Shaft

Released in 1971, Shaft is a movie directed by Gordon Parks and produced by Joel Freeman, based on the book of the same name by Ernest Tidyman. Shaft is generally credited with popularizing the genre of “Blaxploitation” films, a group of films released between 1970 and 1975 featuring African Americans as the main characters. Shaft stars Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, a black private detective hired by a Harlem mob boss to find his recently kidnapped daughter.

In the opening scenes, Shaft encounters the police lieutenant Vic Androzzi, who plays an important role as a middleman between the police force and Shaft. Throughout the movie, An drozzi provides Shaft with insider information while he tries to coerce information about the criminal underground from Shaft. Androzzi tells Shaft that Bumpy, the leader of a notorious gang, is looking for Shaft. Shaft soon sees one of Bumpy's men in the lobby of the building where Shaft works, and he subdues the man during a violent altercation. Both men go to Shaft's office, where a second gangster is waiting. A fight erupts, and Shaft kills one of the men by throwing him out of the window and onto the street several stories below. Shaft lets the other gangster leave, but only after Shaft confirms what the lieutenant previously told him.

Shaft then arranges a meeting with Bumpy, who hires Shaft to find his kidnapped daughter, Marcy. Unbeknownst to Shaft, the Italian Mafa kidnapped Marcy as part of a larger turf war between Bumpy's gang and the Mafa. Shaft enlists the help of Ben Buford, Shaft's old colleague from “the movement” (one assumes this is a reference to the Black Power movement), who still leads an informal army of black men that can assist in the rescue efforts.

Shaft learns that Marcy is being held in an apartment and attempts a reconnaissance mission to make sure she's still alive. A gunfight erupts, and Shaft is shot in the shoulder, after which Marcy is relocated to a motel. After learning the location of the new hiding spot, Shaft calls Bumpy and arranges for getaway cars should he successfully rescue Marcy. The movie ends after Shaft stages an elaborate, commando-style mission and successfully frees Marcy, who fees the scene safely in one of the getaway cars.

Throughout the movie, Shaft appears as a charismatic and independent black man whose connections in both the criminal underworld and the police force allow him to break boundaries and move freely through both white and black cultures. Shaft is also known for his sexual prowess, and he has multiple sexual encounters in the movie, including one with his black girlfriend and another with a white consort.