Shaft (1971)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Gordon Parks

Writers:

Ernest Tidyman (novel)
Ernest Tidyman (writer) ...

Release Date:

2 July 1971 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

The mob wanted Harlem back. They got shaft...up to here.

Plot:

Cool black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.

Plot Keywords:

Mafia | Kidnapping | Detective | Newsstand | Police

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations

Cast

Richard Roundtree	...	John Shaft
Moses Gunn	...	Bumpy Jonas
Charles Cioffi	...	Vic Androzzi
Christopher St. John	...	Ben Buford
Gwenn Mitchell	...	Ellie Moore
Lawrence Pressman	...	Sergeant Tom Hannon
Victor Arnold	...	Charlie
Sherri Brewer	...	Marcy
Rex Robbins	...	Rollie
Camille Yarbrough	...	Dina Greene
Margaret Warncke	...	Linda
Joseph Leon	...	Byron Leibowitz
Arnold Johnson	...	Cul
Dominic Barto	...	Patsy
George Strus	...	Carmen

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Argentina:16 | South Korea:15 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:16 (video rating) | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Cafe Reggio, MacDougal Street, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

During the scene where Bumpy Jonas visits Shaft at his office, a door adjacent to the office says "Skloot Insurance" - named for Steven P. Skloot, a production manager on the film.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the beginning when Shaft is walking across a street, an overhead shot shows him walking past a taxi and nearly getting hit by a brown car. However, a street-level shot shows Shaft standing in front of and giving the finger to the taxi.

Quotes:

[first lines]
John Shaft: [holding up his middle finger to a cab driver who is honking his horn at him] Up yours! Get out the way!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Psych: Disco Didn't Die. It Was Murdered! (#3.5)" (2008)

Soundtrack:

Bumpy's Lament

Right On!

Blaxploitation at it's best. A simple story with a simple twist done right. That is Shaft. The concept of a black man as a cool ultra slick, lady lovin' private detective was fresh. For once in the world of cinema the black man was tops and unlike other genre entries this one clicked with people of both colors. They had created a solid character in John Shaft that both the white and black segment of the population took a shinning to. For once it wasn't something exploitive being sold to a one-sided market audience exclusively.

But look I'm getting sidetracked. Shaft isn't this huge epic struggle of the black man through the generations. It's a solid, satisfying action picture that gets by on pure character. The character of Shaft. Being spot on for it's time the black private detective has endlessly been imitated, but never duplicated. With much of the character's success having to be attributable to Richard Roundtree, a perfect fit for the material. He wasn't so much playing a character named John Shaft, but rather he was John Shaft. Perhaps to the detriment of his career, I still can't watch a movie with Richard Roundtree in it without thinking of Shaft. The plot is on auto pilot - you've seen it before - maybe even done better - but this movie has Shaft and that's all there is to say. Dig it.