Shaft's Big Score!

source: Shaft's Big Score!

Shaft (Richard Roundtree) investigates the murder of an old friend and finds himself in a war between mobsters and pimps. OK blaxploitation sequel isn't as good as the first film but is still entertaining. The plot seems like something taken from some old private detective movie from the '40s and updated to the gritty '70s. Director Gordon Parks also does the music for this one. It's not bad but not as good as Isaac Hayes. My favorite scene is the one that goes back & forth between the sexy dancers in body paint and Shaft getting his butt kicked in slow motion backstage. Overall, not bad but not particularly memorable. Shaft is still cool and there are several sexy ladies and lots of colorful dialogue. It will keep you entertained throughout.

It's a shame to see the Shaft series turning to self-parody so early in it's run, but after the low-key and surprisingly effective original this first sequel sees elements of mockery creeping into the format. Shaft, he of maroon leather trenchcoat and green rollneck, is now the ultimate supersleuth; a man who screws better than any other man, a man who fights better than any other man (he does get beaten in this film, but it takes three men to do it); a man who outwits any other man; a man who can outrun a helicopter and dodge machine-gun fire. This is a Shaft who does his detective work by hiding in coffins and posing as a window cleaner. And while he gets to sleep with the black girlfriend of one of the gangland bosses he opposes, he doesn't get to do the same to the white girlfriend of another criminal. Now that would have been groundbreaking. There's a moment early on where a gangland boss spends several moments playing a classical piece on an clarinet. The sequence runs for too long, not just for the film's style, but also the pacing. Which, in some incongruous kind of way, makes it a work of unique genius. Imagine Woody Allen playing a slow jazz number in the middle of "Boyz n the Hood" and you'll get the idea. Truly bizarre. The rest of the film's opening is like this: scenes are overlong and flabby, not possessing the required focus and dramatic effect. In fact, it's only until the last forty minutes or so that the movie really gets going. It's nice to see Tee-Hee from "Live and Let Die" (Julius W.Harris) as a police captain, though he fails to connect with Roundtree in the same way that Laurence Pressman did in the original. An increased budget is also evident: Shaft ends the film bedecked in black leather like a '68 Elvis comeback special, toting a machine-gun (as Prince would say). From hereon follows an increasingly silly chase sequence that sees a red Chevy/helicopter chase, then a speedboat/helicopter chase, and finally a Shaft/helicopter chase. Shaft takes on both chopper and rival car while on foot, limping from a bruised leg. Worst bit? Isaac Hayes, for some reason demoted in favour of the lesser O.C. Smith, only getting one mid-film song. Dreary and not of the high standard of Shaft's score (especially Soulsville), it drones on over a sex scene, shown through those curious 70s-style corrugated mirrors. The shot blends and obscures, twisting over the distorted reflections, producing in the viewer a dizzy sensation and making you feel sick. Best bit? A genteel pensioner, when spoken to rudely by Willy (Drew Bundini Brown), responding: "You don't talk to an old lady that way – where's your f****** manners, anyway?" If Big Score! lacks the pace and structure of it's former, then it is still an entertaining, if far-fetched, vehicle. Though its seeming need to create a black James Bond not through equality or empowerment, but via send-up, is worrying.

The enforced jollity of that exclamation mark should be a warning. 'Shaft's Big Score!', if I may say so under IMDb guidelines, must be the best 'bad' movie ever made. It is bad: supposedly an action film, direction, plot and action fell asleep as often as I did. But there is an intelligence and skill here unthinkable in, say, 'Police Academy IV'. If Shaft is Bond, than 'Shaft's Big Score' is an anti-Bond film, subjecting the hero to structuralist scrutiny, exposing his weaknesses and limitations; in one sex scene, site of his virile power, he dissolves into abstraction, his body disappearing from the place where it is most needed. A kind of ghost story, the funeral sequence is amazing, as a coffin is lowered down, but the camera rises and points at Shaft. This supernatural frisson is betrayed by the drive towards a risible helicopter climax.

