Shaft (film series)
| Shaft | |
|---|---|
| Directed by |
Gordon Parks (1 & 2) John Guillerman (3) John Singleton (4) Tim Story (5) |
| Produced by |
Joel Freeman (1) Roger Lewis (2 & 3) Ernest Tidyman (2) Scott Rudin (4) John Singleton (4) John Davis (5) Ira Napoliello (5) |
| Screenplay by |
Ernesty Tidyman (1 & 2) John D. F. Black (1) Stirling Silliphant (3) Richard Price (4) John Singleton (4) Shane Salerno (4) Kenya Barris (5) Alex Barnow (5) |
| Based on | Characters created by Ernest Tidyman |
| Starring |
Richard Roundtree Samuel L. Jackson Jessie T. Usher |
| Music by |
Isaac Hayes (1) Johnny Allen (1) Gordon Parks (2) Johnny Pate (3) David Arnold (4) |
| Cinematography |
Urs Furrer (1 & 2) Marcel Grignon (3) Donald E. Thorin (4) |
| Edited by |
Hugh A. Robertson (1) Harry Howard (2) Max Benedict (3) John Bloom (4) Antonia Van Drimmelen (4) |
Production company |
Shaft Productions (1 & 2) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1-3) Shaft Productions Ltd. (3) Scott Rudin Productions (4) New Deal Productions (4) |
| Distributed by |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1-3) Paramount Pictures (4) |
Release date | 1971–present |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office |
Total (4 films): $131,751,966 |
The Shaft film series, is composed of Neo-noir action-crime movies centered around three African-American police detectives John Shaft, his nephew John Shaft II, and the former's son John Shaft III; who over the course of the films have altercations with a variety of crime. The first three films were characterized by their blaxploitation characteristics, while the fourth installment was a thriller film. Reportedly the fifth entry will have more humor, and will be categorically an action-comedy movie.[1]
Films
Shaft (1971)
John Shaft is a classy and suave African-American detective. Successfully, he fights local crime, in the leader of the black crime mob named Bumpy and 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.
Shaft's Big Score! (1972)
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.
Shaft in Africa (1973)
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 coupe on a business that is smuggling immigrants into Europe, and then exploiting them. The villains, unfortunately for him, know he is coming.
Shaft (2000)
New York City Police Detective John Shaft II, nephew 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 Walter fears that the titular character may find the witness before he does and hires a drug lord to find and kill her.
Shaft (2019)
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, 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]
Unofficial prequel
According to writer/director, Quentin Tarantino, the characters in Django Unchained are ancestors of John Shaft. Broomhilda "Hildi" von Schaft and Django Freeman as her husband are the progenitors to the Shaft family line. Tarantino stated that while the film isn't an official prequel to the series, his intention was that the characters have familial ties.[3]
Television
Following the box office failures of Shaft in Africa, the studio moved the franchise to the small screen in 1973. The first season of series, a collection of TV movies, was released on CBS network television. The show attempted to build crossovers with another crime-drama, Hawkins, but never garnered much success. Each week a new episode was aired, which presents a different case and a different crime for the titular character to solve. After the first season, the series was cancelled, due to poor viewing ratings. Richard Roundtree, who reprised his role from the films, has since expressed his distaste for the TV show.[4]
Cast and characters
The film series contains three main stars, with various key characters appearing in each individual movie. The following chart organizes the films' stars, arranged by film.
