Across 110th Street [DVD]

This incredible film was (mis)sold as a blaxploitation piece when it was released and, unfortunately, the label has stuck. (The US DVD is part of a black collection called "Soul Cinema").

Personally, I love blaxploitation movies for their brazen, unsubtle approach and mostly poor production values, but I can also understand why they do not interest a lot of people. Therein lies the tragedy of this great movie, as it bears very little resemblance to blaxploitation other than the fact that it has black people in it. It's pretty low budget, but it's a far cry from the clumsy and mindless tones of Bucktown, the gratuitous titillation of Coffy or the pounding social vengeance of Black Caesar. Even the better received titles like Shaft are unfair comparisons to this. This is no cheap thrill, this is very finely crafted and brilliantly acted piece of cinema.

Across 110th Street is really one third cop character piece, one third Mafia crime/revenge thriller, and one third (black) social drama. This could've been a very clumsy affair but is pulled off extraordinarily well by virtue of having a fantastic script, restrained, dispassionate, almost detached direction (by a man whose most notable prior achievement was a rather dull episode of Hawaii Five-0) and brilliant performances by a perfectly cast group of actors. Aside from a defining performance by Yaphet Kotto, I won't single them out, I will simply say that this film boasts one of the best ensemble casts I have ever seen.

Not wanting to give too much away, the story involves three men from Harlem who steal $300,000 from the mob and spend the rest of the film evading both them and the police investigating the robbery. The real power of this movie is in its ability to evoke the bleak, grim and depressing world in which the story takes place. There is an anger and cynicism just beneath the surface of this movie which is held back so painfully that it will literally leave you numb for days. Every character here is ugly, hopeless, sad and resigned, but this is never overplayed. The angst never really gets out, and it stays with you long after the credits role.

In my opinion, post-classical Hollywood was American cinema's finest hour. There's a reason it's known as Hollywood's second golden age. What, for me, gives it the edge is that film-makers were suddenly not afraid to present the underbelly of American life - the other side of the American Dream - through real characters that were far from the ideal, wholesome heroes we were used to.

It's interesting that many of the reviews I've read draw so much attention to the violence in this movie. While it is fairly strong, it's hardly abundant and it's never over the top or the least bit gratuitous. There is a very precise and cynical sense of reality, which not only makes the film totally engrossing and believable but also makes it all the more moving as a consequence.

Films like this expose modern crime movies for the frauds they are. 110th Street, like all the best 70s crime films, paces perfectly, utilises excellent characterisation, and applies the violence mostly sparingly, but always bloodily. It avoids all the stomach churning self-awareness and self-obsessiveness that this genre is swamped in these days, and depicts racism in a tough, unflinching light. The final shoot-out, and poignant final shot are particular highlights of a film that is well worth your 102 minutes. Recommended if you enjoy stuff like French Connection and the Taking of Pelham 1,2,3. This one ticks all the boxes for me.

Two cops, the frazzled, corrupt Mattelli (Anthony Quinn) and straight-arrow Pope (Yaphet Kotto) track down three black thieves who have ripped off the mob in this violent, realistic thriller. As a movie this finds a middle ground between the documentary-style action of The French Connection (1971) and the Blaxploitation movies that would shortly hit American cinema screens. The movie is unique because it does not give the audience a hero figure with which to identify. Quinn's character is a brutal burn-out with ties to the Mafia, whilst it becomes clear as the movie progresses that Kotto's seemingly incorruptible college-graduate detective won't be able to keep his hands clean for very long. This is a very downbeat movie, which shows in detail the poverty of the Harlem slums in the 1970s, and the hateful criminals who prey on it both from within and without. The black gangsters are as cold-blooded as any in cinema, whilst the portrayal of the Mafia as a set of ultra-violent, racist thugs who torture and kill without feeling in the pursuit of their stolen money is a far cry from the sensitive portrayal of, say, The Godfather (1972). Anthony Franciosa gives a shot-fused, psychotic edge to his mob enforcer character Nick D'Salvio, a small-time hood determined to make the most of his grubby `search and destroy' mission; notice the seedy way in which he licks between his fingers when his blood is up. Paul Benjamin is also impressive as the epileptic leader of the thieves, whilst an even dumber than usual Antonio Fargas turns up, only to be crucified and castrated by the vengeful mob. And yes, the theme song is the same track used by Tarantino during the opening credits of Jackie Brown.
Rough around the edges generally, the film does show several signs of harsh editing, especially in the mid-section. After Franciosa and his men grab Fargas in a brothel, we quickly cut to the screaming, dying Fargas in the back of an ambulance with Quinn and Kotto. We then go to the office of black crime boss Richard Ward, where Quinn accuses him of murdering Fargas. We are given no clue as to why Quinn suspects Ward, or a reason why he would bring the straight, honest Kotto (who he has known for only a few hours) face-to-face with the man who gives him his pay-off money. However, the film gets back on track after this and ends in a memorably down-beat fashion, with a confused shootout in which several innocent people are sprayed with machine-gun fire and all the wrong characters are killed. A far cry from the vacant swagger of the dramatically lightweight Blaxploitation films it is usually associated with (the movie has been released as part of Blaxploitation collections on VHS and DVD, and is usually referred to as such in TV listings), Across 110th Street is a hard-boiled crime classic.