| Shaft | |
| Creator: | Ernest Tidyman |
| Origin: | Shaft (1970) |
| Years: | 1970–present |
| Novels: | Shaft (1970) |
| Films: |
|
| Tv Series: | Shaft (1973–74) |
The Shaft franchise consists of five action-crime feature films and seven television films, centered on a family of African-American police detectives who all share the name John Shaft. The first three features may be described as blaxploitation films, the television film series is a mystery, and the fourth feature installment is a crime thriller. By contrast the fifth film installment, released to Netflix, is a satirical buddy-cop comedy.[1]
| Film | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Story by | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaft | July 2, 1971 | Gordon Parks | Ernest Tidyman and John D. F. Black | Joel Freeman | ||
| Shaft's Big Score! | June 8, 1972 | Ernest Tidyman | Ernest Tidyman and Roger Lewis | |||
| Shaft in Africa | June 14, 1973 | John Guillermin | Stirling Silliphant | Roger Lewis | ||
| Shaft | June 16, 2000 | John Singleton | John Singleton & Shane Salerno | John Singleton & Shane Salerno and Richard Price | John Singleton and Scott Rudin | |
| Shaft | June 14, 2019 | Tim Story | Kenya Barris & Alex Barnow | Kenya Barris and John Davis | ||
John Shaft is a classy and suave African-American detective. He successfully fights local crime, including the leader of the black crime mob named Bumpy, his gang, and black nationals. The conflicting characters have to put aside their differences when they must defeat the white mafia, who kidnapped Bumpy's daughter in attempts to blackmail him.
See main article: Shaft's Big Score!. When John Shaft finds out that a dead friend ran an illegal money laundering scheme out of the former's legitimate business and left $200,000 unaccounted for, he discovers the reason why he had suddenly found himself in the middle of a war between rival gangs. The thugs begin a war of taking over the territory that belonged to the deceased, as well as to get their hands on the missing two hundred grand. Shaft has all he can handle trying to track down the money and, at the same time, keep his friend's sister from the clutches of these dangerous groups.
See main article: Shaft in Africa. John Shaft is persuaded to take on the faux identity of a native-speaking worker in Africa by threats of violence, the enticings of money, and the lure of a potential love interest in his tutor. While undercover he must help in completing a coup on a business that is smuggling immigrants into Europe, and then exploiting them. The villains, unfortunately for him, know he is coming.
See main article: Shaft (2000 film). New York City Police Detective John Shaft II, son of the 1970s cop, is the lead detective on a sensitive case when a young African-American is viciously beaten to death. After learning there was an eye-witness and upon further investigation, the man's friends lead Shaft on the trail of a man who was known to have racial prejudice, prior to the attack. The titular character confronts him and learns that he's Walter Wade Jr., the son of a wealthy real estate tycoon. He finds evidence that the perpetrator was at the location of the crime. The suspect is released on bail because of 'excessive force' from Shaft during his arrest, and flees the country. Two years later, Wade returns to the U.S. where Shaft arrests him for evading law enforcement. After the judge grants him bail, Shaft questions the magistrate's motives and intentions. He resigns from the police force and sets out to lock Wade away permanently. At the same time Wade fears that Shaft may find the witness before he does and hires a drug lord to find and kill her.
See main article: Shaft (2019 film). John Shaft III, also known as JJ, is a cyber security expert for the FBI who seeks out a different kind of expertise from his absentee father John Shaft II (and ultimately, grandfather John Shaft I) after his best friend's untimely death.
In discussing the film, director Tim Story stated, "...We’re going to definitely make sure the stakes in the world are real, and then you’ve got these characters who are dealing with kind of a father/son situation, we’re going to see them put a family back together."[2]
See main article: Shaft (TV series).
Following the box office failure of Shaft in Africa, the studio moved the franchise to the small screen in 1973, with a television series ordered and released to CBS network. While attempting to build crossovers with another crime-drama, Hawkins, the series never garnered much success. Each episode features a different case and a different crime for the titular character to solve. The series was cancelled after one season, due to poor ratings. Richard Roundtree, who reprised his role from the theatrical feature films, has since expressed his distaste for the show and its contrasting message of "pro-police" compared to the feature films.[3] Some episodes were later re-edited and released as television movies, including: Shaft and the Enforcers, Shaft and the Killing, Shaft and the Hit-Run, Shaft and the Kidnapping, Shaft and the Cop Killer, Shaft and the Capricorn Murders, and Shaft and the Murder Machine. The first four debuted in 1973, while the latter three released in 1974.
