Across 110th Street

Whether you regard 'Across 110th Street' as a genuine blaxploitation movie or not (I don't) there's no denying it's one of the toughest and most powerful crime movies of the early 1970s, easily as good as the better known 'Serpico' or 'Dirty Harry'. Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto both give excellent performances as the NYC cops who have different approaches to trying to bring to justice some petty crooks who have ripped off the Mob. I was also impressed by Tony Franciosa who I knew from his later work in Argento's 'Tenebre'. I love that movie but always thought Franciosa was its weak point. In this movie he is one of the strengths. Paul Benjamin is also very good as one of the thieves. In fact, this movie is full of great acting, a tough and realistic script, taut direction from Barry Shear (who also made the 60s exploitation classic 'Wild In The Streets'), and a wonderful theme song from Bobby Womack, later recycled by Quentin Tarantino for 'Jackie Brown'. Highly recommended.