The second outing concerns about Shaft , the African-American independent eye-private . This time confronts sinister mobsters , battling black (again Bumpy, Moses Gunn) and white (Mascolo , Joe Santos) gangs . Fiercy Shaft finds a dead friend , a brother his sweet-girl , he ran under legitimate business , a funeral home and all types of insurances , however he hid stakes issues in Queens . Two-fisted Shaft in order to avenge his friend , vows revenge and investigates the deeds . Meanwhile , a police captain (Julius Harris) suspects on Shaft . Extremely tough Shaft spontaneously encounters himself in the middle of a bands war and running afoul of the underworld . This one features thrills , hair-raising suspense , raw energy , nudism, adult subject matter and lots of violence . Plenty of intrigue, kinky sex and noisy action ; Shaft keeps things moving along , until final fight on a pier with a breathtaking pursuit by helicopter . Violent , tough screenplay by Stirling Shilliphant based on characters created by Ernest Tidyman . Great and enjoyable musical score by the same director Gordon Parks in Isaac Hayes style , recently deceased. Hayes's theme song stills resonates today . Followed by superior third part 'Shaft in Africa (John Guillermin)' with Vonetta McGee and Frank Finlay ; besides contemporary and revisionist version by John Singleton (2000) with Samuel L. Jackson and as secondary Richard Roundtree as Shaft's uncle . Furthermore , seven television episodes (1973 , 74 years) starred by Roundtree . The Shaft series turned out to be one the best black films from the early 70s.

Let's face it, the great thing about SHAFT was the fact that Richard Roundtree represented a new, ultra hip inner city private eye. With that novelty gone, this sequel turns out to be a fairly pedestrian crime thriller. Despite decent direction by Gordon Parks and a script by Ernest Tidyman, there's nothing new or particularly exciting here. Roundtree is fine and the supporting cast features a mixed bag of character actors: Drew Bundini Brown; Julius Harris; Joe Santos; Wally Taylor. Joseph Mascolo plays the villain, a pretentious fop who makes shrimp Newberg and plays the piccolo. There is an exciting, if protracted, chase sequence involving cars, a boat and a helicopter. The music, which is good, is mostly by Parks himself. Moses Gunn plays "Bumpy."

(77%) Very likely to be the most backed blaxploitation movie of them all, as the original was such a big hit both critically and financially. Most of the blaxplotation boxes are ticked here, Shaft is super cool, the music is great, some of the lines are very funny, he gets the girls, the opening is great, the bad guys are mostly white gangsters with a lone black guy letting the side down, it's all there, but what this has that all others don't is the fantastic action-packed ending. As action sequences go this is one of the best I've ever seen, it just goes on and on and I loved every second of it and it looks as if the director Mr Parks was given free control to do what ever her wanted and he really went for it. This could very likely be may favourite of the breed as along with "Black Caesar", it's a fine example of what the series was capable of when everything slotted into place so well.

The 1971 film of "Shaft" helped to save "M.G.M" from facing bankruptcy, so naturally they commissioned a follow-up movie. Titled "Shafts Big Score" and released in 1972, the plot is what defeats this film. The scenes look as though they were hastily thrown together with no sense of continuity. I could hardly decipher what was happening from one scene to the next and I know I'm not alone here. The action scenes aren't bad but they can't compensate for a narrative that is very weak in its structure. For some reason which is only known to a handful of people, a further "Shaft" film was made!

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 ****

Just recently, I've been yearning for some quality blaxploitation, but have lucked out with my last couple of choices: TNT Jackson was a completely dreadful Coffy wannabe and The Black Cobra, starring Fred Williamson, wasn't even a proper blaxploitation (that'll teach me not to do my homework first). This time around, I was more careful with my selection: Shaft is the cool cat who never disappoints (just ask the long line of ladies he leaves in his wake!). In this, his second adventure, the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks (once again played by Richard Roundtree) becomes involved in a gang war after an old friend is blown to pieces by a bomb. As John Shaft sets about settling the score with the killers, he gets sexy with a few hot mamas, proves tasty with his fists, blows away some bad guys (resulting in some nice 'n' bloody gunshot wounds), uncovers a hidden stash of cash, drives a speedboat at high speed and shoots a helicopter out of the sky. It's not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but it is hugely entertaining, with great characters and winning performances all round, some impressively mounted action sequences (the bigger budget really shows), several pretty ladies jiggling their bits around, and that all important funky score.