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Shaft
1971 100 min United States of America R 16+
★7.5
Action, Crime, Thriller
Director: Gordon Parks
🎭 Based on
«Shaft»
byErnest Tidyman
Trailers
Description
Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
Budget:
$1.13M
Worldwide:
$12.12M
Starring
Richard Roundtree
Actor
Moses Gunn
Actor
Charles Cioffi
Actor
Awards
MTV Movie & TV Awards 1994
— Lifetime Achievement Award
Academy Awards 1972
— Best Original Song
Golden Globe 1972
— Best Original Score
Golden Globe 1972
— Best Debut
Golden Globe 1972
— Best Original Score
Golden Globe 1972
— Best Original Song
BAFTA 1972
— Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music
Key opinion
Shaft is widely recognized as a landmark of the blaxploitation genre that defines 1970s cool through its stylish atmosphere and iconic soundtrack. While the film is celebrated for its cultural impact and Richard Roundtree's star-making performance, many viewers find the narrative pacing sluggish and the plot thin by modern standards.
| Acting | Richard Roundtree’s charismatic and defiant performance serves as the definitive anchor for the film's identity. | |
| Score | Isaac Hayes’s Oscar-winning musical score is an essential, high-energy component that masterfully elevates the film's atmosphere. | |
| Culture | The film acts as a groundbreaking piece of cultural cinema that provided a rare, authentic platform for Black-centered narratives in the 1970s. | |
| Direction | Gordon Parks crafts a slick, professional visual style that successfully captures the grit and tension of 1970s Harlem. | |
| Screenplay | The narrative thread is considered thin and occasionally relies on clichéd gangster tropes that feel dated. | |
| Pacing | The film’s deliberate, contemplative tempo rewards viewers seeking atmosphere, but many find the slow dialogue and lengthy runtime to be dull and exhausting. |