook idealism with real-world numbness.

So, of course crime is harder to find. Of course he wins fights by accident. Of course no-one takes him seriously. He’s a superhero trapped in the body of a loser trapped in the boring old real world. He can’t even settle on a costume. Heck, he can’t even settle on a name.

And that’s his appeal – we could all be The Street Cleaner. (if we only took judo lessons)

Currently only one reel of this film exists – shot on a low-budget to advertise the potential of a full-length version to investors. As such it’s not that glossy, which gives it an indie feel rather than a Hollywood one.

On that level I'm curious whether a $200 million budget would ruin it.


Trailer and further info here.