Across 110th Street
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Movie Reviews of Across 110th Street
Movie Review: Much, much more than a so-called "Black-exploitation flick"...
Summary: 5 Stars
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 it
Movie Review: An early 70's urban action gem awaiting rediscovery
Summary: 5 Stars
Since it's release in 1972 this film has fallen by the cinema wayside, being lumped into the blaxploitation genre - a purgatory from which it needs to be rescued. Labeling this film has limited its audience appeal in the thirty years that have followed, but those of us who were fascinated with it then remain so now. "Across 110th Street" is sparked by the kind of gritty and incisive urban realism that blaxploitation films are missing. It's production values are an immediate tipoff that you are watching a first-rate movie. The competent, skillful direction by Barry Shear; a superb story that hardly takes a breath; great Harlem location shooting adds authenticity that makes it feel almost quasi-documentary.
It's also highlighted by a great cast of veteran A-list movie stars, B-movie regulars and a few performers getting their first chance in a meaningful role. Anthony Quinn, one of the films' executive producers, plays a brutal, insensitive police detective with a streak of racism. Anthony Franciosa plays a cruel and ruthless Italian mobster tracking down his stolen money. Richard Ward plays a raspy voiced Harlem crime kingpin that Quinn tries to pressure; Ward will be recognizable to film buffs as a prisoner in the film "Brubaker" playing the pivotal role of Abraham. Paul Benjamin, the leader of the trio of thieves, appeared in the crucial role of the con 'English' in the terrific prison drama "Escape From Alcatraz". Antonio Fargas creates another of his patented colorful, hip characters as one of the thieves. And finally, Yaphet Kotto gets his first significant film role playing the no-nonsense, by-the-book, newly assigned lieutenant who is refreshingly free of vulgarity - although he will steal a truck when he needs to!
Period detail keeps this film stuck squarely in the 70's which is one of it's strengths. The pulsating music score by Bobby Womack and J.J. Johnson perfectly matches the films moments of tension and transitional scenes. Womack's catchy title song is another plus.
MGM has released this as part of it's 'Soul Cinema' DVD collection in Widescreen format - that's with the black bars on the top and bottom of the screen for those who don't know - and it's a great transfer. Pair this movie with "The French Connection" for a great double feature.
Movie Review: Superb Crime Drama
Summary: 5 Stars
This film is a real find. It's a gritty police drama from the seventies that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. What distinguishes this film is the rich writing and believable characters. The plot involves a group of thugs who steal $300,000.00 from a Mafia operation in Harlem and in the subsequent getaway kill 7 people including 2 cops. Not only do the thugs have to contend with the police but the Mafia and their Harlem subordinates whose tactics don't exactly fall under the Geneva Convention. There are many outstanding performances here. Paul Benjamin as the epileptic leader of the gang of thieves;Richard Ward(Steve Martin's "father" in "The Jerk") as a Harlem kingpin;Tony Franciosa as the sadistic Mafiosi. Most compelling is the relationship between the police investigators who have a strained partnership played by Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto. Quinn is an old-school rascist police captain who's also on the take whereas Kotto plays a straight arrow lieutenant who can barely contain his disgust for Quinn. At no point in this film does this pair demonstrate anything that approximates grudging respect. If this film had been directed by either Sidney Lumet or Martin Scorsese it would get more respect. A definite buried treasure.Movie Review: "ACROSS 110 th STREET"
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Movie Review: So tough, you can practically feel the grit on your tongue
Summary: 5 Stars
This violent little gem ranks right up there with "The French Connection" in the pantheon of early 70s urban crime thrillers. Smartly edited, paced like an out of control freight train, and with fabulous location work that bellows authenticity, "Across 110th Street" deserves a far bigger cult. Stir in Anthony Quinn's inimitable basset hound charm, Yaphet Kotto's steely cool, Anthony Franciosa's reptilian sneer and the raspy voiced dude from Brubaker and you have a combustble confection that belongs in the collection of every discerning action movie fan. Oh, I almost forgot to mention Antonio Fargas' so-cool-it-hurts supernova wardrobe and the bleak poetry of the final shootout, including a freeze frame ending that will stay with you for days. Aces all around.