Customer Reviews for
Across 110th Street
What's the frequency Kenneth?
With the slap of the introduction music, the blast of the old car plowing through the streets, and the images of old New York (especially the rarely filmed Harlem) - one is prepared for the possibility of two cinematic directions. One, this could be a cliché cop film, filled with the dirty cop, the good cop, and all those evil-doers in between. Or two, it could be a panache of reality mixed with honesty, a blend of modern Scorsese with old Scorsese perhaps with a dash of 70s nostalgia. Well, fellow film review readers, this is an honest first for this critic. "Across 110th Street" was more than just a cliché (yet it was full of them), it was deep and developed (yet had a simplistic story about cops and criminals), it was gritty and honest (yet overly-so enough to make you gasp, not laugh), and it was pure, uncut, cinematic genius from beginning to the wildly unseen ending. There were plenty of pitfalls for "Across 110th Street" to fall into, but it continually saved itself by being genuine and dark throughout. While the editing, albeit pure 70s cinema, was completely tangent, the film itself demonstrated the raw force of truth, giving us a rare (yet fictional) story of the changing of the guard in Harlem, the truth of its streets, and the minds of its criminals. Get ready; this isn't going to be an easy film.
Sounding like a scene right out of "Dead Presidents", our story begins with three African Americans stealing money from the mob, only to transform the simple robbery into a battleground, equipped with machine gun fire and plenty of cops caught in the line of fire. Needless to say, both sides - the Italian mob who currently has a strong hold on the crime in Harlem - as well as both the upcoming African American police Lieutenant (played by Yaphet Kotto) and the decaying corrupt Captain (played by Anthony Quinn) - are ready to do whatever it takes to bring these men to justice. Our plot device suddenly becomes a ticking clock, with our minds in constant question as to who is going to get to the finish line first. What keeps this cliché device from sounding stale is director Barry Shear's ability to take us through each of the three storylines with nobody eating from the sweet cake of victory at any given time. "Across 110th Street" is not a comfortable story. The characters are flawed, the imagery is sandpaper rough, and the language is honest. Shear has made this film during a time where corruption is used to represent the mindset of the community. Harlem is not shown in a productive light, but then neither is the police nor the mob. What makes "Across 110th Street" feel like a science experiment is that you see the decay of the community implode systematically. From the simple thugs who begin the robbery, to the Italian mob who is just as brutal but with better suits, all the way to the police who use the same tactics, but are protected (supposedly) by a badge, this film explores the explosion of corruption in a bold new way that eliminates cliché, yet builds on honesty.
Shear's ability to build the story into the camera's frame is only the stepping stone of this film. The unrelenting ending could only have occurred with the power of the actors in front of the camera. Their work is simple, at times one could even call it amateurish, but Quinn and Kotto do a phenomenal job of keeping the story, and their characters, grounded at all times. Their beats could have been tightened, but their flaws build upon the chaos of this story. Their facial expressions alone are worth their weight in gold, especially Quinn's ending glare. As Quinn and Kotto were our leads for this film, what stands out is how similar they are to their flawed mobsters and criminals. With our lead mobsters racism coupled with our medial issues of our criminals, we see a blend between them all. While they are all different characters, Shear brings them all together with small similarities. For someone jumping into the middle of this film, one would have trouble guessing who were the "real" bad guys, the guys with the guns or the guys with the badges. That is the next layer of "Across 110th Street" that could be used in any film studies class across the nation. Not just the visuals of a time filled with racial disgust, but also the fact that the racial divide wasn't in just black and white. Harlem owns the police, yet they are there to uphold the law - while perhaps not exactly like that in Harlem today - one can see this happening throughout the world in modern society.
Finally, one cannot end a review of "Across 110th Street" without mentioning the music - which was icing on the hypothetical cake. To me, the sounds captured the era, the chaos of the music coupled well with the violence happening on screen. The two blended perfectly together, giving us not just a taste of an explosive Harlem, but also the sounds that may have accompanied it. As a child of the 80s, I never was witness to this - so to see it (albeit in a form of fiction) only helped to heighten the awareness of this era in NYC.
Overall, "Across 110th Street" was a violent, loud, and turbulent film that was laced with clichés that were forgotten by the next scene. One could easily watch this film on late-night television and never quite see the power behind Shear's camera, or Quinn's acting ability (that final scene still haunts me), or the challenging music that accompanied our visuals, but watching it on a bright and sunny Saturday, the excellence of this film comes full force. The acting was at a perfect pitch for this film, the corruption that Shear demonstrates from across three spectrums adds a level of honesty to a film that could have easily been lost by another director. "Across 110th Street" reminded me of early Scorsese work, the raw grittiness of the city, a city that Shear loved (he filmed in Harlem), coupled with the powerful imagery took me to "Mean Streets" and "Goodfellas", but not "The Departed". This is a cannon of a film, one that should be watched and retained for the sheer honesty of the work, while it is fiction it holds a bit of truth to the turbulence of the world.
Wow. All I can say is "wow".
Grade: ***** out of *****
Across 110th Street
Much, much more than a so-called "Black-exploitation flick"...
