If you are a fan of gritty 1970’s films, or blaxploitation films from the era, you need to seek this film out.įavorite Tidbit: Look for Burt Young in one of his early roles as one of the mobsters in the opening scene. In fact Tarantino used the Bobby Womack theme song from this film in his famous opening to Jackie Brown. This film feels like Quentin Tarantino went back in time and made it. This film has language which may offend, and the violence is extreme, but both of these facts seem to make the film feel more real. The biggest one this film tackles is racism in the police force and the targeting of blacks. This movie from the early 1970’s tackles topics that are still current today. He is a very violent man who gets results. The two have an interesting dynamic of respect, even though race gets in the way of that respect.Īnthony Franciosa plays the man the Mafia put in charge of finding the thieves and getting their money back. Ferris about it in 1997, he told me he intended it as a 'tour of Harlem. The lead detective is played by Yaphet Kotto, a black man working his way up the ladder with skill and hard work. If you are at all familiar with Wally Ferris's tale of three black men who rob a Harlem Mafia bank and then must attempt to survive the fall-out, it's probably from the 1972 screen adaptation, 'Across 110th Street.' This book was published in 1970, and when I spoke with Mr. This role was turned down by such big names as John Wayne, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas. The third is the story of the Mafia trying to find the thieves and get their money back.Īnthony Quinn plays our veteran hardboiled detective, who is a bit of a racist. The second is the two New York detectives who are trying to catch the thieves/cop killers. The first is our three thieves trying to get away with $300,000 of the Mafia’s money. This is the springboard for three crossing story lines. This very slow and bad timed drive causes a few cops to end up dead. They get away with the money, but the getaway driver played by Antonio Fargas maybe the worst getaway driver in cinema history. The robbery goes wrong when one of the men starts firing his machine gun and kills everybody in the room. The film starts with a bold heist by three black men who rob the Mafia who is counting money in an upstairs apartment. The film is a mash up of blaxploitation, hardboiled detective, and Mafia films into a neo noir stew. The film is based on a book by Wally Ferris by the same name. Shear mostly worked in television, but did a few feature films, this one being his most well-known film. Three of Bobby Womacks most influential 1970s recordings - including the iconic Blaxpoitation soundtrack, Across 110th Street - presented in a deluxe 2CD. Across 110th Street is a neo noir film from 1972, directed by Barry Shear.
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