Adapted from Wally Ferris's 'Across 110th' (Harper & Row, 1970) by playwright-screenwriter Luther Davis ('Lady in a Cage'), 'Across 110th Street' is often lumped into the blaxploitation genre but is atypical in several respects. Created by white filmmakers, 'Across 110th Street' does not cater to black audiences by featuring the requisite black-urban-outlaw-superhero wreaking vengeance on the white power structure through acts of stylized mayhem. A cross-town street, 110th in Manhattan skirts the northern edge of Central Park and divides Harlem to the north from the upper East and West Sides, i.e., the then-mostly poor black and Hispanic ghetto from the mostly affluent white districts. More than a street, 110th is the city's dividing line between the haves from the have nots. Three black working-class Harlemites—Joe Logart (Ed Barnard), Jim Harris (Paul Benjamin), and Henry J. Jackson (Antonio Fargas)—figuratively cross the line when they rob a mafia counting house in Harlem of $300,000 and, in the process, kill seven people including two cops. The robbery and mass murder naturally trigger parallel pursuits by the NYPD and the mafia; the former determined to bring the trio to justice, the latter bent on exacting vengeance and recovering the stolen loot. Because the crimes took place in Harlem, Lt. Pope (Yaphet Kotto), a young, by-the-book black detective, is put in charge of the investigation, much to the chagrin of Capt. Mattelli (Anthony Quinn), a brutal, racist 55-year-old cop strictly "old school" in his methods and beliefs: the kind of match-up already made archetypal by Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger in 'In the Heat of the Night' (1967). On the mafia side, Nick D'Salvio (Anthony Franciosa), the grinning, psychopathic son-in-law of a mafia don, is assigned the task of catching the three killer-crooks. Further complicating the situation is the menacing power of Mr. Jessup (Joe Attles), a gruff black crime boss who maintains an uneasy alliance with the mafia and crooked cops (including Capt. Mattelli) over the rackets in Harlem. Across 110th Street fails to generate much suspense because the mafia easily bests the cops in getting to each of the fugitives first. On the upside, Barry Shears' direction is surefooted, the film is graced by an evocative soundtrack by Bobby Womack and J.J. Johnson, and features solid acting, relentless action, suitably grotesque violence, and an aura of gritty authenticity that could only be had by filming on location in New York City at one of the lowest points in its modern history. Blaxploitation fan Quentin Tarantino incorporated a version of Bobby Womack's title track, "Across 110th Street," into his third film, 'Jackie Brown' (1997). VHS (1998) and DVD (2001).
Review of Across 110th Street
