Watch Shaft For Free

Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Don't Believe the Hype

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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.

I just watched this film. The last time I saw it was when it came out. The flaws in the movie were the same flaws evident in a lot of late 60s and early 70s movies. Film had undergone a transition to a more gritty look ... by the 80s they seemed really bad. Now they seem almost nostalgic ... probably people felt the same way about film noir at the time and shortly after. One of the most interesting things it has going for it is due to that raw and gritty look, which included quite a lot of location shots in early 1970s NYC. The score matched the cinematography very well. In 1971 I thought it was entertaining. We didn't call it a blaxploitation film back then. I guess its moderate success spawned the genre so in that sense it was either the first or the inspiration. But I think to lump it into that basket is wrong. In reality it is a 1971 detective flick focusing on a black character, set among a lot of black characters, mostly hoods, poised against a bunch of white characters, mostly hoods. It's right there in the movie ... the police detective makes that same observation. Not Black against White ... it is a turf war between black hoods and white hoods. And between them all is John Shaft. Richard Roundtree plays it with a finesse that although almost corny now to the point of being a caricature, at the time it was easy to take it at face value. He was a hard nosed P.I. and he focused on his case. The absolutely smartest scene was when the guy helping Shaft save the girl was sent in to pose as a room service waiter in the dingy hotel where the mafia guys were holding the hostage. He seemed resentful at first but he got a look on his face sort of like, "hey, I KNOW HOW TO DO THIS." Sure, using the degrading stereotype to complete the undercover. Three drinks. Three dudes. He's got the information but he's got to play the role. He stands there waiting for his tip and gets it, generous in mafia fashion too. Anyway, I say throw the blaxploitation label out the window and enjoy the movie for what it was and what it is ... a better than average 1970s detective movie. I wish they showed it on TV more.

Shaft is not the first Blaxploitation but it is the most accomplished and most memorable. A workaday script is launched into cultural orbit by the charismatic performance of RIchard Roundtree and the unforgettable theme by the late Isaac Hayes. The importance of this movie is not that it was hugely successful (although it was), but that it was produced and performed by a crew and cast that was predominantly black. It proved that there was a significant audience for movies that represented black culture on its own terms and treated the audience with respect. Importantly, Shaft isn't a wholly sympathetic character: Through the prism of the 21st Century he could be construed as both misogynist and racist (see his treatment of the female characters and the portrayal of the Italian mobsters) But he is also loyal, brave resourceful and charming. This complexity is one of the strengths of the movie. The sequels lack the energy of the original and suffer from diminishing marginal returns and Roundtree was never as good again. He didn't need to be, most actors never achieve the level of charisma even once. Nor do they have the chance to create what is a truly iconic role. Samuel L Jackson in the remake certainly failed to. Here's a link to an animated review of this movie. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qqm4f9-xzRY

I dedicate this comment and all this typed work to the memory of Isaac Hayes 1942-2008. This is some mother of a police gangster movie ever made, in my eyes. John Shaft has a "Don't Mess With Me" attitude, for example, we see him just walking across the road as if there where no cars on it, Taxis are trying to get by him, and he just says "Get out of my way" and when the Taxi drivers hoot he sticks his finger up at then and says "Up yours" charming I thought. Also I should mention poor Bumpy, because Shaft, tosses his son out the upstairs window, Bumpy says "He threw my son out of the the god dam window" and The tune brilliantly composed by Issac Hayes "Bumpy's Lament also had me in tears a bit! I also like the tune Cafe Reggios, this tune if you want to do an air guitar then this is the best tune to do it to, as Mike Toles on electric guitar on this tune is very guitar predominant. I also like it when Shaft's boss says to him "where are you going to whom shaft replies "I'm gonna get laid" laughing. I also like the bit when that man tries to sell Shaft a watch he says"Timepiece brother? then shaft produces his badge and the man says goodbye brother" I also like the bit when Shaft in the bar posing as a barman says to those two men "where are my manners, I have not introduced myself, my name is John shaft Freeze" and shows them his badge again. This is Issac Hayes best works, and he will be surely missed I also think that a lot of you who read this, will agree. It was not until 1976, that I first heard Issac Hayes music with the single Disco connection I also like the tune no name bar. I have the CD and the album and the cassette of the Shaft soundtrack I also think that who ever reads this, should now start buying Isaac's back catalogue if you like that kind of music R.I.P. Issac Hayes. 1942-2008.