Shaft

1971 Directed by Gordon Parks

The mob wanted Harlem back. They got shaft...up to here.

Cool black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.

Richard Roundtree Moses Gunn Charles Cioffi Christopher St. John Gwenn Mitchell Lawrence Pressman Victor Arnold Sherri Brewer Rex Robbins Camille Yarbrough Margaret Warncke Joseph Leon Arnold Johnson Dominic Barto George Strus Edmund Hashim Drew Bundini Brown Tommy Lane Al Kirk Shimen Ruskin Antonio Fargas Gertrude Jeannette Lee Steele Damu King Donny Burks Tony King Benjamin R. Rixson Ricardo Brown Alan Weeks Show All…

Alternative Title

Shaft - 1971

adventure action crime thriller

100 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Adam Friedland 1

Miss when New York was like this back in 2014 when i moved here
Review by Joe ★★★★½ 1

This Shaft guy seems pretty cool.
Review by Sally Jane Black 4

Via pop culture osmosis, what I had gathered about this film was that it had a great soundtrack (and it does), but I had never read enough to realize it was a film noir classic. This is apparently nothing new to anyone who has seen it, but it surprised me. What I found interesting is how closely it hewed to the formula of detective noir, right down to the sexist attitude toward women, the dialogue flavored with slang, and the gritty imagery. What I liked best was its measured pace and its montages of New York set to Isaac Hayes' masterpiece.
The grit of New York in 1971 is especially well portrayed, from those long glorious shots of Shaft walking…
Review by russman ★★★ 6

I have never seen anyone drink gin straight until now
Review by reibureibu ★★★ 8

As the first blaxploitation film that got a popular following, Shaft feels like it's already perfected the formula to a surprising degree: the movie has a plot that's nonsensical but cool, characters who are two-dimensional but hilarious, an emphasis on pulpy action and quips, and an underlying message about social issues that feels unobtrusive.
And while it does remain fairly by-the-books when compared to many other noir and action films, there's an importance in seeing film where the characters are black, are heroes, are winning, and are just having fun. Shaft as a character may not have the most amount of depth nor is the movie a completely black production (in fact it has a high-degree of involvement from whites),…
Review by Andrew Liverod ★★★★★

That intro with John Shaft just casually walking across a busy street and expecting cars to just stop for him, builds his character perfectly. No exposition or flashbacks needed; just a bloke walking across a road. Shaft is indeed a bad mother-fucker and he owns his city.
Great dialogue, terrific NYC locations, full of great fleshed-out characters, THAT score by Chef and The Bar-Kays, the final rescue, Richard "I'm a handsome fucker" Roundtree.
Cool as fuck.
The "Soul in Cinema: Filming 'Shaft' on Location" extra on my DVD was pretty damned fine as well and includes Isaac Hayes and The Bar-Kays recording the score.

Recent reviews

Review by RonnieGardocki ★★★★½

This has style to spare. I feared when I watched this that its coolness would have faded with time, but no. Shaft is also a great snapshot of 1970s New York.
Review by Holmen ★★★

I don't think I enjoy this genre of blaxploitation films very much, especially after seeing Murphy's Dolomite and saw how these kinda films were made.
As the OG blaxploitation film out there, Shaft is an important film for black representation at the cinemas. It's an entertaining film for sure, I just didn't think it was that good. The soundtrack is absolutely amazing though.
Review by Jack ★★★

The score! The shots of NYC in 1971! And of course... Shaft! Although Shaft's successfully maneuvering between law enforcement, organized crime, and the Panthers seemed a little too neat (and the portrayal of women either victims or play things seemed a little too tired) the film is still loads of fun.
Review by Film_Sammlung ★★½

Leider doch sehr enttäuscht gewesen. Vielleicht damals der ganz große Wurf und Vorreiter gewesen aus meiner Sicht heute leider nicht mehr. Dafür hat der Film mir nichts neues gegeben und plätscherte ziemlich vor sich hin.
Review by Conner Smillie ★★★

I have to imagine this is pretty bonkers for 1971, but I wasn't really expecting a serious, buttoned-down crime/detective movie. Shaft definitely is a really well made film, but I think it's my expectations that made me somewhat bored at times. Not saying I expected a Black Dynamite style goofball comedy, but I guess I expected to see something that would have inspired that. If you were to replace Richard Roundtree with like, Roy Scheider, you'd have pretty much the same movie, but there would be nothing remarkable about it. There's some je ne sais quoi about Shaft.
Review by Robert Livingston ★★★★

great flick. smooth mother effer. glad i finally checked it off the list
Review by JulienHoule ★★★½

The minute “Shaft” starts, you’re transplanted to a groovy, dirty, undeniably thrilling New York City from the early 1970s, the kind of grimy, electric setting that speaks for itself and everything is made all the funkier by the Oscar-winning theme song by Isaac Hayes that’s just as memorable today as it’s been for decades. Richard Roundtree’s legendary appearance as John Shaft is the kind of performance that probably felt instantly iconic even upon its original release: He struts on to the screen like he owns the damn place, and you’re instantly captivated by his confidence and smoothness – I mean, even dressed head to toe, he just oozes sex appeal, and you’d watch him just go about his business for…
Review by J.D. ★★★★½

Blunt simple fun. Shaft, Bumpy, Detective Vic, Ben Buford -- all good characters. A care-free script (challenging absolutely *nothing* politically, I might add) and well-paced 100 minute runtime, add some playful camerawork and it's an easy 8.5 out of 10. 4.5 stars.
Review by ElNapalmo ★★★★½

If you only watch one Blaxploitatioon flick in your entire life, this is it!