across 110th street be more than just a cliché ( yet it be full of them ) and it be deep and developed ( yet have a simplistic story about cop and criminal ) and it be gritty and honest ( yet overly so enough to make you gasp and not laugh ) and and it be pure and uncut and cinematic genius from begin to the wildly unseen end . there be plenty of pitfall for across 110th street to fall into and but it continually save itself by be genuine and dark throughout . while the editing and albeit pure 70 cinema and be completely tangent and the film itself demonstrate the raw force of truth and give u a rare ( yet fictional ) story of the changing of the guard in harlem and the truth of it street and and the mind of it criminal . sound like a scene right out of dead president and our story begin with three african american steal money from the mob and only to transform the simple robbery into a battleground and equip with machine gun fire and plenty of cop catch in the line of fire . needless to say and both side the italian mob who currently have a strong hold on the crime in harlem as well a both the upcoming african american police lieutenant ( play by yaphet kotto ) and the decaying corrupt captain ( play by anthony quinn ) be ready to do whatever it take to bring these men to justice . our plot device suddenly become a tick clock and with our mind in constant question a to who be go to get to the finish line first . what keep this cliché device from sound stale be director barry shear ability to take u through each of the three story line with nobody eat from the sweet cake of victory at any give time . across 110th street be not a comfortable story . the character be flaw and the imagery be sandpaper rough and and the language be honest . shear have make this film during a time where corruption be use to represent the mindset of the community . harlem be not show in a productive light and but then neither be the police nor the mob . what make across 110th street feel like a science experiment be that you see the decay of the community implode systematically . from the simple thug who begin the robbery and to the italian mob who be just a brutal but with good suit and all the way to the police who use the same tactic and but be protect ( supposedly ) by a badge and this film explore the explosion of corruption in a bold new way that eliminate cliché and yet build on honesty . shear ability to build the story into the camera frame be only the step stone of this film . the unrelenting end could only have occur with the power of the actor in front of the camera . their work be simple and at time one could even call it amateurish and but quinn and kotto do a phenomenal job of keep the story and and their character and ground at all time . their beat could have be tighten and but their flaw build upon the chaos of this story . their facial expression alone be worth their weight in gold and especially quinn end glare . a quinn and kotto be our lead for this film and what stand out be how similar they be to their flaw mobster and criminal . with our lead mobster racism couple with our medial issue of our criminal and we see a blend between them all . while they be all different character and shear brings them all together with small similarity . for someone jumping into the middle of this film and one would have trouble guess who be the real bad guy and the guy with the gun or the guy with the badge . that be the next layer of across 110th street that could be use in any film study class across the nation . not just the visuals of a time fill with racial disgust and but also the fact that the racial divide wasn not in just black and white . harlem own the police and yet they be there to uphold the law while perhaps not exactly like that in harlem today one can see this happen throughout the world in modern society . finally and one can not end a review of across 110th street without mention the music which be ice on the hypothetical cake . to me and the sound capture the era and the chaos of the music couple well with the violence happen on screen . the two blend perfectly together and give u not just a taste of an explosive harlem and but also the sound that may have accompany it . a a child of the 80 and i never be witness to this so to see it ( albeit in a form of fiction ) only help to heighten the awareness of this era in nyc . overall and across 110th street be a violent and loud and and turbulent film that be lace with clichés that be forget by the next scene . one could easily watch this film on late night television and never quite see the power behind shear camera and or quinn acting ability ( that final scene still haunt me ) and or the challenging music that accompany our visuals and but watch it on a bright and sunny saturday and the excellence of this film come full force . the acting be at a perfect pitch for this film and the corruption that shear demonstrates from across three spectrum add a level of honesty to a film that could have easily be lose by another director . across 110th street remind me of early scorsese work and the raw grittiness of the city and a city that shear love ( he film in harlem ) and couple with the powerful imagery take me to mean street and goodfellas and but not the depart . this be a cannon of a film and one that should be watch and retain for the sheer honesty of the work and while it be fiction it hold a bit of truth to the turbulence of the world . grade represent out of .