Guide Note

Shaft is a 1971 Academy Award winning Blaxploitation film from director Gordon Parks which starred Richard Roundtree as a private detective that must infiltrate Harlem in order to save the daughter of a mobster. With an Oscar-winning soundtrack by Isaac Hayes, the movie was a surprise success and is still considered to be one of the prime examples of the Blaxploitation genre. While two sequels were released, none of them had the impact of the original film. In 2000, another sequel was made featuring Samuel L. Jackson as the nephew of Richard Roundtree's character John Shaft.

Fast Facts

1. The original film had a budget of $1,125,000 and grossed $12 million
2. The 1971 original version won an Academy Award for "Theme from Shaft" by Isaac Hayes
3. The 1972 sequel Shaft's Big Score grossed $10 million at the box-office
4. The 1973 sequel Shaft in Africa cost $2,142, 000, but the gross fell to $1,458,000
5. The 2000 sequel had an estimated budget of $44 million and grossed over $70 million
6. The director of the original Shaft, Gordon Parks, appears in a cameo in the 2000 sequel as "Mr. P"
7. Preserved by the National Film Registry in 2000