Shaft

This known film deals with Shaft (Richard Roundtree , though Ron O'Neal auditioned for the role , he was turned down because the producers felt his complexion was too light) , an extremely tough and independent detective contracted by Harlem's drug king called Bumpy (Moses Gunn , character is based on Bumpy Johnson , an African-American mobster in the 1930s) for freeing his abducted daughter . Shaft running afoul into Harlem and confronts a sinister monsters bands in order to rescue her . The private-eye eliminates anyone who stands in this way on his objective and breaks all the rules in going after baddies , battling a variety of bullies , besides avoiding the confronting between black gangs and white gangs . He's helped by a Lt. chief Inspector called Vic (Charles Cioffi) and by group of Black Power followers (Christopher John) .

This fist and guns opera features some passable acting , noisy action sequences , though no too much , and results to be quite entertaining . It's an intriguing film , plenty of thriller , suspense , kinky sex and much of the action centers around 125th Street in Harlem . Nice interpretation from Richard Roundtree , though Isaac Hayes auditioned for the title role , producers cast Roundtree , but were so impressed with Hayes that they asked him to write the now legendary score to the film . Violent , raw script in which the action keeps things moving along by Ernest Tidyman (French connection). The Ernest Tidyman novel which was the basis for the film is about a black detective and not a white one . It was rumored to be written as just another detective movie , with a white detective in the lead , but , after the success of Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) , the film was rewritten and recast as a blaxploitation movie . Special mention for soul musical score that still resonates by Isaac Hayes who won an Academy Award . The picture was professionally directed by Gordon Parks , but it has a lot of violence , profanity and adult subject matter . The result is a strong entry for action buffs , plus creating the blaxploitation sub-genre . It's followed by two inferior sequels with similar players : ¨Big score¨ (Gordon Parks) with Moses Gunn and ¨Shaft in Africa¨ (John Guillermin) with Vonetta McGee and a recent version (2000 , by John Singleton) with Samuel L. Jackson and cameo by Richard Roundtree as Shaft's uncle .

Highlights:

• Street scenes in New York.
• A strong African-American in the lead role, an intelligent, hardboiled, and masculine character.
• Shaft standing up to racism out of the mouths of others in the film.
• Moses Gunn as Bumpy Jonas, who turns in the best performance.

Lowlights:

• Really poor audio quality, tinny at times and with obvious dubbing at others.
• Script is not great; plot is simple and dialogue is often wooden.
• Pace is slow, especially towards an end which is a little mechanical.
• The much-loved theme song has lyrics that are so over-the-top it gets the film off on a cartoonish note ("Who's the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks? (Shaft)")

Great idea, just not all that well made.

This is not a great film, but it is one of the most important films in American history.

The film suffers primarily because Parks isn't sure whether he wants to direct a 'relevant' black crime drama - for which he doesn't really have the money - or a film of the genre that became infamous as "blaxploitation", which had at that time not yet achieved definition. In other words, Parks is breaking new ground, and he wasn't sure exactly what ground he is breaking. So the film tends to amble, and sometimes even stagger, as it tries to define a goal for itself.

Nonetheless, this is the first film where a strong black man in a truly heroic role - without the props of white liberal social blather, and without being borderline criminal - is portrayed without excuses or apologies. Shaft is truly a hero of his time, part Sam Spade (& no jokes here, please), part James Bond - and all man - intelligent, fast to act, direct and always true to himself - he's nobody's "boy".

Although these qualities are in the script, the communication of the message depends entirely on Richard Roundtree - one of the truly great action actors of Hollywood history - hey, I'm a white boy, and I still want to be this John Shaft! he's that cool. The marginalization of this savvy and witty actor, due to the racism of Hollywood, is a real crime.

Well, for now, never mind; his performance alone carries this film, and makes it a treasure; and no matter how badly Hollywood marginalizes black action cinema, Roundtree's performance will continue to stand tall, for many generations to come.

I can. Because this is not only the greatest black-exploitation film ever, but also one of the best films of the 70's era. Richard Roundtree brings out Ernest Tidyman's John Shaft like no one else can (not even Samuel L. Jackson in the new shaft can compete) as the ultimate bad-a** who must investigate a kidnapping. One of the most memorable films ever made, especially by the Oscar winning song (and nominated score) by Isaac Hayes, which made his breakthrough as his funk thing grew. A+

Gordon Parks' 'Shaft' may not have been the first blaxploitation movie but it was the most important and commercially successful of the initial batch, and it kicked open the door for other dynamic 1970s screen heroes like The Hammer, Coffy, Black Caesar, Foxy Brown and The Jones' (Black Belt and Cleopatra). In some ways it is one of the most conventional of the blaxploitation genre in the sense that all it really is is a black man (the charismatic Richard Roundtree) playing a part that up until then would have been played by a white one (Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, even Sean Connery). A super cool, hard as nails hero/anti-hero who is as handy with his fists as he is with the ladies. But of course, that is what made 'Shaft' so revolutionary and influential at the time. Personally my favourite blaxploitation movie is 'Superfly', released the following year and directed by Gordon Parks' son, but I can't deny that if you accept 'Shaft' for what it is, and not what it COULD be, it's difficult to fault, and still one of the coolest and most entertaining action thrillers of the 1970s, as good as 'The Getaway', 'Dirty Harry' or 'The French Connection' (the latter being also written incidentally by Ernest Tidyman who created the John Shaft character in a popular series of novels). The main reason 'Shaft' really works is because of the casting of virtual unknown Richard Roundtree, and the music score by soul legend Isaac Hayes. Roundtree probably had more potential than any black star of the period to cross over into major Hollywood stardom, but for some reason (typecasting, bad breaks) he faded away quickly, and ended up playing small character roles, usually cops, in cult favourites like Larry Cohen's 'Q' and William Lustig's 'Maniac Cop', and more recently bit parts in 'Se7en' and John Singleton's ill advised "remake" of 'Shaft' itself. Hayes' title theme is an utter classic, and one of the most recognisable and imitated pieces of music from the early 70s. Hayes had already released the brilliant 'Hot Buttered Soul' before this, but 'Shaft' made him a superstar, and even gave him a career as an action here himself for a while with 'Truck Turner'. I don't think overall Hayes' score for the movie is as consistently impressive as Curtis Mayfield's work on 'Superfly', but the main theme is still a sensational piece of music. Roundtree is backed up with a strong supporting cast, including Moses Gunn ('Rollerball') as Bumpy, a great baddie, Charles Cioffi ('Klute') as Androzzi, the cop who is frequently exasperated with Shaft's behaviour, and Muhammad Ali associate Drew Bundini Brown as Willy, a former childhood friend of Shaft who is now a black panther and disgusted with his decadent lifestyle. Also keep an eye out for a small bit by Antonio Fargas, who is best known as Huggy Bear in 'Starsky And Hutch' and also went on to appear as Pam Grier's brother in 'Foxy Brown', and as Doodlebug in 'Cleopatra Jones'. 'Shaft' is a movie that changed the face of Hollywood forever, and is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys 1970s movies, music or fashions.