Across 110thStreet (1972), probably the best “Blaxploitation” film ever made, didn’t findits audience at the time of its release. It celebrated nothing. There weren’tgood guys or bad guys—mostly bad guys and worse guys. The violence wasremarkable for 1972; the dark mood was broken by moments of hope rapidlyextinguished. For most of the characters, white and black, there was no wayout.
Released now on Blu-ray,Across 110th Street is a crime thriller about a trio oftrigger-happy petty crooks who slaughter a roomful of Italian Mafiosos andtheir African-American underlings, stealing the week’s drug money from Harlem—afantastic sum in ’72, $300,000. The son-in-law of the Mafia don (TonyFranciosa) is sent to Harlem after the money and revenge. The Mob’s blacksubordinates guide his search, including a Superfly stand-in (Gilbert Lewis) wearingan impassive face with his pimp duds.
On the other side of thelaw—if just barely—is the police detective played by Anthony Quinn. He getsresults through brutality, doesn’t much care for blacks but is willing to takemoney from black gangsters to look the other way. He’s getting old and wantsout—any way he can. Since the murderous robbery also took the lives of a coupleof patrolmen, he is determined to track the killers. Quinn resents the youngAfrican-American detective in charge of the case (Yaphet Kotto), who might bethe only honest man in the picture—but he’s new to the force.
Race hatred is endemicand undisguised in Across 110th Street. As directed by Barry Shear,the sensibility is indebted to film noir, notably in the dark claustrophobia oftenement corridors and the sense of the ghetto as a labyrinth no one canescape.
