Review of Across 110th Street (1972) by Matt . — 31 Mar 2009

Blaxploitation movie? I guess I can see why people default to this classification, but.... no.

Buddy cop movie? I mean, the cover's got a black cop and a white cop on it, but.... definitely the fuck not.

Mob movie? Not really.... no.

Crime-drama? I guess this is the closest we're gonna get, and I'll spare you the rest of the genre arguments I could be having with myself and settle with that one.

A distinct soul track plays under the opening credits, and for me that was hugely misleading. I'll get to why.... sorta right now, also later, I guess.

This movie has bronze fucking balls. Nah. Balls of adamantium. There are scenes here in which you think the conflict at hand has been resolved, that no more searing words will be exchanged, that every one has said what he needs to say, and the scene will end. Not the case. This movie takes some scenes several (underlined) of these steps past how far I feel most other movies would go. Very very intense, with great performances all around.

The idea of protagonists and antagonists is obliterated. No character, save perhaps for Yaphet Kotto's (and a few of the minor women characters), is truly innocent here. And yet, every major character, including the Italian prick, is developed in at least one scene. Indeed, some of the 'bad guys' are far more empathetic than some of the 'good guys.'.

Another interesting thing at work here is the dichotomy between power and strength. The Italian prick and Anthony Quinn characters have power, but little if any strength to resist the will to abuse it. Two of the three-man "crew of gun-totin' gangstas" (as the movie's box fucking stupidly calls them) are among the strongest characters in the movie, but are set to be buried beneath a shitstorm from every other group of power here. I think the Kotto and Doc Johnson characters are two figures who maintain their strength as well as positions of power.

Getting back to the main reason why the opening led the way for the rest of the movie to catch me with my pants down: the violence. The violence is not so much 'realistic' as graphic, brutal, bloody, and... often. Yet not a single act of violence here feels gratuitous. This movie has balls, indeed, but not because of the level of violence in general. This isn't one where you cheer at your screen due to the badassery ensuing. It's cautionary. It's anti-violence. Again, much of it is truly fuckin' brutal, and the movie rarely defaults to cartoonish levels of violent fun. There's in fact one instance I can recall of this being the case.

It's an extremely complex movie, but one effortless to follow at the same time, and that's fully to it's credit. We're emotionally invested in so many characters on so many different sides, it's amazing. There are so many cripplingly powerful moments, whether character-based or due to a shocking outbreak of violence, I found myself quietly muttering "ohhhh shit," and "hooooly fuck" a number of times.

Very highly recommended. It's really a shame this movie is so misplaced by its packaging and genre-labeling and so overlooked in general. Sam Cooper and John Papp MUST see this one.

Oh, and Richard Ward speaking of his own character in saying "This is me: Doc Motha Fuckin' Johnson" is possibly the COOLEST instance of "motha fuckin'" I've EVER heard.