Jackie Brown is one of my all time favourite soundtracks and I always wanted to watch the movie where it took its opening/closing theme, ‘Across 110th Street’ by Bobby Womack. I was a little surprised to find that the melancholic, orchestral sweep of the song I know was not used in the title credit sequence of Across 110th Street (1972), rather a faster, funkier, percussive version is featured. Produced by star Anthony Quinn, based on the novel by Wally Ferris, and directed by Barry Shear, the film works in the Blaxploitation genre, and is principally made by white men about the racial divide in New York between Central Park and Harlem. Yet faster, more mobile cameras were used in the filming and it was shot in location, allowing for a greater sense of authenticity, which is carried over in the wider focus of a large cast of characters. Even though our protagonists are Quinn as the older, jaded Italian cop who has worked Harlem for decades and the younger, college educated black cop played by Yaphet Kotto, the film casts a wider net in the fall-out of a stick-up job in Harlem where money was ripped off from the Italian mob. We spend time with the police investigation, and with the mobster (Tony Franciosa) out to reclaim the money and punish the robbers, but also the black gangsters helping the pursuit led by Doc Johnson (Richard Ward), and the three neighbourhood stick-up men (Paul Benjamin, Antonio Fargas, Ed Bernard), all across a couple of hot, muggy nights. While no doubt influenced by In The Heat Of The Night, the film portrays a city and an overall system, as well as leaving no easy answers or moves for solidarity in its resolution. There’s ugly, brutal violence and cynical turns in its narrative. Quinn and Kotto are good, but it’s the desperation of the thieves and their associates that provide the most affecting, memorable moments (especially Paul Benjamin’s performance who would later work with Spike Lee in films like Do The Right Thing). Score by Bobby Womack and JJ Johnson. Available to stream on Stan; can also rent/buy on iTunes. Recommended.
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