Shaft's Big Score

Buy This Item Shaft's Big Score by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $9.98  on 11-24-2008     When a pal of detective John Shaft is murdered in a bombing (and $250,000 in cash turns up missing), New York's coolest private eye finds himself caught in the middle of a power struggle between black and white gangsters over the numbers racket in Queens. Directed by Gordon Parks (who does a brief cameo as a croupier in an illegal casino) and written by Ernest Tidyman (both of whom did the original <I>Shaft</I>), this film lacks the pacing of its progenitor. Roundtree is at his best when he's questioning a woman he's just met about a suspect while at the same time beguiling her into the sack (ah, those lazy, crazy days of the sexual revolution). The finale--a shootout in a cemetery, followed by a car-boat-helicopter chase through Queens and up the Harlem River--is preposterously drawn-out: Shaft, impervious to machine-gun fire, winds up tripping, spraining his ankle, and limping while running from the chopper; two shots later, he's sprinting like a halfback. Look for late Muhammad Ali trainer Drew Bundini Brown as a wise-cracking mobster. <I>--Marshall Fine</I> Reader Reviews Shaft's Big Score is a decent sequel, but the pacing is a bit slow at times. You can't beat The Theme From Shaft, but Big Score has got some tight music in it, keepin' it funky for the Private Dick whose a brotha man. Bumpy and Willie, my two favorite characters are back, and Bumpy is still tolerating Shaft while Bumpy maintains his hilarious disrepecting of him. About midway through is one of coolest scenes ever-Shaft is getting worked over backstage at a nightclub by Mob goons while the shots cut back and forth between busted jaws and writhing exotic dancers. The whole scene is scored with a heavily funky tune about the fuzz comin' 'round and what you gonna do when the mace comes down. Obviously, then you gotta just disrespect the Man and check this movie out.

Shaft's Big Score Available from Amazon Price: $9.98 Updated on 11-24-2008.

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