Across 110th Street

Having blunted the needle on my iTunes from playing Bobby Womack’s title song so much I thought it was about time I saw the film he wrote it for. I went in expecting the usual black-exploitation trash, but this movie is more of a cross between The French Connection and Superfly. The story follows three groups of characters: the mobsters, the petty criminals who killed said mobsters’ men, and the cops on the case. It’s a dark and gritty film filled with racial tensions and not much in the way of happy endings or genuinely good characters (except maybe Yaphet Kotto’s Lt. Pope). Sometimes it a bit over-the-top in its portrayals, but it was riveting all the way through.