Shaft (1971) MGM/Action RT: 100 minutes Rated R (violence, language, some sexual content, brief nudity) Director: Gordon Parks Screenplay: Ernest Tidyman and John D.F. Black Music: Isaac Hayes Cinematography: Urs Furrer Release date: July 2, 1971 (US) Cast: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn Mitchell, Lawrence Pressman, Victor Arnold, Sherri Brewer, Rex Robbins, Camille Yarbrough, Margaret Warncke, Joseph Leon, Arnold Johnson, Dominic Barto, George Strus, Edmund Hashim, Drew Bundini Brown, Tommy Lane, Al Kirk, Shimen Ruskin, Antonio Fargas. Box Office: $12.1M (US)
Rating: *** ½
“Who’s the black private dick that’s a sex machine to all the chicks? SHAFT! You’re damn right.”
More than 50 years later, Isaac Hayes’ iconic theme song to the gritty 1971 action film Shaft is still cool. With the guitar going wah-wah, descending four-horn and ascending flute runs and Hayes’ silky smooth voice, it’s the epitome of laid-back cool. When you hear it, you can’t help but think of Richard Roundtree, clad in his trademark leather coat, walking through the streets of New York to his office. It’s a theme song befitting its subject. John Shaft, the first black action movie hero, is the perfect mix of cool cat, bad ass and ladies man.
Directed by Gordon Parks (The Learning Tree), Shaft marked a turning point in blaxploitation as it was the first such film to be released by a major studio. MGM had a lot riding on it. They wanted to attract black and white audiences. In the original novel by Ernest Tidyman, the character of John Shaft was white. It was Parks’ decision to cast Roundtree in the lead that changed the entire dynamic of the film. In doing that, he gave birth to the blaxploitation movement of the early 70s. If not for the success of Shaft, there would be no Superfly, Slaughter, Cleopatra Jones, Coffy or Foxy Brown. Its impact on cinema in general was HUGE!
At its heart, Shaft is a private eye flick in the tradition of Philip Marlowe (The Big Sleep) and Sam Spade (The Maltese Falcon). Like all movie private eyes, he has a dingy walk-up office where he drinks bourbon while waiting for new clients to walk through the door. In this instance, they’re already waiting for him when he arrives at his office one morning. They’re a couple of shady characters who might mean to do him harm. Their “meeting” ends with Shaft sending one of them flying out his second-story window. Naturally, the police want to know how this happened. His sort-of friend on the force, Lt. Androzzi (Cioffi, Klute), knows damn well it was no accident as Shaft claims.
The plot of Shaft is no big thing. The two guys who attacked Shaft work for Harlem crime boss Bumpy Jonas (Gunn, Amityville II: The Possession) who wishes to hire the PI to find a missing person. Specifically, he wants Shaft to find and retrieve his daughter (Brewer) who’s been kidnapped by the Mafia in a bid to take over all criminal business in Harlem. All mysteries have to have a red herring or false lead and Shaft is no different. Initially, Bumpy directs him to a black militant group led by Ben Buford (St. John, Top of the Heap). Of course, it turns out to be a set-up which only makes Shaft more determined to figure out what’s going on.
I’m a longtime Shaft fan. I like the two sequels, Shaft’s Big Score (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973). I LOVE the 2000 remake/sequel starring Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft’s nephew. I’m looking forward to the upcoming reboot/sequel also titled Shaft opening this week (Friday, June 14). It goes without saying that I dig the first Shaft too. The main reason is Roundtree, the perfect choice to play a hard-boiled urban detective. The character of Shaft tapped right into the zeitgeist of the post-Civil Rights era by giving blacks a hero they could call their own. He was strongly anti-establishment in his refusal to help the white cops solve the case themselves. He also detested the criminals who flooded the streets with drugs and corruption. At the same time, he was smart, smooth and stylish. In one scene, he poses as a bartender so he can watch the Mafia goons watching his apartment from the bar. Not many PIs have the stones to try something like that.
Now I could sit here and pontificate about the themes of race, black masculinity and Black Power in Shaft. For example, observe how Shaft takes charge of every situation he’s in. That’s one of the key tenets of the Black Power movement of the late 60s/early 70s. The militant group is obviously modeled after the Black Panthers, especially in Ben’s refusal to accept anything from The Man. I could talk about all that, but I won’t. Let’s just say that Shaft is a product of its era and move on.
In my not-so-humble opinion, Shaft is NOT a great movie, but it is a good one. It’s slick and entertaining. It has a few good action scenes. The climax featuring Shaft and the militants working together to rescue Bumpy’s daughter is cool. The cast is solid. Hayes’ funk-driven soundtrack is out of sight! The plot is rather simplistic and somewhat slow-paced. It’s not a thrill-a-minute action picture. It’s more like film noir. Parks obviously loves the private eye genre with the way he revels in all the conventions- e.g. tough dialogue, fight scenes, violence and a hero with his own moral code. It’s a fun Saturday night action movie that just happens to be one of the key films in the blaxploitation genre. Besides, that cat Shaft is a bad mother….. SHUT YO’ MOUTH! Right on!
