Across 110th Street

Across 110th Street is a 1972 police drama film, starring Anthony Quinn, Yaphet Kotto, and Tony Franciosa, and directed by Barry Shear. Commonly associated with the blaxploitation genre at the time, it has received considerable critical praise from writer Greil Marcus and others for being a film that surpassed the limitations of that idiom. http://www.popmatters.com/film/reviews/a/across-110th-street.shtml

Related Topics:
1972 - Anthony Quinn - Yaphet Kotto - Tony Franciosa - Barry Shear - Blaxploitation - Greil Marcus

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This film is set in Harlem, of which 110th Street is an informal boundary line.

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Kotto (in an early performance) plays a by-the-book black police lieutenant who has to work with a crude, unruly white captain, played by Quinn. They are after some black hoodlums who slaughtered five men—three whites and two blacks—in a holdup that netted $300,000. The getaway driver is played by Starsky and Hutchs Antonio Fargas. Franciosa plays a Mafia lieutenant who finds out about the hit and, with his henchmen, goes after the hoods. In one of many violent scenes, he finds Fargas' character and slices and dices him in a Harlem whorehouse.

Related Topics:
Starsky and Hutch - Antonio Fargas - Mafia - Whorehouse

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The mixture of natural, uncontrived, down-to-the-bone dialogue and 1970s dress and behavior accounts for the film's enduring appeal. The inclusion of violence is viewed as not gratuitous, but rather an integral part of what happens, and what has to happen, given the circumstances.

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The film's critically-praised title song, by Bobby Womack, was a #19 hit on the Billboard Top Black Singles chart in 1973, and was later featured in Quentin Tarantino's 1998 blaxploitation homage Jackie Brown.

Related Topics:
Bobby Womack - Billboard Top Black Singles chart - 1973 - Quentin Tarantino - 1998 - Jackie Brown

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