Across 110th Street (1972)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Bruce B

  
  If you want to see what films were like before being politically correct hit the big screen this is your film to watch. Just to see what life was all about in Harlem in the 1960-1970 made this film enjoyable. The dress of the pimps, the action taken by NYPD, The Mob and the Streets of… More
  If you want to see what films were like before being politically correct hit the big screen this is your film to watch. Just to see what life was all about in Harlem in the 1960-1970 made this film enjoyable. The dress of the pimps, the action taken by NYPD, The Mob and the Streets of New York. If your insulted by bad language then this is not your film. Blew my mind to see a film made in 1972 with the word raciest used so many times. Lot of enjoyable forgotten black stars. This one goes to the top shelf of my collection. 4 1/2 stars.

• Tsubaki S

  
  Grouped in the blaxploitation vein, this is more a crime drama than your average exploitation film. A fantastic cast, a good script and a sweet soundtrack. The direction is a bit erratic at times, and the ending not as climatic as it wanted to be, but the goods of the film surpass… More
  Grouped in the blaxploitation vein, this is more a crime drama than your average exploitation film. A fantastic cast, a good script and a sweet soundtrack. The direction is a bit erratic at times, and the ending not as climatic as it wanted to be, but the goods of the film surpass these flaws.

• El Hombre I

  
  It's my personal opinion when I say the 70's produced some of the best films, ever. Filmmakers were trying to break loose of tired Hollywood traditions and branching out to make "real" films. Not all were great, but even those low budget types had something… More
  It's my personal opinion when I say the 70's produced some of the best films, ever. Filmmakers were trying to break loose of tired Hollywood traditions and branching out to make "real" films. Not all were great, but even those low budget types had something different to offer. Across 110th Street takes blaxploitation out of it's downward spiral of repeated structures and tries to give it an artistic value. It succeeds on some levels bringing with it some interesting characters.The story, too, has some moments of truth, and there are plenty of unexpected developments punctuating the extremely violent action. It's also fun to sing the chorus to Bobby Womack's title hit. <a href="http://s273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/?action=view&amp;current=across_110th_05.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj203/goji9000/across_110th_05.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

• Chris W

  
  There is debate about whether this film should be classified as a blaxploitation film, or as a forerunner to those films. I'm on the fence about it (for now), but one thing is certain regardless: this is an outstanding, well made and pretty solid crime film in its own right. I… More
  There is debate about whether this film should be classified as a blaxploitation film, or as a forerunner to those films. I'm on the fence about it (for now), but one thing is certain regardless: this is an outstanding, well made and pretty solid crime film in its own right. I could ramble about this one for a while, but just for the sake of time, I'll just try to keep it short and say that I love how this film manages to be gritty, violent (I was surprised at how violent this ended up being), and entertaining, yet still retain a hearty dose of intelligence and substance. That's probably why this film usually gets a fair amount of praise from the critics and intellectuals who normally look down upon blaxploitation and urban crime films. There's tons of subtext, yet none of it is too heavy handed or preachy. Another great thing about this one is the acting. Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto each give wonderful performances that are multilayered and believable. The music and cinematography are also quite nice, although I feel it necessary to give a mild jeer over the fact that the climactic ending is supposed to be in Harlem but was actually shot on location on the Lower East Side. The rest of it was filmed in Harlem, so why not the whole thing?

• Cassandra M

  
  The significance of 110th Street in New York is that it is the line where Central Park ends and Harlem begins. This ultra-violent '70s cop thriller wastes no time in painting the streets of Harlem as a hard, gritty, unforgiving pit where the law has little meaning and the only… More
  The significance of 110th Street in New York is that it is the line where Central Park ends and Harlem begins. This ultra-violent '70s cop thriller wastes no time in painting the streets of Harlem as a hard, gritty, unforgiving pit where the law has little meaning and the only way to earn respect is by fear or money. While the years have slightly diminished the film's power to startle, there's still no denying that for its time this is indeed a strong, raw, bleak piece of cinema. Three down-at-heel blacks - Jim Harris (Paul Benjamin), Joe Logart (Ed Bernard) and Henry J. Jackson (Antonio Fargas) - disguise themselves as cops and storm into a Mafia-controlled numbers bank where they proceed to steal $300,000. However, the heist turns violent and the three robbers end up killing everyone in the room, including a few Mob guys, several blacks, and even a couple of real cops who happen by. The Mob send in a small-time hood with big-time ambitions, the violent and trigger-happy Nick D'Salvio (Antony Franciosa), to find the three crooks. Meanwhile, Harlem gang lord Doc Johnson (Richard Ward) puts his own guys on the trail of the trio of robbers. Caught up in the hunt too are cops Frank Mattelli (Anthony Quinn) and Det-Lt. Pope (Yaphet Kotto), the former an aging hard-nut who uses violence and intimidation to get results, the latter a young and honest black officer who prefers diplomacy wherever possible. Rarely has New York been portrayed as such a living hell, certainly for those living in poverty and squalor. Initially, the viewer is repulsed by the three robbers for what they've done, but quickly they are made to look positively sympathetic as the truly repulsive supporting characters are introduced - Franciosa, chillingly psychopathic; Ward, ruthless and manipulative; and Quinn, totally lost in corruption and aggression. Only Kotto's character shows any grain of decency and optimism in this ugly society. Viewed nowadays, the film has a slightly dated feel to it which lessens the relevance of some of the social comment being explored. Quinn and Kotto don't get enough time on-screen either, which is a shame as their volatile working-relationship isn't explored as much as it could be and the twist ending lacks impact because their characters haven't been sufficiently developed. However, Across 110th Street still deserves to be seen for its ground-breaking violence, its hard-boiled action, and its relentlessly damning views of New York's ethnic wasteland in the early '70s.

