I caught this on BBC 1 one night many years ago . I forgot the title but could vividly remember a number of scenes especially a line of dialogue where two characters describe a third one having his genitals mutilated . This type of movie would be broadcast on television 30 years ago and no one would blink an eyelid but at the same time you can understand why it wouldn't be shown on network TV today . It as also a sign of the times back then that the TV broadcast had the F word overdubbed to something less offensive but the racial slurs against both black and whites remained intact . Perhaps the fact this film is consciously insensitive and hard hitting works against it ? This is a pity because it's not some " Blaxploitation " fare but more of a New Hollywood thriller at its best The story itself is no great shakes - a couple of black dudes rip off and kill a few members of the Mafia and the black underworld and also kill a couple of uniformed cops in the process and find if not the entire world against them then at least the law enforcers and law breakers of NYC wanting to cap their ass . It's the sort of film Tarantino has been inspired by but unlike Tarantino's work this movie is devoid of post modernism and crippling self indulgence and is a relatively tightly plotted screenplay where lots of nasty things happen to lots of nasty people . There's a subplot featuring character interaction between Anthony Quinn's nasty racist white cop and Yaphet Kotto's not very nasty by the books black cop that might have been clichéd but does seem fresh and realistic , probably down to the fact the performances and writing portraying a rather amoral relationship between the two men and the wider world . And this does feel like an exceptionally amoral film that we never see nowadays more is the pity

While not truly "blaxploitation", the integrated cast is of major interest in this story (based on a novel by Wally Ferris) strongly and memorably depicting racial differences. Two detectives, a veteran Italian-American named Mattelli (Anthony Quinn) and an up and coming black, Lt. Pope (Yaphet Kotto), are forced to work together while investigating the case of three black men (two of them disguised as cops) who ripped off money from a Mafia controlled bank. Now it's up to Mattelli and Pope to find the three men before the Mafia is able to get their revenge.There's some wonderful acting in this tough and gritty film, given straightforward treatment by director Barry Shear and featuring plenty of authentic Harlem locations. It's got quite a lot of hard hitting violence, and may be uncomfortable to watch at times for some viewers. The music by J.J. Johnson is superb and there are also great songs by Bobby Womack on the soundtrack. There's one ingenious cut a little past the 77 minute mark. The pacing is quite effective and the storytelling always interesting and compelling.Quinn is solid as the old school, bigoted veteran and Kotto is his match as the more disciplined, efficient younger man. Anthony Franciosa is fun in a key supporting role as a mob henchman, and the cast is peppered with many familiar faces. Delivering standout performances are the raspy voiced Richard Ward as gangster Doc Johnson and Paul Benjamin as determined career criminal Jim Harris. Viewers will enjoy themselves spotting actors and actresses such as George DiCenzo, Antonio Fargas, Paul Harris, Gloria Hendry, Gilbert Lewis, Charles McGregor, Robert Sacchi, Marlene Warfield, Mel Winkler, and Burt Young.Overall this is potent entertainment and deserves its place among the great NYC-based films of the 1970s.Quinn and Shear were the executive producers.Eight out of 10.

