Shaft

Rating:
Summary: A Winner!
Review: This is the genuine original "Shaft" from 1971, with Richard Roundtree, that scored so well with inner-city (read: African-American) audiences that it spawned two sequels and created a new mini-genre, the grudgingly titled "Blaxploitation" films. As a kid living in a rural white area at the time, I missed this important and popular movie until I saw it last week in my VCR. And you know what? It's good.

Shaft is a private investigator who is hired by a local crime boss to find his beautiful, vulnerable daughter, who has been kidnapped by a rival ring from New Jersey. This is no small potatoes: a major drug war could break out between Jersey and Harlem if the problem isn't resolved soon. By the way, someone goes crashing through Shaft's very high office window in his presence, so Shaft has to bargain and barter with his only sympathetic contact in the NYPD to keep from being arrested on a murder charge. Shaft has to work on his own, under cover, without most of the advantages the police enjoy.

The performances in this film are wonderful. It shows how shamefully Hollywood has ignored black talent that actors the caliber of Moses Gunn didn't get steady work, and the situation is only marginally better today. The talent brings conviction to a gangster plot line that is really just an update of 1930s material, minimizing its formulaic quality and keeping it fresh. There are also sharp points made about the realities of urban black life. Example: A taxicab pauses, then zooms by well-dressed Shaft, only to stop 50 feet up the street to pick up a similarly dressed white guy. It's stuff like this that raises "Shaft" well above the movie-of-the-week level that infects so many routine and direct-to-video films.

I think that time may have actually improved "Shaft." The violence is just violence. Shooting a gun is just that, not an invitation to buckets of blood. A car crash is a car crash, not a fireball. One thing the writers or producers seem a little conflicted about is the level of swearing: a character will say "[bad]" in one sentence, use the s-word in the next, then revert to "[bad]" Ditto those well-worn terms about fornication. Well, 1971 was a confusing time.

For a generation raised on Joe Fridays, Shaft is quite an interesting character, a handsome leather-clad James Bond without all the high-tech gadgetry. He has a nice apartment and a loving wife, but he also keeps a sleek, tasteful bachelor pad that Hugh Hefner might envy. He must be quite the successful P.I.! I suppose this bit of fantasy was meant to serve as relief to the gritty urban drama played out on the streets. At any rate, I didn't mind it. If you're sitting on the fence about this movie, buy the tape; it's quite cheap.

Rating:
Summary: Decent (not great) presentation of drive-in classic
Review: Of course, if you're reading this, you probably already know that "Shaft" is an above-average blaxploitation flick with Richard Roundree as a private detective hired to track down a Harlem gang boss' missing daughter. With dialogue like "You got problems, Shaft?" "Yeah, two of 'em. I was born black and I was born poor." you really can't lose.

So on with the DVD. The film itself is nicely letterboxed (I think for the first time), and while it's not made from the greatest print (there are a couple scratches), it's a perfectly acceptable presentation.

Extras include trailers for all three Shaft flicks . This is great--I wish Warner had done the same with their "Dirty Harry" DVD. (They did with the VHS version.) There's also a 1971-produced short "Making of" film and the option to view the movie in French (a surreal experience, to be sure.)

The cast and crew bios, however, are pretty meager, offering only a relatively complete portrait of Richard Roundtree. Where's Moses Gunn? Or Gordon Parks? The "Awards" option is pretty worthless as well, showing that the movie won the Oscar for "Best Original Song."

Oh, yes, and there's no commentary track with Director Parks as is described on the Amazon site. Forgivably, it's not mentioned on the DVD box, so this is probably just something that didn't pan out at the last minute.

It's still lots of fun, but not what it could have been.

Rating:
Summary: The mob wanted Harlem back. They got shaft...up to here.
Review: That title is the films original tagline...and they got the shaft allright!

Shaft is a great 70's urban classic. The film is beautifully photographed and staged. The atmospheric camera work captures the streets of New York, always keeping the look of the film harsh and cold. The color scheme is typical 70's muted with acidic contrasts, but at the same time uses a number of blue tinges, especially in the outdoors, to suggest the cold environment the people are facing.

