Across 110th Street

R

Released Dec 19, 1972

1 hr. 42 min.

Crime

Drama

List

83%

18 Reviews

Tomatometer

78%

2,500+ Ratings

Audience Score

After a robbery in Harlem turns into a scene of mass murder, promising young black police officer William Pope (Yaphet Kotto) is assigned to the case, along with surly, prejudiced Italian-American cop Frank Mattelli (Anthony Quinn). The pair clashes during their tense investigation as they try to track down the three suspects and apprehend them. Also searching for the fugitives is ruthless mobster Nick D'Salvio (Tony Franciosa), who will stop at nothing to retrieve the stolen money.

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jwcdood

Although it has excellent critic and audience reviews, ACROSS 110TH STREET is a really good story, but it's an extremely dated (and virtually junk yard, day old beer stinking) production. It's 51 years old with a lost and wandering style of direction and editing from the same period. I rate it as 3 stars (max!) since the story is good, but practically everything else about it comes across as very cheap, shoddy and sloppy, third rate pretense.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

12/07/23

Full Review

Billy L

Amazing! Having lived in NYC as a boy This film portrays what the streets where like in 1972...no hipster's or Starbucks then.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/14/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Overall, this is an engaging crime story with many brutal moments and unexpected outcomes. The performances here are generally solid, but the dialogue is more impressive, feeling authentic and tense. I enjoyed the concept of how one bad crime can have a major ripple effect and disastrous consequences within a large city, especially if the two leading police officers fail to catch and stop the criminals. It's a fascinating classic, and I feel it's worth a look, even if it doesn't warrant repeated viewings once you know the outcomes of all the different characters within the story.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/11/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This movie hits the ground running and doesn't let up. It starts with the bloody robbery of a Mafia money drop, then follows the Mafia guys as they get bloody retribution on the thieves, always staying a step ahead of the police. But between the scenes of beatings and killings we get nicely acted moments that make the thieves human and sympathetic (well, two of them anyway – the first to go is pretty much your typical party guy who draws attention to himself in the dumbest way possible). There are also some vivid depictions of race relations between African-Americans and the police in New York in the 1970s (which haven't changed a lot, apparently). It's not a feel-good movie, by any means – in fact, it's pretty nihilistic – but it's never dull and a great time capsule of its era.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

david f

This is a gritty, misanthropic, and violent urban crime movie which prominently features crime, violence, drugs, racism, and police brutality. It opens with a lot of cash getting stolen from the mafia by a machine gun toting gang and the rest of the film follows along as the mafia and the police close in on the thieves. Both sides deal with ever-present racial tension and the climax is a thrilling chase over the roofs of Harlem tenement buildings.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Tariq B

Without question, the GREATEST of the "Soul" (Blaxploitation) movies. Shaft and Superfly get the credit, as they should, for being beacons of the era and representing black men and culture excellently; but this movie is the most complete. The subject matter rings true, even today, despite having so many motifs of a bygone era. The fashion, the music, the slang, The nuances of the movie. The Italians in the last days of running black ghettos and 'numbers' . The blacks living in squalor and jerking each other left and right. Two cops working together despite their differences. The uppity black that nobody wants, the disheveled white that everyone owns. Three crooks that aren't as bad-ass as much as they are desperate. Paul Benjamin and his girlfriend, have one the most dramatic "couple" scenes of all-time, declaring that he "still got the dice, and I'm rollin' ". {SPOILER} I cry a little when he is dying and flings the money over the roof to the poor kiddies at the end.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/12/21

Full Review

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Barry Shear

Director

Anthony Quinn

Capt. Mattelli

Yaphet Kotto

Lt. Pope

Anthony Franciosa

Nick D'Salvio

Richard Ward

Doc Johnson

Paul Benjamin

Jim Harris

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Variety Staff

Variety

[Across 110th Street] is well-made, realistic in presentation and effect with uniformly good portrayals from actors, but depressingly lacking in a sympathetic focal point for audiences to grasp.

Mar 26, 2009

Full Review

Geoff Andrew

Time Out

It's a gutsy affair, given a distinct lift by the Harlem locations; and between the bouts of physical aggression, there are occasional moments of insight into the fraught relationship between Quinn and Kotto.

Feb 9, 2006

Full Review

Roger Greenspun

New York Times

It manages at once to be unfair to blacks, vicious towards whites and insulting to anyone who feels that race relations might consist of something better than improvised genocide.

May 9, 2005

Full Review

Dave Giannini

InSession Film

Across 110th Street is almost devoid of positivity and aspirations of hope. It will not make you feel good about policing, race, relationships, or upward mobility. But it is an important representation of a segment of experience...

Feb 27, 2024

Full Review

Grant Watson

Fiction Machine

Barry Shears Across 110th Street (1972) is the sort of film for which the word muscular seems intended.

Rated: 8/10

Apr 28, 2022

Full Review

Eve Tushnet

Patheos

A more fluid camera than you'd expect, especially from a director who'd done mostly TV.

Apr 28, 2020

Full Review

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Synopsis

After a robbery in Harlem turns into a scene of mass murder, promising young black police officer William Pope (Yaphet Kotto) is assigned to the case, along with surly, prejudiced Italian-American cop Frank Mattelli (Anthony Quinn). The pair clashes during their tense investigation as they try to track down the three suspects and apprehend them. Also searching for the fugitives is ruthless mobster Nick D'Salvio (Tony Franciosa), who will stop at nothing to retrieve the stolen money.

Director: Barry Shear
Executive Producer: Anthony Quinn, Barry Shear
Screenwriter: Luther Davis, Wally Ferris
Distributor: United Artists, Key Video, MGM/UA Home Entertainment Inc.
Production Co: Film Guarantors
Rating: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 19, 1972, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 30, 2016
Sound Mix: Mono

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