Shaft's Big Score! (1972)

recommended

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Richard Roundtree reprises his role as John Shaft, in this very respectable sequel to one of the greatest urban crime thrillers ever. The story is actually nothing new or spectacular; it's a standard 'cops go up against the mafia' story. But the script isn't really the draw here. It's the 70's; the clothes, the cars, the music, the incomparable "coolness" that made the first film so great. This one succeeds largely because they didn't stray from the formula that made the original a success. We have the same director, the same writers, and the same actors reprising their memorable roles. Director Gordon Parks makes full use of the super-wide lens; 1970's New York City looks absolutely magnificent in the 2:35 aspect ratio, as do the action packed, and blood drenched shoot-outs, and especially in the big finale. Featuring a classic shootout in a cemetery, followed by a manic car chase on the Cross Bronx Expressway, complete with pursuit by helicopter!. There's nothing more awesome than a 70's car chase sequence , and the action here is handled superbly. In fact this is one polished, sleek production, and it's pretty obvious that it had a larger budget than the first one. Sometimes that actually hurts a sequel, when it's more flashy than it's predecessor, but this one doesn't suffer that fate. Obviously a lot of the budget went towards the action effects. Those bloody gun shot wounds were among the most realistic I have ever seen. "Shaft's Big Score" is a must-see for fans of the original, and of 70's crime films in general. John Shaft is a truly iconic movie character, and it's a pleasure to see him on screen again, kicking bad guy ass and cleaning up the streets of New York. After seeing this one I'm really looking forward to "Shaft In Africa."

Private Investigator "John Shaft" (Richard Roundtree) is back and this time he is trying to find the murderer of his friend who was running a numbers game in Queens. As it so happens the victim's partner "Johnny Kelly" (Wally Taylor) had gambled away $250,000 and a mob boss by the name of "Gus Mascola" (Joseph Mascolo) wants it back—along with a 50% share in Johnny Kelly's numbers racket. However, Johnny Kelly has other plans and decides to double cross Mascola by getting another mob boss from Harlem named "Bumpy Jonas" (Moses Gunn) involved in the same deal. Not only does he hope for a war between the two mob bosses but he also wants John Shaft killed in the process too. Now, rather than reveal any more of the movie I will just say that this was an adequate sequel to "Shaft". While it started off pretty well it got bogged down toward the end with an extremely long chase-and-gunfight scene which I thought actually detracted from the overall effect. In any case, although it wasn't bad necessarily it still wasn't nearly as good as the original. I rate it as average.

"SHAFT'S BIG SCORE"-(MGM,1972)-Reunited the same team that had put together the box-office smash,Oscar winner for Issac Hayes-Best Musical Score,"Shaft",worked on this sequel which came during the summer of 1972 and the results were another power packed installment that delivered on the first one,this time around with a lot more action-packed scenes and again the presence of its star,Richard Roundtree,together with the direction of Gordon Parks,the script by Ernest Tidyman,based on his novel,and Produced by Sterling Silliphant and Roger Lewis. The only thing that was lacklustering and kinda of disappointing with the musical score that was missing from the great Issac Hayes,who composed a few of the songs from this film. With some of the performances that are completely contrived,this is still a well-paced,fast action thriller and finely tuner actioner that involves our hero John Shaft going up against the mob--again and this time the story involves a missing loot,and a friend of Shaft's turning up dead leading to Shaft to go after the missing loot and taking on the mob which features a chase through not only the streets of Brooklyn and Harlem but through Brooklyn Harbor involving cars,boats,and helicopters. Look out for Gangster Moses Gunn,who was in the first installment is also around to give our hero some difficulty and add chaos to the problems. Rated R. Running Time of 107 minutes. ***1/2 stars."SHAFT IN AFRICA"-(MGM,1973)-Would be the final installment in the SHAFT series-just before Richard Roundtree would move on toward television land as the star of a short-lived series that premiered on television that same year. This time around Sterling Silliphant would penned the script based on characters created by Ernest Tidyman,and produced by Roger Lewis,and this time around,Gordon Parks takes leave of the SHAFT series and it is under the direction of John Guillerman(who would strike gold the next year along with Sterling Silliphant for the Irwin Allen disaster epic "The Towering Inferno")with music provided by Johnny Pate and songs by Motown legends The Four Tops. This one lack badly due to the absence of Parks,and Tidyman behind the wheel. The heart of this project was a disappointment from the start of this film since some of the scenes are very sluggish and there nothing more than flashy entertainment that runs a length time of 112 minutes. The story has detective John Shaft leaves the ghetto to uncover a slave smuggling ring in Africa. From there he discovers that men and women of the Ivory Coast are being carried-off to France as cheap and illegal labor. Of course,Shaft smashes the slave ring and even ends up with a beautiful maiden(Vonetta McGee)and takes out the main villain(Frank Finlay)behind the organization. Very tiredsome film throughout since this was filmed in locations throughout parts of the Ivory Coast and Ghana in West Africa and France. Rated R. Running Time of 126 minutes. ** and 1/2 stars

When Shaft's girlfriend's brother is murdered, Shaft decides to go to the streets and find out who did it and why. Same writer and director from the original and some of the main characters are back, like Bumpy and Willy. The story is a bit better this time with a few action sequences that are quite good, but the movie is still to dull and just not that good.*1/2 out of ****