Shaft (1971) – 2/5

Cool is one thing, but a convincing story is more crucial

Here we have „Shaft“, the original movie from 1971, so this one had its 50th anniversary not too long ago and this film was shown on a one-time occasion last night in a relatively small, yet packed movie theater room. No surprise as Shaft is a bit of an icon still when it comes to Black culture. But is he an icon for the right reasons? I would not say so. The icon status is undeniable though and this is already made sure by this film being shown again on another continent than America so many years after its original release and of course the fact that there is a remake or at least that the character returned decades later is also self-explanatory. I think for more than one film even. Samuel L. Jackson played the key role there, but Richard Roundtree returned as well and he is the one who plays the title character in this film we have here. Quite a catchy name he got himself with the alliteration. He may have been the right man for the role and the negative aspects this film had were not in his performance, but rather in the writing. Let’s look at the production: This one runs for 100 minutes, not too long or too short. By the way, there is a sequel that took Shaft to Africa, isn’t there? Anyway, the director here is Gordon Parks, who is sadly no longer with us as he was already almost 60 when he made this film happen. It was not one of his latest or earliest career efforts and he was surely not super prolific, but had talents in all kinds of areas. Not too often that you see a director with several credits in acting, composing, writing and the camera and electrical department. Interestingly enough, he worked in the latter on the film „Malcolm X“ when he was around the age of 80, so this shows you his impact in terms of Black American cinema. But when being the man in charge, this film here is probably his most known release.

The writers are Ernest Tidyman and John D. F. Black. Tidyman won an Oscar in the screenplay category for a Best Picture Academy Award winner not much later and Black, who was only Black by name, scored his first and only Emmy nomination in the early 1970s too, maybe his biggest awards success there. They are also both no longer with us, especially Tidyman died too early. If you look at the cast here, it feels difficult to come up with big-name actors at all. There are none and even Roundtree probably only stands out because of this movie. I cannot really think of anything else he has done. After checking, I see he was in „Brick“? Okay, it is not a film I am too big on either, but yeah while the performances in here are not bad or anything, it will take you quite some time to find a film from the 1970s that is still pretty well-known, but has hardly any big-name cast members at all. Moses Gunn, who plays one oof the biggest supporting characters, was at least an Emmy nominee, but nobody comes close to the Oscar win in the writing department for example. Then again, this also happened a year later only. The film we have here, however, was a real glory hour for Isaac Hayes. He scored two Oscar nominations for his music and a song and won for the latter. At the Golden Globes he was „only“ nominated for the main theme that won the Oscar, but he also won a Grammy for his work. But now we will finally look a bit into the plot and story we got here: The film oozes coolness really almost every single minute and it is almost too much as a whole. The film is not scared at all from becoming too gimmicky and going over the top on several occasions. One example there is for example Shaft’s exaggerated (almost manic) laughter at the very end of the film when he tells his cop buddy that the latter can do the cleaning-up. There is another occasion earlier when he laughs so exaggeratedly. He is fully aware of what a cool stud he is and not scared of letting everybody else know. But as he has the skills, which we see when he throws one guy out of a window early on, he has the right to, hasn’t he?

The boss of the man he threw out of the window and who was supposed to take Shaft to said boss had his daughter abducted and that’s why he needs Shaft’s help. Because he gets along with White and Black folks and there are not many who do. Still, some taxi driver prefers a White guest in his car. An early depiction of racism? Well, let’s just call it color-based preference. I mean it is his car. And when bakeries in the now refuse to sell cakes to people from certain political parties or so, it is supposedly also their right as we have learned from the press, but that is another story. So yeah, back to Shaft, he is of course also too much of a man to only please one woman, even if that woman already has a child with him. There were some moments in this film that they absolutely could not get away with if this had been a new movie. The cheating is one thing, but I am also talking about the „I know“ response when his wife talks to him on the phone and says she loves him. Or how the other girl just could not wait to get busy with Shaft and storms into the shower. She also says later on that he is a great lover and we also see earlier how his wife has an orgasm when they are having sex, so he really is the ultimate woman pleaser, but only until the act is finished. Then he has to get back to work and get things done like the busy desirable man that he is. The reaction from Linda was already more emancipated than I thought. How she dared to open her mouth, but maybe it was also because we must understand that Shaft gets the girls wild and angry. On a different note, the scene early on when he chases away some guy who wanted to sell drugs or stolen stuff or so to him was hilarious. Like how he runs for his life. But yeah, there are so many moments in here where they make sure we do not forget how much of an alpha male Shaft is.