• Tim S

  
  It's a pretty standard exploitation flick with a great cast. Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto are awesome, but you can tell they were working within the confines of a low budget. The story is engrossing, but the heavies from both the "black gang" and the "mafia"… More
  It's a pretty standard exploitation flick with a great cast. Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto are awesome, but you can tell they were working within the confines of a low budget. The story is engrossing, but the heavies from both the "black gang" and the "mafia" are laughable. I was pleasantly surprised by the downer ending, but, like I said, it's Quinn and Kotto (I am a huge Homicide fan and it was great to see almost a prequel to his character's arc in this film) are the things that keep you watching.

• Daniel H

  
  An interesting if standard blaxploitation crime drama, of course involving a black crimelord, villianous racist Italian mobsters... but the complex and origina play between old-school 1940's hardboiled street cop (Anthony Quinn) and the by-the-book yet besieged modern black cop… More
  An interesting if standard blaxploitation crime drama, of course involving a black crimelord, villianous racist Italian mobsters... but the complex and origina play between old-school 1940's hardboiled street cop (Anthony Quinn) and the by-the-book yet besieged modern black cop (Kotto), manages to hold ones attention for the duration of the otherwise standard crime-drama and blaxploitation plot hooks (which are gritty and violent, but no more so than other similar blaxploitation movies of the era.) As a side note, Richard Ward's role as the quintessential black crime-boss is one of the best in the genre.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]"Across 110th Street" starts out with three men robbing a Mob "bank" in Harlem and getting away with $300,000 while killing seven men, two of whom were policemen. The police investigation is headed by an up and coming detective, Lieutenant… More
  [font=Century Gothic]"Across 110th Street" starts out with three men robbing a Mob "bank" in Harlem and getting away with $300,000 while killing seven men, two of whom were policemen. The police investigation is headed by an up and coming detective, Lieutenant Pope(Yaphet Kotto), who is black. Captain Matelli(Anthony Quinn) who is nearing retirement, old-fashioned in his brutality and quite bigoted is resentful of Pope heading the investigation. Needless to say, the two men have very different ways of working. The Mob also sees the robbery as a point of honor to be avenged and have put Nick D'Savio(Anthony Franciosa) in charge of their own investigation.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]"Across 110th Street" is a violent crime drama with a political edge. It does a very good job of showing a city that is divided between black and white.(Also, it shows how desperate a person has to be to pull off a robbery like this.) Harlem's people do not trust the policemen who have too long brutalized them. New cops like Pope are making a difference in how the police do their jobs. [/font]

• Lesley N

  
  One of the earlier Blaxploitation films and one of the better ones too, with an involved plot, great main cast and plenty of violence. Top acting by Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn as black and white cops trying to find the criminals before the black and white mobsters get them, and as… More
  One of the earlier Blaxploitation films and one of the better ones too, with an involved plot, great main cast and plenty of violence. Top acting by Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn as black and white cops trying to find the criminals before the black and white mobsters get them, and as usual, Anthonio Fargas gets to be the pimp. Soundtrack by Bobby Womack is a classic.

• Ed Fucking H

  
  A pretty damn good 70's crime flick that delivers in both action and drama. 3 small time crooks rip off the Italian mob and the Harlem criminal underworld and end up killing a few cops in the getaway. Now the Italians, the Blacks and the Cops are all looking for them and they… More
  A pretty damn good 70's crime flick that delivers in both action and drama. 3 small time crooks rip off the Italian mob and the Harlem criminal underworld and end up killing a few cops in the getaway. Now the Italians, the Blacks and the Cops are all looking for them and they want blood. Has a good line up with Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto, excellent direction, a dope soundtrack and so on. Not really much else to say about this one. A classic of this era of crime films. Never a dull moment.

Read all 10 featured audience ratings