Shaft

Shaft

Category: (DVD)

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Editorial Reviews

Richard roundtree scores as the tough private eye whose hunt for a missing woman puts him in the middle of a syndicate feud. Special features: behind-the-scenes documentary soul in cinema: filming shaft on location feature-length audio commentary by director gordon parks and much more. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 05/03/2005 Starring: Richard Roundtree Charles Cioffi Run time: 98 minutes Rating: R Director: Gordon Parks

Gordon Parks (The Learning Tree) directed this 1971 detective story about John Shaft (Richard Roundtree), an African American private eye who has a rocky relationship with cops, an even rockier one with Harlem gangsters, and a healthy sex life. The script finds Shaft tracking down the kidnapped daughter of a black mobster, but the pleasure of the film is the sum of its attitude, Roundtree's uncompromising performance, and the thrilling, Oscar-winning score by Isaac Hayes. Parks seems fond of certain detective genre clichés (e.g., the hero walking into his low-rent office and finding a hood waiting to talk with him), but he and Roundtree make those moments their own. Shaft had a couple of sequels and a follow-up television series, but none had the impact this movie did. --Tom Keogh

Customer Reviews

Kind of a hoot with a good soundtrack

Reviewed by Bradley F. Smith, 2009-09-17

I loved the look of 1971 New York that director Gordon Parks got in this retro PI tale. Gritty, dark, dirty, trash-strewn streets, cheesy interiors: they're all here. Of course, Isaac Hayes' soundtrack is fab, though the plot is a cliche and the acting, overall, is meh...This was hot stuff because it showed blacks in a different light at the time. Today, it's a time capsule of an era long gone.

The Original, & still the best

Reviewed by Cassandra Redux, 2009-04-02

What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said & in a far better way than I could. I'll just say this: It's SHAFT, man, the Original, so BUY IT!






(& the ending's hilarious!)

The Black Bogie! Too Bad About the DVD!

Reviewed by Frederick Baptist, 2008-09-13

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.

SHAFT

Reviewed by Micah B. Evans, 2008-02-15

They say this cat Shaft is a BAD MOTHER........I can dig it, and you will to....

Cool Music

Reviewed by Gunner, 2008-02-06

Shaft DVD

As far as I know Shaft broke new ground as a movie starring a black man in 1971. Shaft was the perfect example of a rogue cop, taking orders from no one and tracking down the crooks no matter where they hid in the city.

Recommended for fans of Richard Roundtree and quality jazz.

Gunner February, 2008