Shaft's Big Score!

I'm not sure what went wrong with this sequel to 'Shaft'. Once again Gordon Parks directs, Ernest Tidyman writes and Richard Roundtree stars, but there's something missing. It isn't anywhere near as entertaining as the original and the story is very thin and padded out. The score isn't as good either. Isaac Hayes only contributes one number, Parks himself does the rest. Moses Gunn and Drew Bundini Brown reprise their roles as Bumpy and Willy and blaxploitation fave Julius W. Harris ('Superfly', 'Black Caesar') appears as a cop who forms an uneasy alliance of sorts with Shaft. Also check out future soap star Joseph Mascolo as a clarinet playing mobster called, er, Mascolo and Joe Santos later of 'The Rockford Files' as his right hand man. Richard Roundtree is still super cool as John Shaft and he helps make this movie to be fairly enjoyable. Personally I prefer the third in the series 'Shaft In Africa' to this, but if the truth be told neither sequel is a patch on the original which in an undisputed blaxploitation classic and essential viewing for any 70s buff.

Shaft really was the African-American answer to the popular James Bond franchise. This movie shows this perhaps more than any of the other Shaft movies. Violence, girls, sex, chases, "Shaft's Big Score!" has it all!

By no means any of the Shaft movies are among the greatest of all time. Nevertheless they are extremely memorable thanks to its main character, played by Richard Roundtree. He's hip, digs his women and isn't afraid to hold back when it comes to action. He's a classic and important iconic African-American character from the '70's.

The movie its story and plot lines are a bit messy (in that way this movie also resembles James Bond movies), which also makes the movie unclear and not always totally interesting to follow. The movie also really lacks a good main ruthless villain. The villain in this movie is perhaps introduced a bit too late to really leave his mark on the movie. In that way "Shaft's Big Score!" is a really lacking movie, when it comes down to its story, storytelling and characters.

Thankfully the movie isn't lacking in action and great dialog. Some of the dialog is just brilliant and suits the atmosphere of the movie- and its time period extremely well. Also of course the music adds to this atmosphere. But surprisingly good is also the action in the movie. The movie doesn't really feature that much action but the lack of it is made up during the great finale, that features a good old fashioned typical '70's car chase, boat chase and helicopter chase in one, James Bond style. It's really true that the ending makes up a lot. It makes you forget some of the weaker points of the movie, although in the end "Shaft's Big Score!" is still nothing more than an average action-flick with one great, cool main character.

A good movie featuring the classic character Shaft and some really great action.

6/10

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Private Investigator "John Shaft" (Richard Roundtree) is back and this time he is trying to find the murderer of his friend who was running a numbers game in Queens. As it so happens the victim's partner "Johnny Kelly" (Wally Taylor) had gambled away $250,000 and a mob boss by the name of "Gus Mascola" (Joseph Mascolo) wants it back-along with a 50% share in Johnny Kelly's numbers racket. However, Johnny Kelly has other plans and decides to double cross Mascola by getting another mob boss from Harlem named "Bumpy Jonas" (Moses Gunn) involved in the same deal. Not only does he hope for a war between the two mob bosses but he also wants John Shaft killed in the process too. Now, rather than reveal any more of the movie I will just say that this was an adequate sequel to "Shaft". While it started off pretty well it got bogged down toward the end with an extremely long chase-and-gunfight scene which I thought actually detracted from the overall effect. In any case, although it wasn't bad necessarily it still wasn't nearly as good as the original. I rate it as average.

Shaft (Richard Roundtree) investigates the murder of an old friend and finds himself in a war between mobsters and pimps. OK blaxploitation sequel isn't as good as the first film but is still entertaining. The plot seems like something taken from some old private detective movie from the '40s and updated to the gritty '70s. Director Gordon Parks also does the music for this one. It's not bad but not as good as Isaac Hayes. My favorite scene is the one that goes back & forth between the sexy dancers in body paint and Shaft getting his butt kicked in slow motion backstage. Overall, not bad but not particularly memorable. Shaft is still cool and there are several sexy ladies and lots of colorful dialogue. It will keep you entertained throughout.

(77%) Very likely to be the most backed blaxploitation movie of them all, as the original was such a big hit both critically and financially. Most of the blaxplotation boxes are ticked here, Shaft is super cool, the music is great, some of the lines are very funny, he gets the girls, the opening is great, the bad guys are mostly white gangsters with a lone black guy letting the side down, it's all there, but what this has that all others don't is the fantastic action-packed ending. As action sequences go this is one of the best I've ever seen, it just goes on and on and I loved every second of it and it looks as if the director Mr Parks was given free control to do what ever her wanted and he really went for it. This could very likely be may favourite of the breed as along with "Black Caesar", it's a fine example of what the series was capable of when everything slotted into place so well.