Shaft

This otherwise straight forward detective film’s reputation was mainly attributed to its funky Academy Award winning title song by Isaac Hayes and for it’s mainly black cast and lead (Richard Roundtree) - a rare event in 1971 for a major studio picture. Hollywood, always slow to catch on, cashed in on the growing ‘blaxploitation’ market whose B-Grade genre films tapped into the largely ignored black cinema going audience. Although some cross over hits occurred, films like ‘Shaft’ (which also spawned an unsuccessful television series) generally played it safe, leaving the more radical ventures into black cinema for the likes of maverick directors such as Melvin Van Peebles, whose film ‘Sweet Backs Baadassss Song’ was released the same year as ‘Shaft’. Detective John Shaft (Roundtree) takes on the Mafia when he is enlisted by a black crime boss to help get back his kidnapped daughter. Shaft calls in on his underground connections to help him solve the case, all the while trying to dodge the bumbling New York police department. Cast also includes Moses Gunn, Christopher St. John and Charles Cioffi. (Awards: 1972 Academy Award Best Music, Song- Isaac Hayes)