The DVD is presented in the film's original 1.85:1 theatrical aspect ratio as well as an open matte (fullscreen) transfer that adds some picture information at the top and the bottom of the screen. The transfers look pretty darned good for a 1971 flick. Audio is presented in the film's original monaural track and is fairly weak, though acceptable.

The DVD features includes a bonus documentary "Filming Shaft on Location", three trailers and cast biographies.

You gotta love Shaft & Richard Rountree. A great flick and a great DVD.

Rating:
Summary: The original
Review: Gordon Parks created a sensation in Shaft with an ultracool performance by Richard Roundtree who went onto to do several films in this series. However none holds up as well as does the first film, which plays just as well today as it did in the 70's. Shaft was the quintessential rogue cop, taking orders from no one and tracking down the crooks no matter where they hid in the city. But what really makes this movie work is the feel Parks has for New York, capturing the quality of the inner city like few others have been able to do. One is carried along on the hip soundtrack by Isaac Hayes, taking in the mean streets of Harlem as Shaft fights both the corrupt police force and the underworld. Always one to do it his own way.

Rating:
Summary: Decent (not great) presentation of drive-in classic
Review: Of course, if you're reading this, you probably already know that "Shaft" is an above-average blaxploitation flick with Richard Roundree as a private detective hired to track down a Harlem gang boss' missing daughter. With dialogue like "You got problems, Shaft?" "Yeah, two of 'em. I was born black and I was born poor." you really can't lose.

So on with the DVD. The film itself is nicely letterboxed (I think for the first time), and while it's not made from the greatest print (there are a couple scratches), it's a perfectly acceptable presentation.

Extras include trailers for all three Shaft flicks . This is great--I wish Warner had done the same with their "Dirty Harry" DVD. (They did with the VHS version.) There's also a 1971-produced short "Making of" film and the option to view the movie in French (a surreal experience, to be sure.)

The cast and crew bios, however, are pretty meager, offering only a relatively complete portrait of Richard Roundtree. Where's Moses Gunn? Or Gordon Parks? The "Awards" option is pretty worthless as well, showing that the movie won the Oscar for "Best Original Song."

Oh, yes, and there's no commentary track with Director Parks as is described on the Amazon site. Forgivably, it's not mentioned on the DVD box, so this is probably just something that didn't pan out at the last minute.

It's still lots of fun, but not what it could have been.

Rating:
Summary: THE BEST OF THE BLAXPLOITATION FILMS
Review: PERHAPS THE BEST BLAXPLOITATION FILM OF THEM ALL. JOHN SHAFT [RICHARD ROUNDTREE] IS HIRED TO INVESTIGATE THE KIDNAPPING OF A GANG LORD'S DAUGHTER. VERY INTERESTING MOVIE WIH LOTS OF GREAT MUSIC. THE FILM ALSO HAS A SHARP SENSE OF HUMOR. FOR A FUN TIME, CHECK OUT THIS CLASSIC 1971 ACTIONER. ISSAC HAYES WON AN OSCAR FOR THE SHAFT THEME SONG. FOLLOWED BY TWO SEQUELS, A TV SERIES, AND WAS REMADE [SORT OF] IN 2000.

Rating:
Summary: i can dig this
Review: Long before Samuel Jackson reprised the role of that bad motherf--shut your mouth-- but I'm talking about Shaft. Not the remak, but the original. The first. I'm talking 1971, when Shaft burst onto the scene. I'm not sure if Shaft falls into the Blaxplotation category, but Richard Roundtree plays a strong and positive (if a rather dark and morally ambiguous character) role. Shaft isn't weak, nor his he going to be pushed around by the Man. And at the same time Shaft doesn't go militant. And Shaft has a great relationship with the local police. He's sarcastic, witty, and intelligent. Roundtree plays Shaft so that everyone wants to be him, black or white. The movie starts with a simple plot, Shaft is hired to get back the local black crime boss's daughter, who has been kidnapped. The plot does a few twists and turns from there, and ends with a great gunfight/rescue scene. And there is Isaac Hayes' great score, and that memorable theme song.

