Review of Shaft (1971) by Kurt N — 26 Mar 2008
The quintessential example of the blaxploitation film. Shaft has it all: a cool as hell black man dressed in high style, sticking it to the Man while being a sex machine for all the chicks. Richard Roundtree is perfect as the coolest turtleneck and leather trenchcoat wearing baaaad motherfucker that ever lived, and Isaac Hayes offers up a score that is so funky and soulful it can barely be contained by the film itself.
While its probably a bit of a cliche, comparisons are likely to be drawn between this film and the Superfly. Plotwise this is a stronger effort than the even more amoral Superfly, but Curtis Mayfield's knockout score bests even Isaac Hayes efforts, bringing Superfly to about a par with Shaft.
Neither are particularly brilliant films, but they remain important cinematic landmarks of a period of African-American culture, and are fun rides into sheer style at the very least.
This review of Shaft (1971) was written by Kurt N on 26 Mar 2008.
Shaft has generally received positive reviews.
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