The big finale there with the bomb he built quickly before jumping into the action and saving the girl was pretty special too. Not gonna lie, this was really cool there, even if the film does end fairly abrupt afterwards. And honestly, I don’t think I have ever seen a more incompetent depiction of the Italian mafia in a movie. It was already bizarre that Shaft ran into each and every single one from the photos the Italian-American police officer showed him as if the Cosa Nostra only consisted of five people there, but their amateurism was even more embarrassing. Keep in mind how strong and impactful the mafia is/was. Made no sense at all. And what was with the scene where Shaft was shot or wasn’t he? Was he carrying a vest? Moments later, he is already up on his legs and ready to get in all his physical strength to get the mission done. So you cannot really appreciate this film at all from a realism perspective and the entire crime plot is also no quality writing. I still find it baffling that it came from the man who wrote „The French Connection“, at least 50% of this film here he did, because the difference in quality is massive. If there is any way to appreciate this one here, it is from the swagger perspective. Look at the two folks early on when one tells the other that Shaft is not a man to boss around. Don’t remember the exact words there. Or how Shaft closes the door in one man’s face later on. Or wait, the one scene in which Shaft for once was not the big boss was when he made a bit of a deal with the Italian-American police inspector who agreed to say he did not find Shaft there when he was looking for him, so the two did have a bit of a connection and the man is surely Shaft’s biggest ally in the precinct. This was actually solid writing and the way how the cop when heading out impersonated the furious woman from moments earlier was also hilarious. Funniest moment of the entire film maybe. It did not come from Shaft. The actor is Charles Cioffi and it is nice to see that he is still alive in 2023. I hope it stays this way for a little longer and he makes it to 90. But wait what? This means Cioffi was in his mid30s when he appeared in this movie? That can’t be right. I would have thought him to be 50 at least. Like his hair was all-grey. I would love to watch a series on him. I am a bit surprised that they did not make one on Shaft afterwards.

Okay, just some brainstorming now to close the review: It is a pity that the actress who played Valerie is not credited here. She was much more attractive than Shaft’s one-night stand Linda. Robin Nolan who plays a waitress in one scene was fine too, a bit surprised there that Shaft did not end up in bed with her. But he showed us his generous side there in terms of tipping. You will smile a bit while watching this movie, sometimes also because it is so awkward. Not all the jokes are winners, like the scene with the blind man early on is not half as funny as they wanted it to be, but I guess it was supposed to show us that Shaft has a heart for the disabled too. Shaft is of course also an early worm who already gets so much done when others are still asleep, no matter if we are talking about Linda or about the young man he kinda protects from the mob then and they each other in restoring justice after some of their buddies are killed. The young man, after initially suspecting that the killing was a trap by Shaft, changes his mind quickly too and understand there is no way Shaft is one of the bad guys. Okay, for once the Italian mob was not useless there in this film. This is pretty much it then. Overall, I have to give Shaft a thumbs-down. There are just too many weaknesses and sometimes even the coolness from it all backfires and Shaft just comes off as cocky and arrogant because he is so full of himself and not likable, for example during this scene with the one who wants to frisk him and how Shaft talks to him, but yeah it was easy to forget afterwards because better moments followed, like when Shaft was asking the one who wanted his daughter back for more money. That is all. My suggestion is to skip watching „Shaft“.