JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

BallWubba Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

morrison-dylan-fan Despite having heard Isaac Hayes famous score over the years,I have for some reason never got round to taking a look at the most famous title in the Blaxploitation genre.Taking a look at IMDbs Film Noir board,I spotted an excellent review from a fellow IMDber about Shaft being a Neo- Noir.Getting hold of 2 other Blaxploitation movies,I decided that it was time to meet the complicated man.The plot:Keeping his ears open for all of the news circling "the street", private investigator John Shaft is asked by two cops if he knows why some gangsters are after him.As he brushes their questions aside,Shaft spots a gangster spying on him. Returning to his office,Shaft catches 2 waiting gangsters by surprise,and gets one of them to reveal that they have been sent by legendary gangster Bumpy Jonas,who wants a private meeting with Shaft.Locating Jonas,Shaft begins to ask why he has sent thugs to follow him. Displaying a weakness in his iron grip on the city,Jonas tells Shaft that he wants him to track down his daughter Marcy,who have been kidnapped by a rival gang.As he starts to search all the hideouts for Marcy,Shaft discovers that he is now in the middle of a ruthless gang war.View on the film:Originally auditioning for the title role, Isaac Hayes (and J.J. Johnson) makes his presence strongly felt with a wonderfully raw score. Grinding into life with a deep Funk riff over the opening credits,Hayes and Johnson brilliantly cross Blaxploitation Funk with light Neo- Noir jazz,with the guitar riffs gliding above rumbling Jazz drums.Teaming up with writer John D.F. Black to send his pulp novel out on the big screen beat, Ernest Tidyman gives Shaft's lifestyle a slight Blaxploitation edge which is gripped by a strong,grubby Film Noir atmosphere.Taking their time to put Shaft in the middle of a gang war,Black and Tidyman brilliantly place Shaft as a Film Noir loner,with Shaft keeping his guard up as he speaks to white police officers,whilst never fitting in with the ruthless gangsters steeping down his neighborhood.Filmed on location,director Gordon Parks (who has a funny cameo in the film) and cinematographer Urs Furrer drain the Blaxploitation genre of any decadence,to unveil a tough,to the bone Neo-Noir atmosphere.Following Shaft as he searches every den for Marcy,Parks and Furrer open up every den with tightly held shots which fully display the brittle paint and rotting wood of the buildings which are inhabited by thugs who are rotten to the core.Taking on Shaft, Moses Gunn gives a fantastic performance as Bumpy Jonas,with Gunn opening wounds of doubt in Jonas unbreakable public image,as Jonas begins to fear that he has gotten his daughter involved in a deadly matter that he is helpless to resolve.Walking down the decayed streets, Richard Roundtree (who appears naked!) gives a dazzling performance as Shaft,thanks to Roundtree giving Shaft a cool swagger which never oversteps the sharp quick-wits that Roundtree shows Shaft use with a gripping determination ,as the audience discover who is the man.

gavin6942 Cool black private eye John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.This film is considered a blaxploitation classic. That seems to be an insult, even if not intended as one. It is a classic in its own right, not just as part of a subgenre. This is a great detective story, a crime story, a mob story, and to some degree a racial story (though that does not factor in as much as some might think).What better than a private eye helping out a mob boss? This introduces dark money, plenty of shady characters, and allows our hero to go places even the police might fear to tread and use methods they would never be allowed to. Classic.

Michael_Elliott Shaft (1971) ** 1/2 (out of 4)This now classic Blaxploitation film has detective John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) being hired by crime lord Bumpy Jonas (Moses Gunn) to find the men who has kidnapped his daughter. Shaft hits the streets of Harlem to try and locate the girl but soon finds himself running into various mobsters and criminals.SHAFT was a landmark movie that introduced us to a black private eye, something that hadn't really been seen before and especially not by a large group of people. Another thing that this movie introduced was a certain toughness and a certain coolness that would become the template for all future Blaxploitation movies. SHAFT was a hit with both white and black audiences back in the day and it's easy to see why but overall I thought the film had way too many flaws to be a complete success but there's no question that fans of the genre will still need to see this.There are many very good things working for this film including the performance of Roundtree who was certainly born to play this type of role. A lot of characters and actors try to play it cool but more often than not you just roll your eyes and feel as if you're watching some actor who got picked on all his life trying to pretend to be cool. With Roundtree you really do feel as if you're watching someone who controls everything he does and does whatever he wants when he wants. He certainly pushes that cool tough guy image that works perfectly well here. Gunn is also entertaining as the crime boss as is Charles Cioffi, Lawrence Pressman and Christopher St. John.Another positive is, of course, the now legendary music by Isaac Hayes. Another fun thing is just getting to see all the old streets of New York including countless theatres showing now classic movie titles. With that said, the biggest flaw with SHAFT is its actual story, which is just too boring and it's just not all that interesting. There are way too many scenes that just drag on and there's no question that ten minutes could have easily been cut and it would have helped the film. Still, SHAFT is what it is and its reputation and coolness factor alone makes it worth watching.

Uriah43 The NYPD is hearing rumors about something big about to happen in Harlem and they're worried. Meanwhile, two thugs from Harlem are looking for a private detective named "John Shaft" (Richard Roundtree). A scuffle breaks out in Shaft's office and one of the thugs is thrown out of the high-rise window. Not long afterward a black crime boss named "Bumpy Jonas" (Moses Gunn) and his bodyguard, "Willy" (Drew Bundini Brown) come to see Shaft seeking to hire him to locate Bumpy's daughter who has been kidnapped. This is when the complications start. Anyway, this film features gangsters from Harlem, the mafia, black militants and the NYPD who all want to see John Shaft for one reason or another. It has an excellent soundtrack and there is plenty of action to keep most people entertained throughout. The acting is also pretty good with Richard Roundtree putting in an excellent performance along with that of Drew Bundini Brown to a lesser extent. In short, this film is as exciting today as it was when it first came out 42 years ago and is quite possibly the best "blaxpoitation" film there is. Definitely above average.