THEY SAY THIS CAT SHAFT IS A BAD MOTHER-(SHUT YOUR MOUTH).......PLUNGING DOWN "SHAFT"

Shaft (1971)  Some film historians cite this one as the kickoff movie for the 'blaxploitation' genre that flourished throughout the 70's.........

              You could spend endless hours weighing the pros and cons of these films........on the plus side - the host of black performers and filmmakers who got their foot in the door with these movies.......

               On the down side.........the raggedy, slapdash cheapjack nature of the films,,,,,,and the brutal irony that a majority of them were produced and directed by bottom-feeding white guys, chasing after a fast exploitation buck......

                 One thing's for sure, the movies stood in stark contrast to the dignified, saintly roles played by Hollywood's one and only officially anointed movie star, Sidney Poitier.

                  But at the end of the day, junk was junk.......no matter what color it was. And after all memories of the genre faded away,  Quentin Tarantino was the only one left to remember and celebrate it......

                  BQ thinks "Shaft" stands proudly apart from any of the those films that it supposedly inspired. Directed with streetwise grit by acclaimed photo-journalist Gordon Parks, it's far more a perfect example of the 'New-York-City-As-Hell-On-Earth' movies that ruled the early 70's......(as in "The French Connection", "The Seven Ups" and "The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three", etc, etc)

                  No Hollywood high gloss in such movies........"Shaft" looks like the raw footage was dropped off for processing at one of the rundown Times Square shops that Richard Roundtree strolls past in the opening credits.

                  For all his visual prowess, Gordon Parks wasn't much of an action director.......the fights and shootouts are quick and the staging of them clumsy and offhand. But the film drew its life and energy from the raw power of its lead character.........nobody, but nobody had ever seen a black hero like John Shaft before. And you could sense that Roundtree was having the time of his life playing him......

                   I don't know if it's valid to opine that "Shaft" jump-started 'blaxploitation'.  What it definitely got going was a whole new era of  muscular in-your-face cinema.......a universe away from the sparkle and sheen of typical studio product......(which was starting to fray at the seams anyway....)

                   And damn if it still doesn't hold up. 3 stars (***)