Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Many years before this original version I had seen the John Singleton/Samuel L. Jackson remake version, I knew about the name of the leading actor, the iconic theme song, and it was featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, so I was looking forward to it. Basically John Shaft (Golden Globe nominated Richard Roundtree) is an African American private detective, he seeks out the gangsters in the Harlem neighbourhood, the New York City borough of Manhattan, and on assignment he gets into a fight with a couple of them in an office, it ends with him throwing one out of the window, the other reveals that uptown gang leader Bumpy Jonas (Moses Gunn) wants to meet him. After a meeting at the police station, where he lies to Lieutenant Vic Androzzi (Charles Cioffi) and his superior about the fight, Shaft is allowed to return to the streets for 48 hours, he arranges to meet with Bumpy, the gang leader reveals that his daughter has been kidnapped, he wants to hire the detective to safely return his daughter, but this will not be easy with the escalation of the race war, i.e. blacks against whites, Shaft being a target himself, and of course Bumpy cannot be trusted. Shaft assumed Ben Buford (Christopher St. John) was a target, and not himself, together they find where the daughter Marcy Jonas (Sherri Brewer) is being held and confirm that she is alive, they end up in a gunfight and Shaft takes a bullet in the shoulder, but he recovers and tells Bumpy that his daughter is fine and that backup will be needed to get her out of the hotel she is in safely. The plan becomes like a military operation, Ben's men all dress as hotel staff to avoid arousing suspicion, to create a distraction an explosive is thrown into the room and the disguised men deal with the Mafia members, in the end Marcy is successfully rescued and taken out of the hotel where the arranged transport is waiting, as the others get away Shaft calls Vic in a phone booth, then simply walks away. Also starring Gwenn Mitchell as Ellie Moore, Lawrence Pressman as Sergeant Tom Hannon, Victor Arnold as Charlie, Rex Robbins as Rollie, Camille Yarbrough as Dina Greene, Margaret Warncke as Linda and Joseph Leon as Byron Leibowitz. Newcomer and ex-male model Roundtree as the black stud private eye who works his way through both gang activity and women is well cast, this works well for promoting equality for black people during a turbulent time for them, as a police and gangland story, and an interesting enough kidnap rescue plot, and of course the theme song (number 38 on 100 Years, 100 Songs) and original music by Isaac Hayes, who I know better as Chef from South Park, is fantastically funky, a watchable Blaxploitation crime thriller. It won the Oscar for Best Song for "Theme from Shaft" by Isaac Hayes (also nominated the Golden Globe), and it was nominated for Best Music for Isaac Hayes, it was nominated the BAFTA for the Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Original Score. Good!

Super cool private eye John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) is hired by a drug lord (Moses Gunn) to find his missing daughter. Blaxploitation classic is justifiably considered one of the genre's best, if not THE best. It's a smart, tough crime film with a memorable performance by Roundtree as the iconic title character. For modern audiences used to seeing tough macho leads in action movies, they might be underwhelmed when seeing this. But this wasn't commonplace at the time and it especially wasn't commonplace to have that lead character be a black man. So it's important from a film history perspective, as well as the obvious entertainment value. It's well-acted and directed with a terrific soundtrack. There would be two sequels that were not as good but still entertaining. The movie from 2000 with Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft's nephew was an attempt to relaunch the franchise and should be avoided.

The best parts about "Shaft" - those that really stand the test of time - are encapsulated in both the opening and closing moments: the main character strutting through the streets of New York City, and his telling off the police lieutenant on the phone (respectively). Right out of the gate, you know that this no-nonsense black p.i. was a big deal; especially forty years ago. Dude's constantly shooting his mouth off to superiors, and getting laid left and right. And when the chips are down, he's ready to shoot it out with the toughest of them. Combine this with Isaac Hayes' iconic main theme, and this recipe for success was a guaranteed winner. These days, the story of a private eye tasked with tracking down a kidnapped girl from the mob is fairly by-the-numbers. But I don't think I've ever been so struck by a guy simply walking the streets. It's a thrill to watch Roundtree go to work.7/10

I dedicate this comment and all this typed work to the memory of Isaac Hayes 1942-2008. This is some mother of a police gangster movie ever made, in my eyes. John Shaft has a "Don't Mess With Me" attitude, for example, we see him just walking across the road as if there where no cars on it, Taxis are trying to get by him, and he just says "Get out of my way" and when the Taxi drivers hoot he sticks his finger up at then and says "Up yours" charming I thought. Also I should mention poor Bumpy, because Shaft, tosses his son out the upstairs window, Bumpy says "He threw my son out of the the god dam window" and The tune brilliantly composed by Issac Hayes "Bumpy's Lament also had me in tears a bit! I also like the tune Cafe Reggios, this tune if you want to do an air guitar then this is the best tune to do it to, as Mike Toles on electric guitar on this tune is very guitar predominant. I also like it when Shaft's boss says to him "where are you going to whom shaft replies "I'm gonna get laid" laughing. I also like the bit when that man tries to sell Shaft a watch he says"Timepiece brother? then shaft produces his badge and the man says goodbye brother" I also like the bit when Shaft in the bar posing as a barman says to those two men "where are my manners, I have not introduced myself, my name is John shaft Freeze" and shows them his badge again. This is Issac Hayes best works, and he will be surely missed I also think that a lot of you who read this, will agree. It was not until 1976, that I first heard Issac Hayes music with the single Disco connection I also like the tune no name bar. I have the CD and the album and the cassette of the Shaft soundtrack I also think that who ever reads this, should now start buying Isaac's back catalogue if you like that kind of music R.I.P. Issac Hayes. 1942-2008.