Across 110th street is a great movie. As one reviewer said it is depressing, and yes... it is heavy, and leaves you with a sense of pain and sadness.
I dont think that one has to have lived an impoverished life, or have been raised in the inner- city, to relate to and be compassionate with most of the characters in this film. No, it is not a "color" thing at all...It is just a case of really understanding the movie.
Its about 3 men that stick up a numbers spot in harlem...which quite historically accurate, is run by the Mafia. Thus a snowball of intimidation, interrogation and brutality ensue...from both the Mafia and the N.Y.P.D. Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, Anthony franciosa, and Paul Benjamin all give intense performances. One of the most powerful yet unerrated performances is by Paul Benjamin as the ex con "Jim Harris". His desperation and harsh look at his own reality, bursts in every inch of his character. Of course the great Quinn..is gritty and raw as always, and i had heard that many people were begging him not to do a movie of this genre....what could they have possibly known...nothing of course! Franciosa does well as a maniac Mafia flunky..very convincing. Ed bernard as "Joe" and raspy voiced Richard ward as "Doc johnson" do very well also. And Antonio fargas adds much more to his character as opposed to some of his other film roles.
There is loads of building tension amongst the characters...all done beautifully with emotion and dialogue. Across 110th street is not some laughable exploitation film laden with stereotypical characters, and negative images. It is a truthful and numbing look at men and women struggling, and blindly hoping for a way to make it out.
Many people might say i am crazy for the passion of that i emote in this review. I must say to those who dont agree to watch across 110th street again...and look at this period piece of Harlem in the early 70's...It is somewhat of a documentary. If you still think I am far off track..then please, for those who dont know...Take a ride Across 110th street, before the claws of Gentrification sink deeper, and stop and ask an old timer sitting on a stoop about how things were in Harlem in the early 1970's..
This will always be one of my favorite movies
To this day it makes me very emotional when i watch itAcross 110th Street
Worth Seeing, but . . .
It was worth seeing, but could have been so much better. Our story starts with the botched robbery of a "mafia bank in Harlem" which results in seven deaths, including two police officers. After that the focus splits and we follow three parallel stories as we watch the cops try to solve the crime, the mob try to remind the inhabitants that it is the mob that runs Harlem, and the thieves try to escape.
The main focus of the story is on the relationship between a violent, racist, older detective (Anthony Quinn) and his young, smart, honest, black counter-part (Yaphet Kotto).
Watching this movie you get the feeling that it was the "big studio" answer to the b-movie blaxsploitation craze. It has copious quantities of graphic violence (albeit lame 70s special effects type violence), it has racial tension, and it preaches a message of racial equality . . . and boy does it preach.
The story is interesting. The characters are very interesting and well developed (especially for this type of movie). You can't help but like this movie and want it to be better than it is. But boy does this movie preach . . . The white detective isn't just a racist, he isn't just an alcoholic, he isn't just a violent thug, no - just in case you didn't figure out that racism is bad and he is a "not good" character, they had to also make him be on the take.
If this movie had been just a little more subtle (and the above is only one example) it probably would have gotten four stars from me. I don't object to an "action movie" with a message. I do object to being beaten over the head repeatedly with the message. All in all, it's worth the effort to watch, if only so that you can speculate on how good it could have beenAcross 110th Street
"ACROSS 110 th STREET"
In 1972,this great action packed film was released, starring Anthony Quinn as NYPD Lt.Frank Matelli and co-starring Yaphet Kotto, Anthony Franciosa, Antonio Fargas to name a few of a brilliant cast, was in my opinion dwarfed by the screen release of "The Godfather". Time is running out on Matelli as he tries to find the Harlem perpetrators of a numbers bank armed robbery which goes awry as one of the held up "bankers" reaches for a gun and one of the perpetrators sprays them with machine gun fire, therefore conducting a massacre. Hundreds are arrested as Matelli's NYPD prescinct becomes chaotic.
Yaphet Kotto is a young detective lieutenant who the aging Matelli (Quinn) suspects is after his job. Anthony Franciosa plays a ruthless capo for the Mafia who still controls the numbers and prostitution rackets in the Harlem of the late 60's or early 70's. The leader of the black gangsters who's last name is Johnson,which is assumed to be an aging but still legendary Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson, the Harlem crime boss who works for the mafia and Franciosa.
I am glad this film was re-edited on DVD as it is definitely a classic that deserves to be watched by everyone who likes this genre.
Do not miss it.Across 110th Street
Could Have Been Really Good.
I honestly think that Across 110th Street could have been a really good film as opposed to one that now has the reputation of being a B Movie. Yaphet Kotto was great as Lieutenant Pope but he was one of the few individuals in this production who gave his role the appropriate subtlety. I love Anthony Quinn but found his Captain Mattelli to be way over the top. Honestly, the amount of racism on display in the relations between blacks and whites is truly frightening and clashes mightily with reality. Indeed, such levels of racial animosity were likely not ever present in a northern city after the end of The Civil War. It just did not sit right with me and prevented my truly enjoying the film. The topic, the conflict between the mob and the Harlem syndicate, could not be any more interesting, however. The same can be said of the intense amount of corruption that plagued the NYPD during the 1970s.Across 110th Street
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