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Movie Review: 'Shaft' 1971

The original 'Shaft' exposes the rotten core of the modern attempts to reinvent the character.

By Sean PatrickPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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1971's Shaft, directed by Gordon Parks, set a standard for cool. Richard Roundtree's black private dick was a sex machine to all the chicks, and while such a description is hilarious, he backs it up onscreen. The Theme From 'Shaft' by Isaac Hayes became iconic for its descriptions of Detective John Shaft, and eventually eclipsed the movie Shaft in the cultural pantheon.

So, what of the movie Shaft? Could a movie possibly live up to the high camp of Hayes' Academy Award winning funk anthem? The answer is no. The Theme from Shaft sets a standard that the movie can't possibly live up to. However, if you look at the movie, aside from the theme song, you do find a satisfying, gritty, violent, action movie that is just entertaining enough.

Detective John Shaft lives by a personal code of ethics. He hands out beatings to those who deserve them, and protects those in need of protecting. Shaft has a deep and abiding mistrust of the police. Like many people of John's background, his experience with police was tainted by racism, corruption, and violence.

That's why Shaft works outside of the legal system, taking on the cases of people who share his distrust of authority. His latest case is a complicated one as it has Shaft working for the kind of person he usually protects others from. Bumpy Jonas (Moses Gunn) is a drug dealer, and Harlem kingpin who Shaft has had run ins with in the past.

Now, Bumpy needs Shaft's help. Bumpy's teenage daughter has been kidnapped, and the kidnappers left no trace, no note, and no demands. Bumpy believes she was taken by a group of black militants led by Ben Buford (Christopher St John), a former friend of Shaft's who has become radicalized in ways that Shaft understands, but chooses to avoid.

Ben has recently gone underground and out of sight, and this does peak Shaft's interest, but Bumpy is not to be trusted. When bodies begin to pile up, the heat falls entirely on Shaft as his police detective adversary Vic Androzzi (Charles Cioffi) threatens to lock him up while also trying to help him stay one step ahead of the truly corrupt cops in his precinct.

Shaft 1971 has a reputation for high camp, but the movie is really a rather straightforward action movie. The camp is more in Hayes's over the top crooning about Shaft's love making ability, and not in the movie itself which captures the grimy streets of early 1970s New York City with the twist of a Black perspective.

This was groundbreaking in 1971, and it remains rather groundbreaking today. Getting a black perspective on corruption and violence, one that is honest with an edge to it was not something audiences in 1971 were getting. Is Shaft something of a mythic figure? Undoubtedly, but he is a terrific vessel to embody the dark truth, and the hopeful optimism of the future.

Shaft posits that things are bleak and violent and corrupt, but then, there are people like Shaft in the world. Not specifically an ass-whooping private detective who can't keep it in his pants for more than a few hours, but helpers. John Shaft is an idealized, mythologized version of the people who were standing against a corrupt and violent world. Shaft is a tribute to those who refused to accept the world as it was, and were ready to move it forward by any means necessary.

Beyond the symbolic value of Shaft, the movie is rather pedestrian. It's an action movie. The action set pieces are hampered by a low budget, but not so badly hampered that it ruins the fun. Director Gordon Parks moves the film along at a good pace, and sets up strong set pieces of action movie violence that are entertaining, and that propel the plot forward.

Richard Roundtree is effortlessly charismatic. It takes a man with a high level of confidence to pull of the line "It's my duty to please that booty," and not break out in giggles. I can't type that line without a chuckle. Roundtree delivers the line with conviction, he means it when he says it, and the movie isn't afraid to show his work. The sex scenes of Shaft may have an awkward, porno movie quality, but they are audacious.

Shaft reflects 1971 just as Shaft 2000 and Shaft 2019 reflect their respective eras. However, what is reflected in 1971 has a charge of truth that is lacking from the shallow sequels. Shaft 2000 is similarly an action movie, but it fails to have the confidence of the original, and instead of John Shaft appearing to be a representative of those who seek to help the downtrodden, he comes of as a selfish, self-involved narcissist out for his own aims. Actually, that does reflect the times, pre-9/11, but it's not the values Shaft originated on.

Shaft 2019 has officially made Shaft old. Instead of embodying cool, the John Shaft of 2019 clings to what are believed to be old school ideals of masculinity. In reality, they are the cries of a generation put out to pasture, because their failed notions of what makes a man have been shown to be toxic, unnecessary, and stifling. Once again, instead of embodying the ideals of a good man standing against an evil, corrupt authority and criminality, Shaft is just a faded image of a narcissistic old man raging against a society that left him behind.

Shaft 1971 remains iconic. Richard Roundtree remains an icon of cool. Shaft the character however, the one played by Samuel L. Jackson, is not the same as Roundtree's shaft. Time passed Shaft by as some of the reforms that Shaft stood up for have come to pass. Slowly the world has gotten better, and has stayed the same. There is still racism and evil in the world for people to stand against, but the modern Shaft is far too caught up in raging against those darn kids with computers and almond water to care about what is really wrong with the world.

If Roundtree weren't picking up paychecks from the modern Shaft movies, vainly cast by Sam Jackson as his father, even though Roundtree is only six years older than Jackson, his Shaft would laugh at the modern version. The Shaft of 1971 is youthful and charming, and could not care less about lifestyles or what people wear. Shaft 1971 is concerned with getting a job done, and doesn't have time to worry about whether drinking almond water makes you more or less of a man.

Modern Shaft is mainly concerned about clothes, and out of date notions of masculinity, and the action of the movie is secondary to the kind of old man-isms more at home with your sad, drunk uncle at the corner of some small town bar than the coolest man on the planet. Shaft 1971 is akin to the Dos Equuis man of legend while modern Shaft is closer to the severe uncool of a Tim Allen sitcom.

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About the Creator

Sean Patrick

Hello, my name is Sean Patrick He/Him, and I am a film critic and podcast host for the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast I am a voting member of the Critics Choice Association, the group behind the annual Critics Choice Awards.

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