Stars: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Victor Arnold, Charles Cioffi, Antonio Fargas, Lawrence Pressman, Gwenn Mitchell, Christopher St. John

Director: Gordon Parks

Summary: Shaft, the handsome detective, fights for his life amongst the ganglords who run the rackets in New York's Harlem.

One of the first black action heroes blasts onto the Hollywood scene in this tale of John Shaft, a private eye who sets out to find the missing daughter of a Harlem gang kingpin. By modern standards, the edge might seem a little dull, but Isaac Hayes' score is fresh as ever. Based on the novel by Ernest Tidyman. Academy Award Nominations: 2, including Best Original Dramatic Score. Academy Awards: Best Song ("Theme from Shaft").

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Samuel L. Jackson makes a gleefully updated John Shaft in John Singleton's homage (not remake) to the early 1970s action classic, picking up where Richard Roundtree's legendary Shaftleft off. The Manhattan-set film features excellent performances, dynamic action scenes and witty one-liners (Jackson's Shaft: "It's my duty to please the booty"--although the line's deceptive: there's a surprising lack of sex in the film). Unfortunately, it's offset by a surprisingly uninspired, predictable, one-dimensional story, penned by Singleton, Richard Price and Shane Salerno. The story, in which Shaft investigates the murder of a young African American, is without suspense, since from the start the audience knows that rich white boy Walter Wade (Christian Bale) did the deed and that Shaft is going to kick his ass, big time. That said, charismatic performances--from Jackson (who, in keeping with the times, is more volatile and fiery than his predecessor), Toni Collette (as a frightened witness), the villainous Bale and the utterly amazing Jeffrey Wright (Basquiat)--make the film enticing and watchable. Look for a cameo by the original Shaft's director, the legendary Gordon Parks, and fans of the original should note that a still stunningly handsome Roundtree briefly appears as Jackson's uncle. --N.F. Mendoza, Amazon.com

Aspect Ratio:	1.33 Full Screen, 1.85 Wide Screen
Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Interactive Menus, Scene Access, Trailer
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian
Year:	1971
Release Date:	March 5, 2001
Runtime:	96 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	D 065051
Keywords:	Action, General, Wide, Screen, Full, Shaft, Adventure
Genre:	Action/Adventure