Here I am talking about Shaft again.I just did the music review a few days ago.So I said to myself I might as well do the film to.Back in the day when James Bond was kicking butt in movies like Goldfinger and Thunderball he was the main man.But he was also a white man.Now there's NOTHING wrong with that.But the time was due for us black folks to get some representation.And that's when private detective John Shaft hit the streets of Harlem.With his leather coat and the music of Isaac Hayes playing in the background.Another main man was on the scene.Shaft was just as handsome as Bond,just as smart as Bond and just as cool as Bond.And he didn't take s#!t from anyone.And that made Shaft one bad motherf-SHUT YOUR MOUTH-.The film Shaft was directed by muti-talented Gordon Parks.And it's star was a good-looking new comer by the name of Richard Roundtree.I read somewhere that Isaac Hayes wanted the starting role of Shaft but he didn't get it.But Mr.Hayes went on to win a academy award for the soundtrack.And Mr. Roundtree went on to have a successful movie career."All well that ends well" as they say.Now Shaft was about a Harlem mob boss by the name of Bumpy (played by Moses Gunn) daughter being kidnapped and Shaft is hire to rescue her.Along the way we become acqainted with some good guys,some bad guys and there's also a little romance (Shaft's girlfriend Ellie was played by Gwenn Mitchell,and she was one fine babe and my favorite Shaft girl).And if you're a action fan there's plenty of it throughout this film.Shaft begins with a man flying out of a window.And ends with Shaft flying into one.So all you lovers of black cinema of the 70s please check out Shaft you will not be disappointed.Shaft over the years as become a true icon.

This film was just before my time, but when I first saw it in the late 80's or ealry 90's, I wanted more and could not get enough! I could not believe that such ill (hot, cool) films like this were being made in the ealry 70's.

I don't want to get into the story, but this is a must have film in any collection if you like action films. The Sam Jackson Shaft was better than I thought, but it CANNOT stand up to the origianl or it's sequel(notice how sequel is singular...). They should never try to remake a classic film. I hear that they want to remake "Uptown Saturday Night" and "The Warriors!" I hope someone stops them before they get started! Come up with your OWN ideas for your time, don't bite.

This film is classic, but the only problem I have is that it was not as remastered as it could have been. No royal treatment. It does have a featurette though, somthing I had never seen before. The other problem wit this film like "Superfly," is that both films have legendary soundtracks/scores that did corssover with white audiences - so why no surround sound or at least stereo remaster? That is the least they should do. I want "Shaft" and "Superfly" special editions with at least stereo! Classic soundtracks should get the royal treatment.

Ushering in the era of blaxploitation films, Richard Roundtree's Shaft was a black riff on Bogart: a hip (...) as adept at shutting down black or white criminals as he is at seducing black or white women. Superfly is a drug dealer; Black Caesar, a cold-blooded gangster; but Shaft is a bad mother on the right side of the law.

"Who is the man who would risk his neck for his brotha' man? SHAFT!!"
Blaxploitation? That's like calling "Bullit" 'Cracker-jacking' [I rate Bullit a 2/5 stars] or 'The Godfather' "Wopploitation' [am Italian myself-so clearly my criticism is the asinine labeling of SHAFT as an "exploitation film" simply because a strong lead character is a black man-but he is FIRST a strong MAN]
I LOVE this film; saw it prior to teen years and was a wonderful "adrenaline pump" WITH A STORY. Violence? sure; gratuitous? no; the mean streets of Harlem are a turf war NOT driven by racial hatred but by MONEY [via heroin trade].
A unique [and I have never read it mentioned] is that this film is an "equal opportunity offender"; the mob-white crooks, want to sell heroin in New York turf and have to overpower the long-time "crime boss" of the area- "Bumpy", a black career criminal whose CV reads from the petty[numbers] to the Class A felony[murder], who besides being a "crook" has a downright nasty disposition-betraying local black activists [civil rights ala Malcom X "any means necessary youths] into fighting his "drug war" for him!! Caught in the "middle", Shaft negotiates a deal for all parties involved-"Bumpy" will pay $10,000 a man [a very 'on target' critique of the indemnity policy paid in Vietnam to American soldiers killed, 80% of whom were black] for "Ben's" activist "soldiers" to battle the mob. The "lie" revolved around Bumpy's daughter [Marcy] being nabbed by the mob-this was how Shaft [the black private (...)who is sex machine to all the chicks] was brought into the imbroglia in first place.
This film won the Oscar for its pounding, fantastic soundtrack, but I think deserved several; the screenplay was great- besides the handful of "well-known" quotes, there are TONS of other memorable lines [the confrontation between Bumpy and Ben about the respective merits of civil rights and 'numbers, drugs and [prostituses] is very profound even in brevity], the demographic of "strong black women" in an elderly black woman intervening between Shaft and Ben and preventing a fight; and many others.
The only "weaknesses" [and obviously, I LOVE this movie!!] are Shaft's relationship with the cops; what the hell forged their bond, and the actor who played the cop Shaft interacted with sucked; there was NO character development of the mobsters "moving in"; and the women in the film were given a very demeaning role-"No one understands him but his woman"? Shaft gets it on with a white 'one-night stand' gal, implicitly a frequent activity of his; does his "woman", totally under-developed character played by a capable actress, accept this infidelity or is she "clueless"?
The ending does not really cast Shaft in a "heroic" light; his courage is 100%, but he basically "takes the money and runs", making fun of his "cop pal" as Marcy is returned to the horrid Bumpy, several of Ben's men are killed, and war has broken out in earnest between Bumpy and the mob which Shaft tells the cop pal "it's your problem" and exits via the downbeat of the guitar chords and percussion breaking out to end the film.
In all, a favorite of mine, great, great action, many "undertones" in the messages incidental in the film, and Shaft IS one BAD Mutha' .....!!!!

This film wasn't blaxpoitation, but it spawned blaxpoitation. Instead this film is a splendid story about private detective John Shaft who rescued the daughter of a crime boss from the mob. By using his wit and street smarts he avoids the police and reunites with a black militant group leader to achieve his goal. The movie's introduction accompanied with the lyrics from the self titled theme song captures the persona who is Shaft; "a complicated man that no one understands him but his woman". The cinematography accurately portrays New York as it was in the 1970s. The movie is a little dated, but which movie made over 30 years ago isn't.

Side note:
The soundtrack composed by Isaac Hayes is excellent. He is the first African-American to win an Oscar for Best Musical Score.