Shaft is a 1971 American blaxploitation crime action film directed by Gordon Parks and written by Ernest Tidyman and John D. F. Black. The film revolves around a private detective named John Shaft who is hired by a Harlem mobster to rescue his daughter from the Italian mobsters who kidnapped her.
The film stars Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, Moses Gunn as Bumpy Jonas, Charles Cioffi as Vic Androzzi, and Christopher St. John as Ben Buford. The major themes present in Shaft are the Black Power movement, race, masculinity, and sexuality. It was filmed in Harlem, Greenwich Village, and Times Square within the New York City borough of Manhattan.
Shaft was one of the first and most popular blaxploitation films, which “marked a turning point for this type of film, and spawned a number of sequels and knockoffs.” The Shaft soundtrack album, recorded by Isaac Hayes, was also a success, winning a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture and a second Grammy that he shared with Johnny Allen for Best Instrumental Arrangement.
The “Theme from Shaft” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and has appeared on multiple Top 100 lists, including AFI’s 100 Years…100 Songs. A prime example of the blaxploitation genre, Shaft was selected in 2000 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
OK, what about the original story?
John Shaft, a private detective, is informed that some gangsters are looking for him. Police Lt. Vic Androzzi meets Shaft and unsuccessfully tries to get information from him on the two gangsters. After Androzzi leaves, Shaft spots one of the men waiting for him in his office building. He forces the first gangster into his office where the second gangster is waiting. During a short fight, Shaft dodges one of them who goes out the window, while the other surrenders and reveals to him that Bumpy Jonas, the leader of a Harlem-based organized crime family, wants Shaft brought uptown to Harlem for a meeting.
At the police station, Shaft lies to Lt. Androzzi and the detective assigned to the second gangster’s death, by saying that the man was in an “accident”. He is allowed to return to the streets for 48 hours. Shaft arranges a meeting with Bumpy in his office. It turns out Bumpy’s daughter has been kidnapped, and Shaft is asked to ensure her safe return.
After tracking down Ben Buford as Bumpy suggested, a shoot out ensues; Shaft is told by Androzzi after the shooting that Shaft himself, and not Ben, was the target, and that tensions brewing between the uptown hoods belonging to Bumpy Jonas and the downtown Mafiosi have culminated in a couple of murders. But the perception is black against white to the general public, with the possibility of an escalation into full-blown race war. He also shows Shaft some pictures of two of the Mafia men who just arrived in New York. Vic begs Shaft to explain what’s going on, although Vic already knows Bumpy is looking for Shaft.
Shaft surmises that mobsters are watching his pad from a local bar. Shaft pretends to be a barkeep and calls the police to have the mobsters arrested. Shaft later goes to the police station to set a meeting to find where Bumpy’s daughter is being held captive.
Vic tells Shaft that the room that he was in at the station house was bugged and he is supposed to bring him in for questioning, but instead leaves. Ben and Shaft go to the apartment where Marcy Jonas is being held to make sure she is alive. Once there, a gunfight ensues during which two Mafia hoods are killed and Shaft takes a bullet in the shoulder.
Shaft goes home and receives medical attention from a doctor working underground with him. Shaft tells Ben to round up his men and meet him at the hotel where Marcy has been taken, to prepare to get her back. He also calls Bumpy to tell him his daughter is fine and he is going to need some taxicabs to meet him at the hotel for the getaway.
Shaft (1971)
Directed by: Gordon Parks
Starring: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Gwenn Mitchell, Christopher St. John, Lawrence Pressman, Victor Arnold, Sherri Brewer, Camille Yarbrough, Rex Robbins, Camille Yarbrough
Screenplay by: Ernest Tidyman, John D. F. Black
Cinematography by: Urs Furrer
Film Editing by: Hugh A. Robertson
Costume Design by: Joseph G. Aulisi
Set Decoration by: Robert Drumheller
Art Direction by: Emanuel Gerard
Music by: Isaac Hayes, Johnny Allen
Distributed by: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Release Date: July 2, 1971
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