Shaft colpisce ancora

(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.

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.

Just recently, I've been yearning for some quality blaxploitation, but have lucked out with my last couple of choices: TNT Jackson was a completely dreadful Coffy wannabe and The Black Cobra, starring Fred Williamson, wasn't even a proper blaxploitation (that'll teach me not to do my homework first). This time around, I was more careful with my selection: Shaft is the cool cat who never disappoints (just ask the long line of ladies he leaves in his wake!).

In this, his second adventure, the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks (once again played by Richard Roundtree) becomes involved in a gang war after an old friend is blown to pieces by a bomb. As John Shaft sets about settling the score with the killers, he gets sexy with a few hot mamas, proves tasty with his fists, blows away some bad guys (resulting in some nice 'n' bloody gunshot wounds), uncovers a hidden stash of cash, drives a speedboat at high speed and shoots a helicopter out of the sky. It's not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but it is hugely entertaining, with great characters and winning performances all round, some impressively mounted action sequences (the bigger budget really shows), several pretty ladies jiggling their bits around, and that all important funky score.

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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The 1971 film of "Shaft" helped to save "M.G.M" from facing bankruptcy, so naturally they commissioned a follow-up movie. Titled "Shafts Big Score" and released in 1972, the plot is what defeats this film. The scenes look as though they were hastily thrown together with no sense of continuity. I could hardly decipher what was happening from one scene to the next and I know I'm not alone here. The action scenes aren't bad but they can't compensate for a narrative that is very weak in its structure. For some reason which is only known to a handful of people, a further "Shaft" film was made!