Search - Shaft [Widescreen/Fullscreen] on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Not For Children, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1971 DVD Release: 06/06/2000 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV,Pan and Scan Audio Tracks: English, French Subtitles: English, French SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 40 mins Studio: Warner Home Video Total Copies: 7 Genres: Action, Detective Film, Blaxploitation

Richard Roundtree cuts a startlingly new and powerful heroic figure as John Shaft, "the cat who won't cop out, when there's danger all about" in Gordon Parks' seminal action film, Shaft. John Shaft is a black private eye with a small office near Times Square. On his way there one day, he gets pumped for information by Lt. Victor Androzzi (Charles Cioffi), a friend of his on the police force, about something big going down in Harlem involving black crime kingpin Bumpy Jonas (Moses Gunn). Shaft can't help him and leaves, only to just miss being waylaid by two of Bumpy's strong-arm men at his office, one of whom ends up dead on the pavement eight floors or so below. Squeezed by the cops, who are holding a potential manslaughter arrest over his head, Shaft contacts Bumpy, who reveals that his teenage daughter, whom he's always kept away from his business, has been kidnapped. There's been no ransom demand and no clue as to who did it, and he wants Shaft to find the culprits, insisting that he start with a group of Harlem-based black militants led by Shaft's onetime friend Ben Buford (Christopher St. John). No sooner does he find Buford, holed up in a decaying part of Harlem, however, than his friend's comrades are mowed down by submachine gun fire, and Shaft and Buford barely escape. With Shaft angry and out for blood, everyone is forced to come clean -- Bumpy knows that it's the Mafia that kidnapped his daughter, as they want in on the Harlem drug trade that he controls; they're holding her somewhere else outside of Harlem, where his men are no good to him, which is why he wanted Shaft to hook up with Buford. Androzzi tells Shaft that a dozen Mob trigger men from out of town have been spotted in Greenwich Village. He doesn't know why they're there, but he does know that if fighting breaks out between Bumpy's men and the Mafia, it's going to look like a race war, and the whole city could erupt. Shaft doesn't like the way he's been manipulated, but he sees Androzzi's point -- he links the trigger men to the kidnapping and finds the girl, but loses her again, getting shot in the process. Even though he's wounded, Shaft heads for a final confrontation with the kidnappers, supported by Ben's friends in an armed assault on the building where they're holed up. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

Richard Roundtree - Shaft
Moses Gunn - Bumpy Jonas
Gwen Mitchell - Ellie
Christopher St. John - Ben Buford
Charles Cioffi - Lieutenant Victor Androzzi
Camille Yarbrough - Dina Greene

Gordon Parks' Shaft was like no other movie that MGM (or any other studio) had ever made. Even overlooking the obvious breakthrough inherent in its virile, aggressive, black lead character, the movie had more violence and raunchier language than almost any big studio film up to that time that wasn't a war movie. Moreover, it didn't sound like any big-studio picture ever seen before -- the Isaac Hayes score was something new and bold on its own terms, meshing perfectly with the visuals. The DVD is a reminder of just how startling this movie was in 1971. The movie made it to television in reasonably short order, shorn of its most piercing language and dialogue, which was heavily censored. Somehow, despite having been an extraordinary box-office success, it never showed up on laserdisc, so this DVD is really the first high-quality video release that the movie has yet received. Warner Home Video has done a very good transfer, particularly the letterboxed version of the film, which can also be seen in full-screen on the second side of the double-sided disc.
The film itself is an above average crime thriller that wastes perhaps five minutes that it needn't have used out of its 100-minute running time. On the other hand, almost everything here is essential in the introduction of an entirely new kind of screen hero in the guise of John Shaft, as portrayed by Richard Roundtree. The DVD enhances the viewing experience not only with a fine visual representation but an excellent soundtrack. The new mastering is very clean and brings Isaac Hayes' music out more dramatically than it has sounded since the original theatrical release; additionally, the volume pumps up without distortion. The DVD, in addition to presenting the movie both full-frame and letterboxed (1.85-to-1 aspect ratio), offers a couple of nice bonuses. The first is a selection of original trailers, but the real highlight is the featurette Soul in Cinema: Filming Shaft on Location, which was made at the time of the production and shows both director Gordon Parks and composer Isaac Hayes at work, as well as the shooting of certain key scenes. The only flaw to this short is that it is precisely that, running less than 12 minutes. One wishes that Warner Home Video could have been more ambitious and perhaps commissioned a commentary track, but this is a handy addition in its own right. The menu is simple and easy to use and pops up on start-up of the disc, and the list price is a very reasonable $15. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide