Plot Synopsis by Yuri German
Across 110th Street is a violent urban thriller about a corrupt, older white cop (Anthony Quinn) and an honest, young African-American cop (Yaphet Kotto) chasing three robbers-cum-murderers who ran away with $300,000 that belonged to the Italian mob. The police must find them before the sadistic Mafia henchman Nick D'Salvio (Anthony Franciosa) reaches them first. The film has reached a cult status; the title song, performed by Bobby Womack, was later used in Jackie Brown, Quentin Tarantino's extended homage to the crime flicks of the 1970s.
Across 110th Street is a lean, tough, crime picture which straddles the line between NYC Urban Crime Drama and Blaxploitation film (it has been labeled as such as long as I can remember, probably due to the cast, the setting in Harlem, and the absolutely brilliant main title theme song. 
Yaphet Kotto and Anthony Quinn both star, the former as the new lieutenant on the beat, and the latter as the quick-to-violence, jaded investigator who's been working Harlem for maybe too long. They are both investigating corruption in Harlem stemming from some renegade black gangsters stealing money a causing trouble between the Italian mafia and the other black gangsters. The film is very brutal and violent.
Antonio Fargas is awesome(as always)! One of my favorite exchanges is when we see two police officers picking up their dry cleaning. The clerk at the cleaners tells them their total:
With tax,$1.07
The police officer says
Screw the tax, here's a buck!
Pop Matters has a great review and partial analysis of the film. You should also look for the title theme song. I first discovered it on this compilation, but it is also used to great effect in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown.
06/10/2007
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