The film series contains four main stars, with various key characters appearing in each individual movie. The following chart organizes the films' stars, arranged by film.
| Character | Films | Television | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaft | Shaft's Big Score! | Shaft in Africa | Shaft | Shaft | Shaft | |
| John Shaft | Richard Roundtree | |||||
| John Shaft II | Samuel L. Jackson | |||||
| John "JJ" Shaft III | Jessie T. Usher | |||||
| Bumpy Jonas | Moses Gunn | |||||
| Lt. Al Rossi | Angelo Gnazzo | Ed Barth | ||||
| The Detective | Rudy Doucette | |||||
| The Hood | Arnold Roberts | |||||
| Laura Parks | Judie Stein | |||||
| The Pit Boss | Nick Borgani | |||||
| The Sportsman | Robert Strong | |||||
| Lt. Vic Androzzi | Charles Cioffi | |||||
| Ben Buford | Christopher St. John | |||||
| Marcy Jonas | Sherri Brewer | |||||
| Cal Asby | Robert Kya-Hill | |||||
| Gus Mascola | Joseph Mascolo | |||||
| Rita | Kathy Imrie | |||||
| Johnny Kelly | Wally Taylor | |||||
| Cpt. Bollin | Julius Harris | |||||
| Arna Asby | Rosalind Miles | |||||
| Emir Ramila | Cy Grant | |||||
| A.V. Ramila | Avelio Falana | |||||
| Col. Gondor | Marne Maitland | |||||
| Son of the Ramilas | A.V. Falana | |||||
| Peoples Hernandez | Jeffrey Wright | |||||
| Det. Carmen Vasquez | Vanessa Williams | |||||
| Rasaan | Trevor "Busta Rhymes" Smith, Jr. | |||||
| Diane Palmieri | Toni Collette | |||||
| Walter Wade, Jr. | Christian Bale | |||||
| Det. Jack Roselli | Dan Hedaya | |||||
| Det. Jimmy Groves | Ruben Santiago-Hudson | |||||
| Carla Howard | Lynne Thigpen | |||||
| Walter Wade, Sr. | Philip Bosco | |||||
| Det. Luger | Lee Tergesen | |||||
| Lt. Kearney | Daniel von Bargen | |||||
| Lucifer Hernandez | Francisco "Coqui" Taveras | |||||
| Sasha Arias | Alexandra Shipp | |||||
| Maya Babanikos | Regina Hall | |||||
| Maj. Gary Cutworth | Matt Lauria | |||||
| S.A. Vietti | Titus Welliver | |||||
| Freddie P. | Cliff "Method Man" Smith | |||||
| Pierro "Gordito" Carrera | Isaach de Bankolé | |||||
| Karim Hassan | Avan Jogia | |||||
| Bennie Rodriguez | Luna Lauren Vélez | |||||
| Dominguez Rodriguez | Aaron Dominguez | |||||
| Title | Composer(s) | Cinematographer(s) | Editor(s) | Production companies | Distributing company | Running time | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaft | Isaac Hayes & Johnny Allen | Urs Furrer | Hugh A. Robertson | Shaft Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer | 100 minutes | |
| Shaft's Big Score | Gordon Parks | Harry Howard | 104 minutes | ||||
| Shaft in Africa | Johnny Pate | Marcel Grignon | Max Benedict | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Shaft Productions, Ltd. | 112 minutes | ||
| Shaft | Michael Hugo & Keith C. Smith | Peter Kirby & George Folsey, Jr. | MGM Television | CBS Network | approx. 73 minutes each | ||
| Shaft | David Arnold | Donald E. Thorin | John Bloom & Antonia Van Drimmelen | Shaft Productions, Paramount Pictures, New Deal Productions, Scott Rudin Productions, Munich Film Partners & Company | Paramount Pictures | 99 minutes | |
| Shaft | Christopher Lennertz | Larry Blanford | Conrad Buff IV | New Line Cinema, Khalab Ink Society, Davis Entertainment, Netflix Original Films, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Digital Networks | Warner Bros. Pictures | 111 minutes |
| Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Budget | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories | Worldwide | All time North America | All time worldwide | |||||
| Shaft | July 2, 1971 | $12,121,618 | $12,121,618 |
|
| $500,000 | [4] | ||
| Shaft's Big Score | June 8, 1972 | $10,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
|
| $1,978,000 | [5] | ||
| Shaft in Africa | June 14, 1973 | $1,455,635 | $1,079,615 | $2,440,240 | $2,142,000 | [6] [7] | |||
| Shaft | June 16, 2000 | $70,327,868 | $36,862,240 | $107,190,108 |
|
| $53,012,938 | [8] | |
| Shaft | June 14, 2019 | $21,360,215 | $21,360,215 | $30,000,000 | [9] | ||||
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore[10] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaft | 88% (40 reviews)[11] | 66 (10 reviews)[12] | ||
| Shaft's Big Score | 68% (11 reviews)[13] | |||
| Shaft in Africa | 56% (9 reviews)[14] | |||
| Shaft | 67% (115 reviews)[15] | 50 (33 reviews)[16] | A- | |
| Shaft | 31% (99 reviews)[17] | 40 (30 reviews)[18] | A |
A future descendant of John Shaft appears in the Cowboy Bebop episode "Mushroom Samba", voiced by Hōchū Ōtsuka in the 1999 Japanese version and by Beau Billingslea in the 2001 English dub. According to writer/director Quentin Tarantino, the characters Broomhilda "Hildi" von Schaft and her husband Django Freeman in his 2012 film Django Unchained were written as the progenitors to the Shaft family line and direct ancestors of John Shaft. Tarantino stated that while the film isn't an official prequel to the series, his intention was that the characters have familial ties.[19]