With the year 2000 release of a re-make of Shaft, I decided it was time for me to see the original. Shaft came out when I was a kid and still too young to sneak into R-rated movies.

I know one must think about the area a film was made in when viewing older pictures. In the case of Shaft, one must also know that it was not made for white America.

The story is very thin. Shaft is a private eye hired to find the kidnapped daughter of a hoodlum. That's it for plot. What is hung on this small frame is a lot of anger. Shaft walks the streets of New York with a large chip on his shoulder. He's only calm when he's with his woman, but he also cheats on her.

There's no trust between human beings in this movie. Not only do black people and white people hate each other, but black people also hate black people.

In the end, I'm not inspired. Shaft is an important movie only because it launched a genre of Blacksploitation films. But other than that distinction, it is a minor film.

Dust Bag Full

Film Facts

Cast
• 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
• Glenn Johnson
• Dennis Tate
• Adam Wade
• James Hainesworth
• Clee Burtonya
• Ed Bernard
• Eddie Barth
• Joe Pronto
• Robin Nolan
• Ron Tannas
• Betty Bresler
• Gonzalo Madurga
• Paul Nevens
• Jon Richards

Directed by Gordon Parks

Released in 1971

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewed by Mongo