That about sums up the movie, except not as well known
and not as effective, Anthony Quinn and Yaphette are
mirror images of Sidney Poitier's character and
Rod Steiger. Pretty standard blaxplotatin.
Although there are some different featurs not really
covered in "In The Heat".
I don't see how it's similar to the Heat of the Night.
Yeah, it's a blaxploitation film and a good one at that.
I've heard that before - I still haven't seen 'in the heat of the night' but get down to it, most films exploring the problem of racism have a sidney poitier movie at their roots.
shareThere are definitely some parallels. Righteous black cop finds himself at odds with bigotted white superior with questionable, yet confoundedly successful results. Heads butt, both guys have the same intention: solving crime.
Of course, Rod Steiger never took one to the dome in ITHOTN. AND ITHOTN never had Tony Franciosa doing that disturbing pre-killing finger thing with his lips.
I think any parallels to IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT are very sketchy at best.
The movies are nothing alike.
I've seen IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT 8 times and just watched ACROSS 110th STREET for the 2nd time last evening and I don't think there's much of any sort of "alikeness" other than the most vague parallels.
-CG
Different movies, Kotto and Quinn never got along in the movie, Potier and Steiger learned to respect each other at the end. Quinn hated Kotto from the beginning because he was black and Kotto hated Quinn cause he was a racist. There was never any mutual respect between like Potier and Steiger had. Plus Across 110 is much more violent.
shareDear prettyD2368: ACROSS 110th STREET is one violent movie, to be sure.
I think it holds up rather well for being a nearly 37-yr-old movie.
I think the original Poster ought to re-assess both movies because they're very little alike.
-CG
I didn't find the film to be particularly exploitive. In fact, I don't recall any lurid content at all. It seems quite gritty and realistic. It was expertly photographed on location with an A-list cast (this was a Hollywood programmer, not a drive in cheapy). IN the Heat of the Night was a police procedural. This is a crime drama. There's no mystery to solve. Rather, it's a chase film. The action scenes are really super. Did you see the shootout at the end? What a beautifully-edited sequence!
sharePretty standard blaxploitation.
That's a good description. This one might have a slightly higher aesthetic value visually, but the script is pretty messy. The black-white cop dynamic, which is the most interesting part of the movie, never really goes anywhere. Blaxploitation is apparently never going to be a favorite genre of mine. I've watched a few and, while I appreciate some of the low-budget work and location filming, they rarely hold my attention. This one was no different, although its premise was better than most.
I wonder how forgotten this movie would be if it weren't for Tarantino's use of the great Bobby Womack title song in Jackie Brown. For that matter, how forgotten would blaxploitation be without Tarantino's championing of it. Not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
To the OP:
Actually, the 2 films really have absolutely nothing in common with each other, and it's way more than just standard blaxploitation (which is a lazy way of saying that all blaxploitation films are all alike, which they aren't.) It's a very hardcore,mature and gritty,realistic look at the interactions of the corrupt elements of both the police department and the street criminal/mafia element. It's not even what you would call an exploitation film---it's a very real and honest look at these two elements. It's an excellent movie that deserves better than to be just slapped with the "blaxspoiltation" label---it's way more complicated than IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (a good film in its own right,BTW.)
Where you got the idea that it has anything in common with IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT is beyond me---other then having a black man and a white man working together to solve a crime, they are two entirely different films that are nothing alike whatsoever.
Check the reviews/opinions on Amazon about this neglected treasure.