6.9 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Follows the investigations of legendary, Black private detective—one bad mutha—Shaft! Donned in a turtleneck and leather jacket, he's not only an undercover hero, Shaft's also a lean, mean, sex machine, for all to admire...
Starring: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn MitchellFilm-Noir | 100% |
Crime | 91% |
Thriller | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital Mono
German: Dolby Digital Mono
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono (Spain)
Spanish: Dolby Digital Mono
English SDH, French, German SDH, Japanese, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
It would be impossible to overstate the impact of Gordon Parks's original Shaft when it first appeared on movie screens in 1971. Private investigator John Shaft didn't do anything audiences hadn't seen before. He openly defied the cops, beat down anyone who got in his way, handled firearms with aplomb, bedded any woman who caught his fancy and came out a winner in the end. But Shaft was African-American, and in 1971 much of white America was still unsettled by confident, self-possessed black men who refused to "know their place". Just the year before Shaft's release, a Vietnam veteran named Dickie Morrow had been publicly executed in Oxford, North Carolina, by relatives of a white woman who claimed he'd been "rude"; his killers were acquitted by an all-white jury, despite eyewitness testimony. (The incident and its aftermath are the basis for the film Blood Done Sign My Name.) In a country where such things could still happen, the sequence in which Shaft picks up a white woman at a bar and takes her home for the night, only to have her accuse him of being "shitty" the next morning, was as loaded as they come—even more so when Shaft and his police lieutenant buddy, Androzzi, turn her complaint into a running joke. The Black Panther Party was still active then, and many feared it. Having Shaft not only routinely brandish firearms, but also recruit militants to assist him in rescuing a kidnapped mobster's daughter, was like jabbing a finger into a cultural sore spot. Both director Parks and screenwriter Ernest Tidyman (adapting his novel with the help of John D.F. Black, an experienced TV writer) knew exactly what they were doing. The film's tone is set immediately during Shaft's famous swaggering stroll through Times Square, to the sound of Isaac Hayes's Oscar-winning theme, when he gives the finger to a motorist, saying "Up yours, baby!" Add Hayes's Oscar appearance to the list of shockers; the TV audience had never seen anyone with his dark skin, cueball head and gold chains accepting an Academy Award. Shaft's age is evident both in its suroundings and costumes and in its cinematic style. The Steadicam hadn't yet been invented, which meant that Parks couldn't follow his hero closely through the urban landscape that was Shaft's natural habitat, and editing hadn't yet been transformed into the rapid-fire style that would appear in the next decade with music videos. Besides, Parks came from the world of still photography. A founder of Essence magazine and a veteran of Life, Parks generally composed a frame, let the actors perform within it (plus wherever the camera could tilt or pan), then let his editor, Hugh A. Robertson (Midnight Cowboy), construct the scene. The result might be considered stately and slow except for two things: the charismatic performance by Richard Roundtree in the title role, and Isaac Hayes's unforgettable soundtrack, which feels both timeless and of its time. Together, these two intense presences still conspire to pull a viewer into the film, even today.
Shaft's tiny production budget is reflected in its image, but Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray offers a remarkably faithful reproduction of the film's original look. The source material is in fine shape, which is especially noteworthy when you consider that most audiences in 1971 saw prints that had been run through projectors repeatedly and taken quite a beating by the time they reached the second or third week of exhibition. Swiss cinematographer Urs Furrer (whose career was cut short by a fatal heart attack at age 40) was a veteran of documentaries and industrial films, which made him ideal for shooting Shaft in largely natural light in the many real locations in and around New York City where the production filmed. If you don't like grain, you won't like this Blu-ray—and you also don't like film, because this is what film of this vintage looks like when shot under such conditions. The same emulsion that created the grain also captured substantial detail (light permitting), and reducing the grain would be difficult to do without losing detail. Even if you could keep all the image information with sophisticated software, the degrained result wouldn't look like Shaft. This Blu-ray does. Blacks are deep and inky, which is critical in certain night scenes, e.g., when Shaft and Buford are fleeing gunmen. Director Parks and his DP place the two men in deep shadow as they hide, with only a small amount of light falling on their faces; it's a painterly composition that requires solid blacks for its effect, and the Blu-ray delivers. Colors are generally cool, flat and dull, consistent with the wintry season and crumbling city infrastructure, but there are exceptions (e.g., the apartment of Shaft's girlfriend). The film runs under two hours; the soundtracks are all mono; and the extras are all standard definition. As a result, Warner has managed to get away with a BD-25 without compression issues. My video score for this title is based on fidelity to the source and a remarkable job with difficult material.
The film's original mono soundtrack is presented as DTS-HD MA 1.0, and there isn't much to say about it other than that it adequately reproduces the film's original mix, with decent dynamic range for the Isaac Hayes score and clarity for the film's dialogue. This is all one can ask from a good mono track.
The supplements have been ported over from the 2000 DVD, with one addition.
In 2000, the Library of Congress selected Shaft for inclusion in the National Film Registry. The film's stature has grown with time, especially in comparison to many of the blaxploitation films that followed. In his original review, Roger Ebert noted that director Parks didn't seem entirely comfortable with the down 'n' dirty world of the private eye genre, and he had a point. Parks was clearly most attracted to the honorable side of John Shaft. He left it to Roundtree and Hayes to supply the grit. For the more typical blaxploitation film, one need look no further than the following year's Super Fly (directed, ironically, by Gordon Parks, Jr.) in which Roundtree's tough, upstanding detective was replaced by Ron O'Neal's equally tough, but far from upstanding, coke dealer. Shaft stands apart from the pack, and this Blu-ray presents him better than most saw him in 1971. Highly recommended.
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