SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Limerculer A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

fredgfinklemeyer 07/23/2018 I know how hard it is to believe that a 45 year old movie could still be worth watching, but this one is. Big name white actors are of course the draw but this movie gets taken away from them by the overload of excellent black actors that continued in movies and tv for many years to come. Cars, cloths and music as expected, are dated but the storyline and professional/believable overall acting will be your satisfying reward for watching a movie this old. Sorry to see it end so soon. Really good! I highly recommend this movie. Bon Appetit

robert-macc I completely disagree with the idea that Frank Mattelli -- played by Anthony Quinn - is a heartless monster who is bent on interrogating everyone with such brutality. In many ways Lt Pope, especially after the scene where he outright angrily tells Mattelli, "Alright captain go back to 1940," and shames him, Mattelli changes his ways. Even before then, he shows Mattelli respect as a lieutenant, and when someone offers him a chance to steal Pope's credit, Mattelli refuses and respect's Pope's operation. Later on, Mattelli does show a concern for black victims, completely unheard of by other white men in his department. Pope and Mattelli even go as far as to lie to a black mother and her child as to why a black victim died to protect his reputation. If Mattelli was such an asshole, would he have done that? This is more than just a movie about gangsters, it's about relationship where Mattelli gradually accepts Pope as an equal.

Theo Robertson I caught this on BBC 1 one night many years ago . I forgot the title but could vividly remember a number of scenes especially a line of dialogue where two characters describe a third one having his genitals mutilated . This type of movie would be broadcast on television 30 years ago and no one would blink an eyelid but at the same time you can understand why it wouldn't be shown on network TV today . It as also a sign of the times back then that the TV broadcast had the F word overdubbed to something less offensive but the racial slurs against both black and whites remained intact . Perhaps the fact this film is consciously insensitive and hard hitting works against it ? This is a pity because it's not some " Blaxploitation " fare but more of a New Hollywood thriller at its best The story itself is no great shakes - a couple of black dudes rip off and kill a few members of the Mafia and the black underworld and also kill a couple of uniformed cops in the process and find if not the entire world against them then at least the law enforcers and law breakers of NYC wanting to cap their ass . It's the sort of film Tarantino has been inspired by but unlike Tarantino's work this movie is devoid of post modernism and crippling self indulgence and is a relatively tightly plotted screenplay where lots of nasty things happen to lots of nasty people . There's a subplot featuring character interaction between Anthony Quinn's nasty racist white cop and Yaphet Kotto's not very nasty by the books black cop that might have been clichéd but does seem fresh and realistic , probably down to the fact the performances and writing portraying a rather amoral relationship between the two men and the wider world . And this does feel like an exceptionally amoral film that we never see nowadays more is the pity

mark.waltz When some small-time Harlem crooks go up against the Mafia, racist slurs are shot out in addition to the excessive gunfire. The cops get involved, lots of people are killed, and nothing is resolved.This could actually be considered a "Northern" version of "In the Heat of the Night" where an Italian cop (Anthony Quinn) is paired with a black one (Yaphet Kotto) to solve this case where the mafia got an execution style assassination where $300,000 is stolen. The streets of Harlem are not going to be safe for anybody, and there seems to be more people involved in this heist than the ones first shown committing the caper on-screen.While there is some excellent location footage used for some fast-moving chase and fight sequences, the film is badly photographed so a lot of it appears either blurry or dark. A sequence at a club that appears to be involved in a full-on orgy is interrupted by the mobsters where none of the black people standing in the background do anything to keep Antonio Fargas from getting smashed to bits. It isn't the violence or even excessive foul language which makes this a mediocre blaxploitation film; It is the convoluted editing and transition between different characters either on the side of the law or the mafia, with some of the characters (particularly Quinn's) being rather undefined. Quinn's character goes through moments where he seems sympathetic to certain blacks, yet all of a sudden is violently racist. Kotto is definitely playing a character modeled after Sidney Poitier's Mr. Tibbs which makes him likable yet un-original.The scene where Fargas's wife is told of his death is probably one of the few excellent dramatic movies in the film. I give this an extra star above bomb because as a Harlem resident, I can see some areas of reality. Had this had a more personal story and less gruesome gratuitous violence, it would have been alright.