Film

Shaft

Name: Shaft
Genre: Crime, Thriller, Drama, Action
Released: 1971
Cast: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn Mitchell

Other titles called Shaft: the 2000 film.

Shaft is the film that flipped the private-eye thriller inside out, dropping Richard Roundtree's implacably cool Harlem detective into grimy 1970s New York streets soundtracked by Isaac Hayes's Oscar-winning score. Tough, funny, sexually frank and unapologetically Black in a way American cinema hadn't allowed before, it's less about the mystery than the walk, the wardrobe, and the attitude.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love 1970s crime pictures where style, swagger and a hard-edged New York street texture matter as much as the plot, the kind of movie where a single look or a soundtrack cue does the storytelling.

Skip it if you want a tightly plotted, fast-moving thriller; this one takes its time between confrontations, and its dated attitudes and rough edges may grate on modern tastes.

What it asks of you: Roughly a hundred minutes, unhurried in its middle stretch, asking you to settle into its mood and accept a leisurely pace before the action fully arrives.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Super Fly1972

Same New York, same era, and Curtis Mayfield's score does for the drug game what Hayes did for detective work — cooler, angrier, and more suspicious of the very lifestyle it glamorises.

But Thinner plot than Shaft's and a middle stretch that sags without the pulpy momentum.

The French Connection1971

Released the same year in the same filthy city, but from the other side of the law — Gene Hackman's Popeye Doyle is exhausting, brilliant, and none of Shaft's swagger.

But Grim, procedural policing with zero cool and zero jokes — a very different temperature.

Foxy Brown1974

Pam Grier at her most ferocious, turning the revenge-detective plot rawer and angrier, with a heroine who has none of Shaft's cool restraint and doesn't need it.

But Rougher production values and a nastier, more exploitative streak than Shaft's polish.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Shaft

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Big Sleep1946

Shaft is a direct descendant of the hardboiled Marlowe archetype — same cool, same wit, same walk through corruption — reclaimed for a Black hero and a very different city.

Bogart's Philip Marlowe is the blueprint Shaft complicates and rewrites — same wisecracking, unflappable private eye navigating a city of liars, decades before the role got remade Black and unapologetic.

But Black-and-white 1940s pacing and a plot so tangled even the screenwriters couldn't fully explain it.

Coffy1973

Another Grier landmark, a nurse-turned-vigilante working the same corrupt-city terrain as Shaft, with a similarly funky groove and a lead who owns every single frame.

But More explicit and exploitative violence than Shaft ever indulges in.

Across 110th Street1972

Same Harlem streets and crime-lord plotting, shot with a documentary grit and moral weariness Shaft never bothers with, plus a devastating Bobby Womack title track.

But Bleaker and more downbeat throughout, with none of Shaft's charm or one-liners to lighten it.

Dirty Harry1971

Same year, same vigilante-shaped hole in the law — Eastwood's Callahan is Shaft's uptight, furious cousin, working the other coast with none of the cool banter.

But Politically much harder-edged and considerably less fun than Shaft's detective swagger.

Black Caesar1973

Fred Williamson claws from the gutter to crime kingpin in a Harlem saga sharing Shaft's swagger but trading detective cool for genuinely tragic ambition.

But Slower build and a much bleaker arc than Shaft's confident, forward-moving thriller.

The Mack1973

Max Julien's stylish pimp-turned-legend shares Shaft's streetwise cool, another portrait of a Black antihero navigating a corrupt city entirely on his own terms.

But Murkier morality and a less heroic center than Shaft's confidently righteous detective.

Serpico1973

Pacino's real-life NYPD whistleblower gives you the corrupt-cop underside of Shaft's world, a slow-burn character study rather than an action thriller.

But Much slower and more procedural, with none of Shaft's stylish forward momentum.

BaadAsssss Cinema2002

This is Shaft's origin story from outside the frame — the industry panic, box-office stakes, and cultural upheaval that made its swagger possible and genuinely revolutionary.

A brisk documentary tracing exactly how Shaft detonated Hollywood's assumptions and birthed an entire genre, told through the people who actually lived it.

But It's analysis, not drama — no plot, no thrills, just history and talking heads.

I'm Gonna Git You Sucka1988

Same engine — cool Black private detective, corrupt city, funky score — run through as loving comedy, proof of how deep Shaft's DNA sank into pop culture.

A gleeful, pitch-perfect spoof of this exact genre, complete with Jim Brown and Isaac Hayes cameos, turning Shaft's cool detective tropes into pure comic affection.

But Broad, silly parody humor — anyone wanting another straight thriller should look elsewhere.