Shaft
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn Mitchell, Moses Gunn, Richard Roundtree Director: 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:
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| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $2.63 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $1.49 | ||
| Collectible | Collectible Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $2.59 |
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Movie Reviews of Shaft
Movie Review: The Black Bogie! Too Bad About the DVD!
Summary: 2 Stars
Now this movie is one baad muther-shut-your mouth! I thought this was an excellent movie that tried to portray the life of a private detective in the Harlem of the early 70's in a gritty and hence more realistic manner. As a result, this movie is certainly dated and unmistakenably of that time and place as witnessed by the lingo and slang used liberally throughout and yet I found it still very enjoyable to watch even today.
This cat Shaft reminded me a lot of Humphrey Bogart's character in the "Maltese Falcon" which I also thoroughly enjoyed but one thing that this movie has which is lacking in that great film noir classic is an excellent score. Rarely has a film been identified or even been associated so much with a score that one can't think of one without the other. Sure there have been great scores that heightened the enjoyment of the films around that time like those for "The Graduate" and "Easy Rider" but those were made almost exclusively from pop songs that were already written but here we have a great score that was written just for the movie that became a pop hit and a classic even today that still gets airtime on classic rock radio stations throughout the world. How this didn't win the Oscar for best score that year escapes me and only Curtis Mayfield's work on "Super Fly" comes close in terms of overall quality of scoring.
Although there are just a couple of special feature documentaries on this dvd they are quite enjoyable as we get to see the director doing his thing and for me the better one was where we get to see the late great Isaac Hayes working with his band on the score.
The sad thing about this dvd is the shocking picture and sound quality. Both are extremely poor and do not do this film any justice whatsoever. Here's hoping that a Blu-ray version surfaces soon with a significantly restored picture quality and a similarly restored sound quality with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround or better options just as they did with "Dirty Harry". This movie is also a prime candidate for a new Director's Cut version if Gordon Parks is still around but tragically with his death two years ago a great opportunity was missed.
Great movie but terrible dvd version and perhaps you should wait for the Blu-Ray version that comes with significantly remastered and restored picture and especially sound quality with surround sound options which is the only way to truly do justice to an excellent score and is a fitting way to remember the late, great Isaac Hayes and Gordon Parks.