Plot: What’s it about?
Just in time for the re-release of the movie, “Shaft” makes it’s way to DVD. Actually, all three Shaft movies are available including “Shaft”, “Shaft’s Big Score” and the unforgettable “Shaft in Africa”. What we think of when we watch a movie like Shaft is the main character of John Shaft (Richard Roundtree). Shaft is a surly cop who doesn’t take No for an answer, and if he does he’ll let you know about it. Shaft is one of the first movies, if not the first, to really star a black actor in the lead and have the whole movie be about him. It was a trendsetter for movie like “New Jack City” and “Do the Right Thing” and I’ll go out on a limb and say that it’s one of Spike Lee’s favorite movies. While the remake stars the insurmountable Samuel L. Jackson, the original starred the Sam Jackson of his time. Shaft took no crap from anybody, but could sure dish it out…
From the moment the Oscar Award winning score came on the screen, I liked Shaft. We see our hero crossing the street and giving almost everybody the finger. I like it. Filmed almost thirty years ago, we see how far we’ve come when it comes to gritty street crime dramas. Almost immediately, we learn that Shaft isn’t the most ideal policeman, but deep down (way deep down) he really cares about doing the right thing. Almost as if his job as a policeman is a side job, he has his own investigative service that does pretty well. We see that Shaft, like some of today’s modern day “heroes” (I’m thinking Lethal Weapon here) has problems with his boss and all but tells him to go to Hell when he wants to make his point. Now all of this is fine and good, but what about action man? We meet Bumpy Jonas, a local thug who wants to hire Shaft to track down his daughter, who has been mysteriously kidnapped. Begrudgingly, and half-heartedley, Shaft agrees to track down Bumpy’s daughter, but soon learns that this is no ordinary job.
What sets Shaft apart from other movies of it’s time (and it’s time had quite a few movies like this including “The French Connection” and “The Godfather” to name a few) is that it wasn’t afraid to take risks. We learn that Shaft has figured out that Mafia is involved with the kidnapping and what would now be a shootout is…well a shootout then. The whole movie, the entire trilogy is before my time, and we’ve become so accustomed to seeing the cop track down this and that and get into the inevidable gunfight that we forget the focus of the movie…coolness. Shaft is cool, and takes no crap from anyone. “Where are you going?”–“To get laid, where are you going?”. That’s the kind of dialogue that we expect from Shaft (and by the way, he wasn’t lying). Shaft is funny, irreverant, and most of all entertaining. For a good precursor to the impending remake of this classic, check out the original first.
Video: How does it look?
Shaft is given a brand new 1.85:1 anamorphic trasnfer courtesy of Warner. This is the first time the movie has appeared in the widescreen format, and that should say something for the power of DVD. While this is a very gritty, dark movie, it shows in the transfer which is nearing the 30 year old mark. There are times in which the picture is splendid and couldn’t be any betterl, but then is backed up by an equally bad, heavily artifacted scene that make you say “Hey man, what gives…ya dig?” Overall, Shaft looks the best it’s looked in some time, though I wasn’t around for the theatrical release, I’m betting that it looks and sound better in my living room now as opposed to then.
Audio: How does it sound?
Shaft is presented in it’s original mono soundtrack. The key point of Shaft is the soundtrack. We all know that Issac Hayes, now of South Park fame, won an Academy Award for the soundtrack and most importantly the title song, “Shaft”. If you’re unfamiliar with it, just wait until the new “Shaft” commercials shart hitting the airwaves. Dialogue is well-centered and is easily understandable, and it doesn’t suffer from the “blandness” that some of the other movies of this era suffer from. Shaft sounds very, very good, but I can imagine that if the movie were made today…and it is, that it would sound a whole lot better. Replay the first scene a few times and get that song in your head.
Supplements: What are the extras?
As advertised on Amazon.com, the movie does NOT contain a commentary track by the director Gordon Parks. If it does, then I have yet to find it. Still there are three theatrical trailers (one for each Shaft movie) and a 10 minute featurette that shows how some of the stunt shots were filmed. Could be better, could be worse…
