Review of Shaft in Africa (1973) by Scott C — 10 Mar 2013

With Shaft (1971) and Shaft's Big Score! (1972) doing well at the box office, MGM had even made a deal with CBS to do a TV series and they decided to do something different for the 3rd film in the series.

They got director John Guillermin and writer Stirling Silliphant (who would both work on The Towering Inferno (1974)). The film was a sad flop, and the franchise didn't continue after this. Pity, as the change of scene worked here.

John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) finds himself being drugged and sent off help stop a slave ring in Ethiopia, persuaded by beautiful teacher Aleme (Vonetta McGee), who is the daughter of the Emir Ramila (Cy Grant).

Shaft is asked to break up a slave trade ring whose origins are in Paris and ruled by a tyrannical mobster Vincent Amafi (Frank Finlay), but it means having to go undercover as a slave in the hope of being picked up by Amafi's men, but not before gets involved with Jazar (Neda Arneric).

But, Shaft eventually finds himself in France, being up Amafi's henchman M. Perreau (Jacques Herlin), but Shaft is going to bust this ring. It's a better film than Shaft's Big Score! as it has the international glamour of a Bond film, but this came out around the same time as Super Fly T.

N.T. (1973), which was similarly themed, and they knocked one another off the box-office. Shame really.