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Shaft (1971)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
2 July 1971 (USA) moreTagline:
The mob wanted Harlem back. They got shaft...up to here. morePlot:
Cool black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter. full summary | add synopsisAwards:
Won Oscar. Another 4 wins & 4 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(8 articles)
Hayes Welcomes Fourth Child (From WENN. 18 May 2006)
Pioneer Black Director Gordon Parks Dead at 93
(From Studio Briefing - Film News. 8 March 2006)
User Comments:
The movie that kicked in the 1970s blaxploitation and changed the face of Hollywood forever! moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| 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 |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
100 minCountry:
USALanguage:
EnglishColor:
Color (Metrocolor)Aspect Ratio:
1.33 : 1 moreSound Mix:
MonoCertification:
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:16Fun Stuff
Trivia:
The many movie marquees seen in Shaft's many exterior shots walking around NYC include advertisements for: Patton (1970), Get Carter (1971), Love Story (1970) and The Owl and the Pussycat (1970). moreGoofs:
Continuity: When Shaft gets hit with the machine gun, one of the wounds is to his head - you can clearly see blood there. Yet after the doctor works on him and gets him patched up, all signs of the head wound have vanished - there's no scar or patch there. moreQuotes:
[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!
more
Soundtrack:
Walk From Regio's moreFAQ
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Gordon Parks' 'Shaft' may not have been the first blaxploitation movie but it was the most important and commercially successful of the initial batch, and it kicked open the door for other dynamic 1970s screen heroes like The Hammer, Coffy, Black Caesar, Foxy Brown and The Jones' (Black Belt and Cleopatra). In some ways it is one of the most conventional of the blaxploitation genre in the sense that all it really is is a black man (the charismatic Richard Roundtree) playing a part that up until then would have been played by a white one (Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, even Sean Connery). A super cool, hard as nails hero/anti-hero who is as handy with his fists as he is with the ladies. But of course, that is what made 'Shaft' so revolutionary and influential at the time. Personally my favourite blaxploitation movie is 'Superfly', released the following year and directed by Gordon Parks' son, but I can't deny that if you accept 'Shaft' for what it is, and not what it COULD be, it's difficult to fault, and still one of the coolest and most entertaining action thrillers of the 1970s, as good as 'The Getaway', 'Dirty Harry' or 'The French Connection' (the latter being also written incidentally by Ernest Tidyman who created the John Shaft character in a popular series of novels). The main reason 'Shaft' really works is because of the casting of virtual unknown Richard Roundtree, and the music score by soul legend Isaac Hayes. Roundtree probably had more potential than any black star of the period to cross over into major Hollywood stardom, but for some reason (typecasting, bad breaks) he faded away quickly, and ended up playing small character roles, usually cops, in cult favourites like Larry Cohen's 'Q' and William Lustig's 'Maniac Cop', and more recently bit parts in 'Se7en' and John Singleton's ill advised "remake" of 'Shaft' itself. Hayes' title theme is an utter classic, and one of the most recognisable and imitated pieces of music from the early 70s. Hayes had already released the brilliant 'Hot Buttered Soul' before this, but 'Shaft' made him a superstar, and even gave him a career as an action here himself for a while with 'Truck Turner'. I don't think overall Hayes' score for the movie is as consistently impressive as Curtis Mayfield's work on 'Superfly', but the main theme is still a sensational piece of music. Roundtree is backed up with a strong supporting cast, including Moses Gunn ('Rollerball') as Bumpy, a great baddie, Charles Cioffi ('Klute') as Androzzi, the cop who is frequently exasperated with Shaft's behaviour, and Muhammad Ali associate Drew Bundini Brown as Willy, a former childhood friend of Shaft who is now a black panther and disgusted with his decadent lifestyle. Also keep an eye out for a small bit by Antonio Fargas, who is best known as Huggy Bear in 'Starsky And Hutch' and also went on to appear as Pam Grier's brother in 'Foxy Brown', and as Doodlebug in 'Cleopatra Jones'. 'Shaft' is a movie that changed the face of Hollywood forever, and is highly recommended to anyone who enjoys 1970s movies, music or fashions.