Shaft’s Big Score

By Morpheus • June 22, 2005

Starring: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn

Director: Gordon Parks

Writer(s): Ernest Tidyman

Studio: Warner Bros.

Rating: R

Official Bar Score:

Richard Roundtree reprises his role as the take-no-prisoners, badass Private Detective John Shaft in this sequel to the 1971 blaxploitation classic. Shaft finds himself hired by an old friend for a job with no details, and before he can find out what the job is, this friend is killed when the Insurance Office where he works explodes in a fiery blaze, killing him before he knows what hit him. As Shaft investigates the death of his fallen friend, he finds himself unwillingly bouncing back and forth between the 133rd Precinct and two competing mobs. He discovers that his dead friend ran a numbers racket out of his legitimate business and left $250,000 unaccounted for, and both of the rival mobs are on a hunt for that money. Both sides of the mob war fight each other trying to get in on that missing cash, as well as get a piece of the numbers gig from the dead man’s partner. Shaft finds himself in a precarious situation, racing against time, the police, and these rival crime syndicates in an effort to find the money, keep his dead friend’s fine-ass sister out of harm’s way, and save his own skin to boot. What’s a brother to do?

This is a great flick from start to finish, and really kept up the standard that the first film set for this genre. While not as good as the first, as if anything ever could be, it still had a strong story, and Richard Roundtree drove home a classic performance, as he always does. Some of the acting in this flick left a lot to be desired, but all in all it was made up for by a good plot and some great action scenes. I watched this flick for the first time the other day, and I was surprised to see that one of the main bad guys in this one was Stefano DeMira in Days of Our Lives back when I was in eighth grade. How badass is that? Well, allow me to answer for you. Pretty damn badass. The only special features on this DVD are three theatrical trailers, one for each Shaft flick, and though they are certainly cool, they aren’t worth going out and buying the disc for. Luckily, the movie itself is more than worth the purchase price. Hell, best 6 bucks I ever spent, ya dig?