| Character | Film | Television | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaft (1971) |
Shaft's Big Score! | Shaft in Africa | Shaft (2000) |
Shaft (2019) |
Shaft (1973-1974) | |
| John Shaft | Richard Roundtree | |||||
| Bumpy Jonas | Moses Gunn | |||||
| Ben Buford | Christopher St. John | |||||
| Willy | Drew Bundini Brown | |||||
| Gus Mascola | Joseph Mascolo | |||||
| Emir Ramila | Cy Grant | |||||
| A.V. Ramila | Avelio Falana | |||||
| Col. Gondor | Marne Maitland | |||||
| Lt. Al Rossi | Eddie Barth | |||||
| John Shaft II | Samuel L. Jackson | |||||
| Peoples Hernandez | Jeffrey Wright | |||||
| Carmen Vasquez | Vanessa Williams | |||||
| Rasaan | Trevor "Busta Rhymes" Smith, Jr. |
|||||
| Diane Palmieri | Toni Collette | |||||
| Walter Wade, Jr. | Christian Bale | |||||
| Peoples Hernandez | Jeffrey Wright | |||||
| John "JJ" Shaft III | Jessie T. Usher | |||||
Production crew
| Title | U.S. release date | Director(s) | Story by | Screenwriter(s) | Producer(s) | Composer(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaft | July 2, 1971 | Gordon Parks | Ernest Tidyman & John D. F. Black | Joel Freeman | Isaac Hayes & Johnny Allen | |
| Shaft's Big Score! | June 8, 1972 | Ernest Tidyman | Roger Lewis and Ernest Tidyman |
Gordon Parks | ||
| Shaft in Africa | June 14, 1973 | John Guillermin | Stirling Silliphant | Roger Lewis | Johnny Pate | |
| Shaft (TV series) |
October 9, 1973 - February 19, 1974 | Nicholas Colasanto, Harry Harris, John Llewellyn Moxey, Alexander Singer, Lawrence Dobkin, Lee Philips and Allen Reisner |
Allan Balter, Ken Kolb, Ellis Marcus, Ernest Tidyman and William Read Woodfield | Allan Balter, Dann Cahn and William Read Woodfield | ||
| Shaft | June 16, 2000 | John Singleton | John Singleton & Shane Salerno | Richard Price, John Singleton & Shane Salerno | Scott Rudin and John Singleton |
David Arnold |
| Shaft | June 14, 2019 | Tim Story | Alex Barnow & Kenya Barris | Kenya Barris and John Davis | TBA | |
Reception
Box office performance
| Film | Release date | Box office gross | Box office ranking | Budget |
Ref(s) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| North America | Other territories | Worldwide | All time North America |
All time worldwide | ||||
| Shaft | July 2, 1971 | $12,121,618 | N/A | $12,121,618 | #4,476 | #5,704 | $500,000 | [5][6] |
| Shaft's Big Score! | June 8, 1972 | $10,000,000 | N/A | $10,000,000 | #4,875 | #6,204 | $1,978,000 | [7][8] |
| Shaft in Africa | June 14, 1973 | $1,455,635 | $1,079,615 | $2,440,240[lower-alpha 1] | N/A | N/A | $2,142,000 | [10][9] |
| Shaft | June 16, 2000 | $70,327,868 | $36,862,240 | $107,190,108 | #1,086 | #1,377 | $53,012,938 | [11] |
| Shaft | TBA | |||||||
Critical and public response
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | CinemaScore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shaft (1971) | 89% (36 review)[12] | N/A | N/A |
| Shaft's Big Score! | 70% (10 review)[13] | N/A | N/A |
| Shaft in Africa | 50% (8 reviews)[14] | N/A | N/A |
| Shaft (2000) | 68% (113 reviews)[15] | 50 (33 reviews)[16] | A-[17] |
| Shaft (2019) | TBA | ||
Notes
References
- ↑ "Son of Shaft Will Unite Three Generations of Shaft". Slashfilm.com. 2017-08-18. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ Nick Romano (2018-02-02). "Shaft reboot: Jessie T. Usher, Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Roundtree assemble in photo". EW.com. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ Deadline, The (2012-07-14). "'Django Unchained' A 'Shaft' Prequel? So Says Quentin Tarantino: Comic-Con". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ Mooney, Joshua (1997-08-15). "Scowling `Shaft' In His Past, Roundtree's Even Taking On Comedy - philly-archives". Web.archive.org. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "Shaft (1971) - Financial Information". The-numbers.com. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "shaft 1971 budget - Google Search". www.google.com.
- ↑ "Shaft's Big Score (1972) - Financial Information". The-numbers.com. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "shaft's big score budget - Google Search". www.google.com.
- 1 2 Shaft in Africa (1973), The World of Shaft: A Guide to the Books, Films and TV Series, Steve Aldous, 2018
- ↑ "Big Rental Films of 1973", Variety, January 9, 1974, p. 60.
- ↑ "Shaft (2000) - Financial Information". The-numbers.com. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "Shaft (1971)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "Shaft's Big Score! (1972)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "Shaft in Africa (1973)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "Shaft (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "Shaft Reviews". Metacritic. 2013-10-26. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- ↑ "Cinemascore". Cinemascore. Retrieved 2018-05-15.