Never really saw it, been watching it on TV tonight, I'm digging it baby, hanging loose. Cool flick. Always loved the Theme from Shaft too. Sadly I'm not seeing a blu ray release for this. EDIT, found the blu ray. John Shaft: Warms my black heart to see you so concerned about us minority folks. Vic Androzzi: Oh come on Shaft, what is it with this black ****, huh? [Vic holds a black pen up to Shaft's face] Vic Androzzi: You ain't so black. John Shaft: [Holds a white coffee cup next to Vic's face] And you ain't so white either baby. Bumpy Jonas: [answering his phone] Wrong Number. John Shaft: Don't bull me, man. I got the right number. This is Shaft. Bumpy Jonas: How'd the hell you get this number? John Shaft: Off a bathroom wall in the godd damn subway! Looks like he's got a good stereo in his apartment, I seen an Empire turntable, a reel to reel, and what looks like AR speakers, didn't seen an amp though.
Just don't watch the lame remake/reboot-Samuel L. Jackson is cool but can't save it-the best part is Richard Roundtree showing up as the original Shaft, upstaging Sam Jax and making off with a babe! There were 7 made-for-tv movies that WB Archive put out in a set...http://www.amazon.com/Shaft-Movie-C...822U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317578265&sr=8-1
Who's the black private dick That's a sex machine to all the chicks? Shaft, ya, damn right Who is the man that would risk his neck For his brother man? Shaft, can you dig it? Who's the cat that won't cop out When there's danger all about? Shaft, right on They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother Shut your mouth But I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft Then we can dig it He's a complicated man But no one understands him but his woman John Shaft
What made this so unique to me was that it really was not really a detective story. No sleuthing, no figuring out clues. Just figuring out who was behind the kidnapping, and saving her. It was so different from other cop/detective movies. It had a different pace, more story focused. It took time to let Moses Gunn slowly talk, and some parts where there was very little dialogue. I always wondered if there was an opening that was cut from the film--the liner notes to the lp talked about the girl being snatched and put to sleep and her screams blending in to the screams of Shaft's g/f as she is having fun with MR. shaft.
Very much of its time, but still an enjoyable watch. I saw it on the big screen with Richard Roundtree in conversation afterwards - fun evening!
I'm not sure what happened that I've not seen it until now, perhaps I was at a drive in decades back and passed out before the movie started. I sure as heck should've seen in back in the day. Got the blu ray on order. Hopefully it looks better than what I saw on airwave TV last night.
Great movie. I read a lot of private detective novels, and this movie is a gritty, badass tough guy private eye novel brought to life.
