Shaft
by Gordon Parks
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn Mitchell, Moses Gunn, Richard RoundtreeDirector: Gordon Parks
Brand: ROUNDTREE,RICHARD
Producer: David Golden
Producer: Ernest Tidyman
Writer: Ernest Tidyman
Producer: Joel Freeman
Producer: Roger Lewis
Producer: Stirling Silliphant
Writer: John D.F. Black
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 100 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-06-06
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product features:
- New
Movie Reviews of Shaft
Movie Review: 5 stars is not enough!!
Summary: 5 Stars
"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' .....!!!!
Summary of Shaft
An African-American detective is hired by a Harlem mobster to find his kidnapped teenaged daughter, and finds himself caught in a struggle among feuding factions of the underworld.Genre: Feature Film Urban Action
Rating: R
Release Date: 3-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD
Gordon Parks (The Learning Tree) directed this 1971 detective story about John Shaft (Richard Roundtree), an African American private eye who has a rocky relationship with cops, an even rockier one with Harlem gangsters, and a healthy sex life. The script finds Shaft tracking down the kidnapped daughter of a black mobster, but the pleasure of the film is the sum of its attitude, Roundtree's uncompromising performance, and the thrilling, Oscar-winning score by Isaac Hayes. Parks seems fond of certain detective genre clichés (e.g., the hero walking into his low-rent office and finding a hood waiting to talk with him), but he and Roundtree make those moments their own. Shaft had a couple of sequels and a follow-up television series, but none had the impact this movie did. --Tom Keogh
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