110th Street between 5th Avenue and Central Park West marks the Northern limit of one of the most beautiful parks in any urban setting. To the North of the park begins a vast area better known as Harlem. Of course, the Harlem of today, with its gentrified parts, is a completely different area than it was in the 1970s when drugs were more prevalent and conditions were worse than today.This story takes us to that era where two Italian mafia men come to get the money from the drug trade. Unknown to them, three black residents of Harlem have prepared a stick up to rob the proceeds from the sale of dope to the mostly black users. One of the two would be robbers, with a machine gun eliminates the two Italians and some of their local dealers. The get away involves killing a police officer on the street.A local Harlem police, Lieutenant Pope takes charge in the investigation. The appearance of Capt. Mattelli challenges Pope about his authority. Mattelli, a dirty cop, has a lot at stake. He is being paid handsomely to look the other way by Doc Johnson, who controls a lot of the criminal element working for him. The police get lucky when they find one of the trio who has gone into a bar flaunting his newly found money. He leads them into not only the attention of the police, but to Nick D'Salvio, the son-in-law of the mafia boss. D'Salvio wants to get to the guys that stole the money, at whatever cost. He is a man without scruples who will stop at nothing.The two remaining robbers are a product of the poverty of the area. Out of desperation they had committed the crime, figuring they were taking the money from bandits that were enslaving the locals with the drugs they were pushing. Eventually, all the men meet their death either from D'Salvio, or the police.One of the best examples of the blaxploitation genre, the film had values in the way director Barry Shear opened up the film by taking the action into the streets of Harlem with the dilapidated tenements, poverty, filth, and desperation. The result is a film that is exciting to watch today to get a real feeling what those mean streets looked like during a period when lawlessness reigned freely. It also serves as a social commentary about how the whites, in the case of Mattelli and the Italian mafiosi used the black population to push their deathly drugs to people that could ill afford them.Anthony Quinn does a credible job as Mattelli. Anthony Franciosa was at his best portraying the sadist D'Salvio. Yaphet Kotto appears as Lt. Pope. There are some excellent acting from some of the supporting players like Richard Ward, Paul Benjamin, Ed Bernard and Antonio Fargas, just to name a few.Jack Priestley took his cameras to a part of Manhattan most people never venture into, capturing in great detail the flavor of the area.

"Across 110th Street" is a bold, highly original and powerful film about three African-Americans Jim Harris (played brilliantly by Paul Benjamin), Joe Logart (Ed Bernard) and Henry Jackson (Antonio Fargas) who steal $300,000 from black drug-dealers and the mob and murder three blacks, two mafia men and two cops in order to escape capture and death. After that heist is carried out, the police -- Captain Frank Mattelli (Anthony Quinn who is marvellous as always) and Lt. Pope (Yaphet Kotto, whose performance here proves that he is up there with the Hollywood greats) -- are in a race to find these three men before the mafia and the drug-dealers do.Although the plot is central to this film, Director Barry Shear and writer Luther Davis' achievement goes beyond just producing a well-acted drama. Shear has done something that film directors have rarely done which is to make the land (i.e. Harlem) a character in the film. Everyone wants to escape their depressing lives in Harlem, but none are able to leave. Joe Logard comes close, but then he is pulled right back in by the mafia and the drug lords. So in that sense Harlem not only represents a space for an entirely different world to exist (though it hardly flourishes), it also acts as a prison preventing any of its residents from escaping. Harlem also contains many traps that people could potentially fall into, much like in the projects of "Boyz in the Hood" (another great film about the unique challenges that African Americans face). In one scene, Jim Harris tells his girlfriend Gloria, "You got to get your head out of that white woman's dream," which is his way of saying that the American Dream only exists for white people. He is right, because as a black man without schooling, with no trade and a medical condition, he can only get the lowliest job without any pension. He also tells Gloria, "How would it be when we needed the bread that I told you to do it?" This is a darker statement, a veiled reference to some African-American men forcing their partners into prostitution to make money in time of need. Harlem is also a place that terrorizes people into silence. Early on in the film, Captain Mattelli makes the perceptive remark, "Nobody saw, nobody heard." He knows that the drug lords and the mafia have terrorized the people so thoroughly that they have become complicit in their crimes through their silence. The understanding in Harlem is that you should never speak to the police and you only talk to the people who can protect you and potentially reward you with money, which are the drug lords and the mob.The other important aspect of the film is the violence. Many of the violent scenes are horrific and extreme. But the violence is not there for exploitation purposes. It shows the gritty, uncompromising world of Harlem. Dr. Johnson's men and the mafia use violence to have total control over Harlem. As one mafioso boss tells the sadistic Nick D'Salvio, "We have to teach them a lesson or we lose Harlem." The police, especially Captain Mattelli, use violence because they realize that this is the only way to convince Harlem's residents to cooperate with them instead of the criminals. Finally, the world of Harlem is shaped by the racism of the police and the mob. But it is hard to say, in this violent and terror-filled world, whether the racists are worse than the black drug-dealers. Dr. Johnson is probably just as bad, because he exploits poor needy people - the prostitutes, the gamblers and the drug addicts - for his own financial gain. A brilliant and thought provoking film.