MovieChat Forums > Across 110th Street (1973) Discussion > A good film, but where are all the polar...

A good film, but where are all the polar bears???

posted 18 years ago by HerrBacon
11 replies | jump to latest

Okay guys, i'm not gonna bash this film, i was entertained by it. However, i have a question. Where the hell are all the white people? (atleast the normal ones anyway) I know that it was set in a prodominantly black neighbourhood, but come on, the key to a great film is to feature plenty of standard whites. It practically sells itself.
Admitidly, the main cop is white, but they portrayed the guy to be a complete turd with about as much tact as a punch in the face.
And then there's the gangsters. All the black ones display some amount of morals and respect. But the whities are all depicted as sub human with absolutely no compassion whatsoever.

Your thoughts guys...

"Sie konnten nicht ein Dump hören, das Fahren durch einen Nitroglyzerinbetrieb zu tauschen".

[–] 18 years ago

[deleted]

[–] chinaskee 18 years ago

There's no white people in Harlem. What planet are you from ?

[–] JRogers714 18 years ago

Bill Clintons office is in Harlem, does he count?

[–] chemiche3 18 years ago

In the 70's Clinton would never have had an office in Harlem. Harlem was a violent place then. Rape, murder, drugs, gang violence etc. Also to see a white person was rare and most likely a cop.

I was a kid standing at abus stop with a relative and soemone drove by and threw a body out a car. I'll never forget that.

[–] mravholt 15 years ago

as far as the whites being sub human, how else would you expect white thugs to treat blacks, esp after being ripped off for 300K?

'back at the saloon my tears mixed in mildew with my drink'

[–] stevegallanter 12 years ago

There are a number of white folks in Harlem. Update your cultural scoreboard. There were definitely white men in Harlem as far back as 1978.

[–] docmananoff-885-218028 12 years ago

"How about...the white cop you described as a complete turd, DOES represent
a HUGE PERCENTAGE of the white people NOW and back in the 1970's!!!
"

SO TRUE! Cops in Lower class urban areas are usually neighborhood Terrorists, and this movie depicted that pretty accurately.

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] activista 10 years ago

@HerrBacon

Duh----it's a '70's blaxploitation film, so of course the white guys are going to be the bad guys--hello, that was just once of the reasons these films were so popular among black folks (and other folks)--it's practically a staple of them---not ALL of them, but some! The fact that for the first time, black people were truly dominating the movie screens for the first time in movie history---being shown as PEOPLE and not stereotypes for once (even though blaxploitation did in fact, without intending to, create more stereotypes on top of that, and dealing with the very real racial animosity between black and white people for once--plus also not giving a damn what white people thought and being able to flip the script on them for once. Blaxploitation films are what make films from the '70's so much damn fun to watch in the first place---they made that decade, and saved Hollywood from going bankrupt on top of that---do the research!

[–] ret_cpo 8 years ago

Bingo. Blaxploitation films were made (besides for making money) to give black audiences movie characters to better identify with; whether crime dramas like "Shaft" and "Super Fly", horror movies like "Blacula" and JD's Revenge", comedies like "Uptown Saturday Night" and "Which Way is Up" or westerns like "Buck and the Preacher". There were white characters in these movies, but the focus was on black characters in the main roles.

[–] Prismark10 8 years ago

There were lots of white people in this film.

It's that man again!!