∙ Shaft was enormously successful at the box office, and was one the top films in 1971. Many people credit Shaft with helping to save MGM studios from financial ruin.
∙ Shaft was a groundbreaking film in its portrayal of an African American man on the screen. John Shaft was unlike any other man that was seen on the screen because he was smart, attractive, confident and fearless.
∙ Shaft is based on the novel, “Shaft,” by Ernest Tidyman. He wrote a series of novels based on an African-American private eye named John Shaft. For creating the Shaft books, Ernest Tidyman became one of the few white individuals to win a NAACP Image Award.
∙ Isaac Hayes composed and produced the movie soundtrack for Shaft. The Shaft movie soundtrack hit number one on Billboard’s Black, Jazz and Pop album charts. The album won a Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe award.
∙ Shaft is considered the first major film done by a major studio that helped fuel what later became known as “blaxploitation” (or black exploitation) films.
∙ There are two sequels to Shaft. They are: Shaft’s Big Score! (1972) and Shaft in Africa (1973). Richard Roundtree starred in all three Shaft movies and Gordon Parks directed all of them.
∙ Richard Roundtree appeared as Shaft in a television series that ran in 1973 and 1974. Only seven ninety minute episodes were done. The general belief is that the series was short-lived because the television character of Shaft was not as strong as in the film version.
∙ There was a remake of Shaft done in 2000 starring Samuel L. Jackson in the title role.
∙ Gordon Parks, the African-American director of Shaft, directed all three Shaft films. His son, Gordon Parks Jr., directed Superfly, another Top 100 BlackClassicMovie.com film. |