The dvd has both widescreen and full screen format (I advise the wide screen). There aren't much in the way of extras. There are the trailors for the three Shaft movies and a brief bio of Richard Roundtree. There's also a 10 minute 'filming of' documentary called "Soul in Cinema: Filming Shaft on Location." It doesn't really tell you much or add anything to the viewing of the film, but it doesn't hurt, and it is somewhat interesting. You can also watch the film dubbed over in French (heh heh), and forget putting in English subtitles, the experience of 'French Shaft' is worth going by itself.

To finish, two words for you: John Shaft.

Rating:
Summary: Richard Roundtree Is John Shaft (Look How He Poses) !!!
Review: Owing to the box-office success of the updated "Shaft" released in 2000, the original version started to attract interests of fans of younger generation who didn't know the 70s with firsthand knowledge. It's a good thing, but remember, with all respect to Samuel L Jackson, John Shaft is Richard Roundtree. Look at him, and you know what I mean.

Singleton's "Shaft" lacks the essential part without which watching John Shaft is meaningless; that is, his sexiness. Roundtree's "Shaft" offers nothing special in term of story; it's just another detective story seen in Bogart's films. But MGM, a major studio, made him the ultimate sexy guy so that he makes love twice in a film, not only with a black girl but with a white. Of course, this may be simply one of the studio's tactics to cash in on the growing power of Afro-Americans at that time, but still no one can deny Roundtree's presence. The executives' decision was right, after all.

Add to his charisma, for the modern viewers, we can enjoy the ideosyncrasy of the 70s fashion in everything; the way they wear clothes (look at Shaft's leather coat), the way they talk (White detective says to Shaft: "What you got? Shaft replies: "I got laid."), and the soulful sountrack of Isaac Hayes -- everything is shining. Like hit songs of many 70s rock bands, it's showy and corny, but unbelievably irresistible. Enjoy it.

Director Gordon Parks (who briefly appears in the film) is the father of Gordon Parks Jr., who directed "Superfly," another memorable film of the genre, featuring Curtis Mayfield's wonderful music. And if you're interested in those "blaxploitaion films," you might want to see "Coffy" played by goddess of the genre, Pam Grier, and this film is famous for its Roy Ayers soundtrack. Listen.

Rating:
Summary: Above average detective film.
Review: I don't claim to be an expert on the history of films. Therefore, I won't discuss the place of "Shaft" in cinema. Instead, I'm simply going to review the movie.

Right from the beginning, this movie shows it has an attitude, in the opening montage set to the backdrop of Isaac Hayes's now famous theme song. This attitude belongs to both "Shaft" the movie and John Shaft the character. Shaft is definitely the main character of this film. Watching him both outwit and outfight his opponents is a welcome change from today's mainly brainless action heroes. Indeed, one of my personal favorite scenes is the one where he serves drinks to the two men out to get him.

This is a movie with a deliberate sense of pacing. There are a couple of scenes that may drag a bit (and hence why I subtracted one star), but the vast majority keep you alert and never bored.

In summary, I definitely recommend "Shaft" for any fan of the detective or action genres, and indeed of film in general.

Rating:
Summary: The way a Black man ought to be
Review: Shaft probably was one of the first non subserviant-non comical Black characters in a film without an all Black cast. Sidney Poitier comes to mind in the original "In the heat of the night" and Woody Strode,Harry Belafonte, and Jim Brown also come to mind. But Shaft made Black men feel proud to be a man and proud to be Black. Richard Roundtree was Black Americas John Wayne. Too many of us Black men are tough in our own neighborhoods and around our own people but when we get on Mister Charleys job we cant stop grinnin and tap dancin and playin the fiddle. Not Shaft though-this brotha was a real man.