I’m by no means an expert on the subject, but I think Shaft is the best blaxploitation flick around. Most of the other ones I’ve seen look like they were thought-up, shot and acted all in one week (which was actually the case for a few of them). On the opposite side of the coin, this flick not only looks awesome, but also comes with a great script, badass hero played by Richard Roundtree and plot worth paying attention to. It’s the full package AND it holds up to modern viewings.

My love of Shaft (wow, that doesn’t sound right) goes back to when I was in high school. I don’t remember exactly what drew me to the movie, probably that killer Isaac Hayes theme song or kids talking about it at school, but I wound up renting it from my beloved Family Video at some point and soon after purchased my own VHS copy. I didn’t watch it so much that I wore the tape out or anything, but it was a movie I enjoyed.

I was glad to see that I still dug it today after getting the disc from Netflix. Between watching it in high school and today I’ve seen some pretty crappy blaxploitation movies and was worried that I was remembering Shaft with rose colored glasses. Thankfully that wasn’t the case. In fact, in addition to all the awesomeness I remembered, I found that it was actually a well made movie that didn’t look like a  bunch of friends making their first movie on he weekends. It’s legit, bordering on classy at times and holds up to the standards I have set by Dirty Harry as to how cool and fun a movie from the 70s can look.

At the end of the day, Shaft is just a great adventure film. The story’s about a gangster hiring PI John Shaft to find his kidnapped daughter. The mobster uses some trickery and manipulation, but Shaft winds up putting together a pretty solid team and leading to a pretty fantastic assault on a hotel at the end. Watching Shaft again was such an awesome experience that I wouldn’t mind finally adding the movie to my DVD collection. Maybe they have one of those 4-pack things with Shaft, Shaft’s Big Score, Shaft In Africa and the Sam Jackson one. I guess I’ll be watching those in the near future now too!