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Shaft

Shaft

  • Status: Released
  • 25-06-1971
  • Runtime: 100 min
  • Score: 6.425
  • Vote count: 393

Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.

Richard Roundtree

John Shaft

Moses Gunn

Bumpy Jonas

Charles Cioffi

Vic Androzzi

Christopher St. John

Ben Buford

Gwenn Mitchell

Ellie Moore

Lawrence Pressman

Sergeant Tom Hannon

Victor Arnold

Charlie

Sherri Brewer

Marcy

Rex Robbins

Rollie

Camille Yarbrough

Dina Greene

Margaret Warncke

Linda

Joseph Leon

Byron Leibowitz

Arnold Johnson

Cul

Dominic Barto

Patsy

George Strus

Carmen

Edmund Hashim

Lee

Drew Bundini Brown

Willy

Tommy Lane

Leroy

Al Kirk

Sims

Shimen Ruskin

Dr. Sam

Antonio Fargas

Bunky

Gertrude Jeannette

Old Lady

Lee Steele

Blind Vendor

Damu King

Mal

Donny Burks

Remmy

Tony King

Davies

Benjamin R. Rixson

Bey Newfield

Ricardo Brown

Tully

Alan Weeks

Gus

Glenn Johnson

Char

Dennis Tate

Dotts

Adam Wade

Brother #1

James Hainesworth

Brother #2

Clee Burtonya

Sonny

Ed Bernard

Peerce

Eddie Barth

Tony

Joe Pronto

Dom

Robin Nolan

Waitress

Ron Tannas

Billy

Betty Bresler

Mrs. Androzzi

Gonzalo Madurga

Counterman

Paul Nevens

Elevator Man

Jon Richards

Elevator Starter

JPV852

Richard Roundtree was great and Shaft as a character was absolutely amazing, everything else from the plot which was thin and performances by the supporting cast was a bit iffy. The pacing was also pretty slow and despite only being 100 minutes, felt a bit longer. Still, a good opening into the franchise. **3.5/5**

CinemaSerf

Richard Rowntree exudes loads of charisma here as he takes on the role of the shrewd Harlem private investigator “Shaft” who finds himself embroiled in some fairly brutal New York politics. He’s drafted in by local gangster “Bumpy” (Moses Gunn) when this man’s daughter is kidnapped. He doesn’t know by whom or why - there are no ransom demands nor many breadcrumbs to follow, but there are plenty of suspects. Initially he suspects that it might be the “Black Power” movement but after some plausible, if double-edged, tip-offs begins to suspect that some other hustlers are planning on bumping off his employer and muscling in on the lucrative rackets of the city. “Shaft” knows full well that the truth is being drip-fed to him, and that both “Bumpy” and police officer “Androzzi” (Charles Cioffi) and trying to manipulate him as he tries to track down “Marcy” (Sherri Brewer). It’s a very slick and classy production, this, with Rowntree navigating the racial tensions of his city deftly and engagingly. His “Shaft” is quite a likeable rogue, and though many of the scenarios do tax even the most vivid of imaginations, he manages to more subtly and skilfully illustrate just how unintegrated this supposedly integrated society actually was. There’s a bit of violence and some sex, but they are mostly implied as the story gathers pace in an unforgiving community where the goodies and baddies do not follow all of the expected stereotypical assumptions. Isaac Hayes’s theme complements the whole look and feel of the early 1970s with big cars, big shoes, big hair and big opportunities and though it has dated, it’s still builds on a solid story that delivers well.