Shaft il detective

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.

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+

Shaft is the man! This is a great blaxploitation film with good acting and lots of action. A private investigator is hired by a black gangster to find his daughter who was kidnapped by Italian gangsters. The first half of the film is Shaft getting shot at and trying to figure out why, and the second half is him rescuing the girl. Lots of people get shot, and even Shaft, but he pulls through and is the hero. A very good film.

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 .

It is an innovative effort, and serves as a snapshot of the times. Shaft, written by Ernest Tidyman, stands as one of the best modern detective dramas. Written and filmed at a time of extreme social unrest throughout the U.S.; the movie shows how Jon Shaft uses his private detective status and ethnicity to retrieve the kidnapped daughter of a notorious Harlem kingpin. While the plot pieces of black militants, and a potential race war in New York City, may not be as relevant in 2001 as they were in 1971, the cast and crew do a good job to convey the importance of Shaft's mission. Shaft, indeed, is one cool cat. Not only is he a ladies' man, but he's also a man about town. He knows every iota of New York City, and uses his detective skills to the fullest. Ducking the city police, and handling his business with the crooks, Shaft plays it cool to the very end. Many people like to bundle the blaxploitation pictures into a neat little package; one to laugh at and check out the music score. Shaft proves there was more meaning to these films, and ends up as a classic display of substance with style.