Shaft
(1971)

Director: Gordon Parks

Key Cast: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Gwen Mitchell, Christopher St. John, Charles Cloffi, Lawrence Pressman, Drew Bundini Brown, Margaret Warncke,, Sherri Brewer, Victor Arnold, Rex Robbins

Rating: R

Genre(s): Action, Crime, Drama, Thriller

Listen to the "Theme from Shaft" song

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Richard Roundtree broke the mold on the movie screen when he starred in the Black Classic Movie "Shaft." Until his role in this film, movie goers had never seen such a strong African-American male personality like John Shaft. He was handsome, strong, articulate and brave. Most of all, he was someone who wasn't going to take it from "The Man."

Shaft was such a phenomenal success at the box office that it launched an entire era of movies in the 1970s. These movies are now known as "Blaxploitation" films.
 
In this original Shaft movie, Richard Roundtree plays a private eye who finds himself in the middle of a brewing crime war that involves Harlem mobsters, the mafia and the police. He is hired to find the daughter of Bumpy Jones who has been kidnapped by someone. But who? And how will John Shaft save the girl and himself?

Almost as famous as Shaft is the hip soundtrack that Isaac Hayes composed the the movie. The soundtrack was a multi-million dollar seller and even today is associated with the coolness of the movie Shaft. In fact, may people credit the soundtrack with making the movie as successful as it was. The Shaft movie soundtrack won an Emmy, Grammy and Academy Award.

∙  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.

∙  Isaac Hayes won a 1972 Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song (Theme from Shaft)

∙  Nominated for another 1972 Academy Award:  Best Music, Original Dramatic Score (Isaac Hayes)

∙  Isaac Hayes won a 1972 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score.

∙  Nominated for to additional 1972 Golden Globe Awards:  Best Original Song (Isaac Hayes – Theme from Shaft) and Most Promising Newcomer – Male (Richard Roundtree).

∙  Won a 1972 Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture (Isaac Hayes).

∙  Selected in 2000 to the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

Buy the Shaft Movie DVD

Shaft Movie Posters
Buy vintage Shaft movie posters at Moviegoods.com. Moviegoods also sells other versions of the Shaft movie poster and movie still photographs from the film.

Click the poster image on the left
for purchase details.

Shaft Movie DVD Collection
There were three Shaft movies that starred actor Richard Roundtree. The sequels to the blockbuster Shaft movie were not as successful, but they continue the theme of the first movie in new locations. You can purchase The Shaft Movie DVD Collection which contains all three of these John Shaft films that starred Richard Roundtree. 
They are:
Shaft
Shaft’s Big Score!
Shaft in Africa.

Buy the Complete Shaft Movie Series

Shaft Movie Soundtrack
The award-winning Shaft movie soundtrack by Isaac Hayes is considered a hip, timeless classic that is one of the best soundtracks ever done for an African American film.

Download songs or Buy the Shaft Movie Soundtrack

Listen to songs on the Shaft movie soundtrack

Shaft Novels by Ernest Tidyman
Ernest Tidyman wrote seven John Shaft detective books.  He wanted to create an African-American answer to James Bond.  The Shaft books are no longer being printed for mass distribution, but you can purchase used copies through resellers on Amazon.com.  Click on each book title to get more information.

The names of the John Shaft detective books were:
Shaft
Shaft Among the Jews
Shaft's Big Score
Shaft Has a Ball
Goodbye Mr. Shaft
Shaft's Carnival of Killers
The Last Shaft (1975)

Three of Ernest Tidyman's John Shaft books were made into movies. They were the original blockbuster movie, Shaft, and two sequels - Shaft's Big Score and Shaft in Africa. There was a total of seven Shaft books that were published.