Trailer
Plot summary
John Shaft works as a private detective in New York, and word reaches him that gangsters are asking after him. Two of them wait in his office building; Shaft ambushes one and brings him to his office at gunpoint, and the fight that follows leaves a man falling from a window. Lieutenant Vic Androzzi questions him about the death and lets him stay on the street for 48 hours. Harlem crime boss Bumpy Jonas then asks for a meeting and tells Shaft that his daughter was abducted on her way to college. Shaft agrees to bring her back safely and, on Jonas's advice, goes looking for Ben Buford, a Black militant leader.
Cast
Show all 15 cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Shaft (1971)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Ernest Tidyman's original draft screenplay had detective John Shaft written as a white man, but director Gordon Parks cast African American actor Richard Roundtree in the role instead, a choice credited with shaping the film's success and the future of blaxploitation.
- Isaac Hayes auditioned for the lead role of John Shaft but was asked to compose the film's musical score instead.
- Isaac Hayes's "Theme from Shaft" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, making him the first Black man to win the award in that category.
- Shaft not only launched several years of "blaxploitation" action films, it earned enough money to save then-struggling MGM from bankruptcy.
- Richard Roundtree's portrayal of Shaft created a Black male style so distinct and pervasive that it became known as "swag", and it changed how Black masculinity was represented in American films.
