Tuesday, November 14, 2006

It's like looking in a mirror: "Shaft"

OK, maybe I'm not the whitest guy in America. But I gotta be in the top 10.

Still, "Shaft" ... I can dig it.

I'm pretty sure I never saw the original "Shaft" before the other night. Knew the theme song, of course, and had seen the Samuel L. Jackson remake in the theater, which was merely OK. But I couldn't pass up a chance to see the real deal when it rolled across my cable TV, could I?

We all know the movie's about a black private eye with plenty of bad-ass attitude. Here's the actual story, for what it's worth: New York P.I. John Shaft is recruited by a black gangster to find his daughter, who apparently has been kidnapped by the Italian mafia. Gee, think there will be any racial or ethnic slurs here? One or two, perhaps?

Looking for more plot? Well, that's about it. Oh, it takes a bit to find out that this is the real story, but for the most part there's not much there. Doesn't matter, though, since this movie is all about an empowered black man who takes absolutely no sh*t. On that note, it does quite well.

In a protracted opening sequence that takes forever to get to the theme song, the first words out of Richard Roundtree's mouth are "Up yours!" That's directed at a car that almost runs him over, but it may as well be to the white movie establishment. It's funny, too, because IMDB says this was written as a run-of-the-mill detective story for a white guy. Instead, it became maybe the most famous of the blaxploitation movies ... a truly landmark film in that regard.

Roundtree really gets into the role, as Shaft mouths off -- but in a smooth way -- to white cops, white gangsters, black gangsters, black punks, black women, white women ... pretty much everyone. But don't think the ladies don't love him, as he beds women of both races. Right on.

While the movie is a little slow to take off and somewhat padded to make its 100-minute running time, it's mostly entertaining, especially in the middle when Shaft is trying to figure everything out despite all these obstacles. You know, like people simply talking to him. Of course, this allows for all sorts of great lines. To wit:

"When you lead your revolution, whitey better be standing still, because you don't run worth a damn no more!"

"Warms my black heart to see you so concerned about us minority folks."

Woman: "You got problems, baby?"
Shaft: "Yeah, I got a couple of 'em. I was born black, and I was born poor."

(And my favorite exchange ... )
Would-be tough guy: "Listen, Snow White. Me and you gonna tangle, sooner or later. Did you hear what I say?"
Shaft: "Why don't you stop playing with yourself, Willy?"

Man, if I had a dime for every time I dropped that line on someone. That's right ... stickin' it to the man.

1 Comments:

At 5:27 PM, Blogger Reel Fanatic said...

As one extremely white guy to another, just wanted to second that Shaft just kicks ass .. For even more fun, check out Shaft in Africa

 

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