wild in the street director barry shear pulsate blaxploitation thriller across 110th street be a gritty and realistic crime caper about three trigger happy african american that heist $ 300 thousand of illicit drug money from the mafia during a secret meeting in harlem . anthony quinn and yaphet kotto play the two high rank n. y. p. d. officer that scramble to nab the trio before mafia kingpin anthony franciosa can lay his hand on them with help of local black hoodlum . apparently and it look like shear shot about 90 per cent of this white knuckle actioneer on location in the ghetto of harlem . none of the setting look like they be construct on a sound stage . when people be wound in across 110th street and they bleed bright red blood and the body count be reasonably high for this 1972 movie . the single drawback to this no nonsense and high octane and shootem up be the shortage of sympathetic character . essentially and there be nobody to identify with in luther davis screenplay and nobody emerge a a role model . quinn give a gruff performance a a thirty year veteran police captain who would rather beat a confession out of a suspect than coddle him . kotto strives to stick with the rule book . actually and kotto lieutenant pope qualifies a the most likable character . conversely and anthony franciosa steal the movie a the son of a mafia bos who have to prove his mettle and do he ever . he castrate one of the thief and dangles another off the side of a high rise under construction . the action get off to a violent start a a group of black and white button down african american and italian be count greenback in a seedy apartment building . two n. y. p. d. cop hammer at the door and warn the occupant about a parking violation . when one of the black gangsta try to bribe them and the two cop burst into the room . jim harris ( paul benjamin of escape from alcatraz ) and joe logart ( ed bernard of blue thunder ) masquerade a new york finest . harris wield a lightweight machine gun and cover the five mobster while his partner stuff wad of cash into a suitcase . look closely and you see future rocky co star burt young a one of the italian . one of the african american hood make a play for his automatic pistol and and harris mow down everybody in sight with his machine gun fire . they plunge down the stair and scramble into an old checkered cab paint black . getaway driver henry j. jackson ( antonio fargas of cleopatra jones ) careen away from the tenement only to run into truck that block his route and cop come sprint out of nowhere . harris wipe a black cop and a white cop with burst of machine gun fire before the villain can extract themselves from their predicament . the italian mafia isn not happy about this hold up and and nick dsalvio ( anthony franciosa of rio conchos ) be send into harlem to make an example of these three . initially and nick run afoul of local harlem kingpin doc johnson ( richard ward of mandingo ) and whose resemblance to legendary harlem racketeer bumpy johnson be unmistakable . later and the cop arrive in drove with captain frank mattelli ( anthony quinn of the gun of navarone ) head up the investigation until another officer ( tim oconner ) pull him aside and point out that a young guy and lieutenant pope ( yaphet kotto of live and let die ) have be assign to the case for political reason because he be black and the crime occur in harlem . a thirty year veteran who conduct an investigation his own way and mattelli rub pope the wrong way and but he know the rope well and get result that pope can not because he doesn not have as well oiled a machine . a it turn out and mattelli be on the take and like to take a snort when thing get tough . comparably and pope doesn not drink and he be honest . meanwhile and dsalvio make more headway than either mattelli or pope . he catch henry j. have the time of his life at a local brothel and torture the hop up thug and eventually castrate him . when they learn about henry j. unfortunate fate and both logart and harris decide it be time to head off for greener pasture . dsalvio catch up with logart and throw him off a building . the more sympathetic of the thief and harris and appear to be home free but he forget to take his medication with him and the mob track him down . director barry shear pull no punch . across 110th street be all about pay the consequence for your action and everybodybut lt. popehas to pay the price before this riveting law and order opus be over . as well make but unsavory a across 110th street be and the film do not do much for shear career . he spend most of his life shoot name drop television series and but across 110th street hold up for the most part and squeamish spectator should stay away from this bloodbath .