OVP: Shaft (1971)

Film: Shaft (1971)
Stars: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John
Director: Gordon Parks
Oscar History: 2 nominations/1 win (Best Original Score, Best Original Song-"Theme from Shaft"*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

We're continuing on our conversation about music at the Oscars with one of the strangest films ever to be nominated for an Oscar: Shaft.  A pretty big hit in 1971, Shaft is arguably the most famous & lasting of the era's "blaxploitation" films, which were the first that consistently put African-American actors in traditional hero roles.  Shaft spawned sequels, a reboot, and even a short-lived television series (all of which starred Richard Roundtree as the titular character), but weirdly I knew next-to-nothing about the film's plot headed into the movie, and really only could distinguish it through its iconic title song (we'll get there in a second, but first, let's discuss the movie itself).

(Spoilers Ahead) The film focuses on John Shaft (Roundtree), a private detective who is being pursued by gangsters.  After an altercation, he realizes that the person who has ordered a hit on him is Bumpy Jonas (Gunn), the head of a crime syndicate whose daughter has been kidnapped.  Shaft tries to return Bumpy's kidnapped daughter to him, but frequently runs into problems with the kidnappers and Police Lt. Androzzi (Cioffi), with the latter kept in the dark so that Shaft can perform a form of vigilante justice.  In the end, Shaft saves Bumpy's daughter during an elaborate heist that leaves a giant building in tatters.  When Androzzi calls Shaft & tells him he needs to help clean up this mess, he tells him "you're gonna have to close it yourself" while laughing.

The film has more plot than that, but I'll be real-it's kind of repetitive.  Shaft is an iconic film because of what it represented in 1971 to have a Black man in a traditional hero role that might have otherwise gone to Burt Reynolds or Gene Hackman.  It's not, though, a particularly solid action film.  The movie's villains are cartoonishly evil, and its views on race are dated (and were even in 1971), with a "race war" hanging over the entire film as potential issue that will result from Shaft trying to save Bumpy's daughter.  The acting is bad & two-dimensional, and while Shaft himself is a badass, the film's views on women are regressive (though it's worth noting that the film randomly has an openly gay character, which while stereotypical, is still a sign of progress for any film in 1971).

The movie received two Oscar nominations-one for Best Score and one for Best Original Song.  The score's main lick (you're humming it now) is well-known, but it's repetitive & doesn't really add anything other than that one lick, so I don't think it's all the impressive within the confines of the film, even if it's undoubtedly iconic.  The title song, though, is cool.  Isaac Hayes auditioned for the film, but while he didn't get the lead, he did get a chance to write this song, and it made him an icon (and an Oscar-winner).  It's a funky, hummable beat, and totally captures the mood of the movie.  I just wish it was capturing the mood of a better film.