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Iconic shot of Shaft on the rope is NOT in this mediocre film

posted 9 years ago by KennethX
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The shot of Shaft hanging on that rope, firing, that you can see on the poster and in the official trailer, is not even in the movie itself. They use a different shot of him, flying into the window and firing, and it's not very good. bummer.

i expected a little more from this. This is just like old Gangster B-movie from the 40's, with a black guy, more swearing and more violence. Other than it's historical relevance (oh look, a commercially successful film with a black man in the lead!) I see almost zero value in this mediocre crime flick. It's competently made for the most part, that's the best thing you can say about it really.

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[–] Tresix 9 years ago

The poster shot IS in the movie. It's just facing in the opposite direction. If you look at the movie on video, you can slow it down and see it. I always wonder, though, why they had the shot going in the opposite direction for the poster.

I've read other reviews that compared "Shaft" quite favorably to crime films of the Forties (Shaft is compared to Sam Spade; Bumpy and Willy to Gutman and Cairo in "The Maltese Falcon").

"There will be blood. Oh, yes, there WILL be blood."-Jigsaw; "Saw II"

[–] JRodFilms 8 years ago

its a slow burn movie and for sure its dated to compare it to all the films that came after it. the music over powered the story.

[–] Tresix 8 years ago

Actually, as I've said in another post, I think this is one of the few Blaxploitation movies that's aged well. About the only other one that I think doesn't look too old is "Black Caesar" with Fred Williamson.

Annoying the world since 1960!

[–] maturity 8 years ago

It falls apart at the end, but it's very good at capturing the atmosphere of New York back then, has very good music and acting from the lead characters and I like it best of all the blaxploitation movies I've seen. I haven't seen a lot because most didn't interestt me; I am a fan of film noir detective movies and this was decent. The sequels get progressively worse. (Samuel L. Jackson spin-off was a pathetic piece of trash. I'd rather watch Richard Roundtree as the police chief or whatever he was in SEVEN than that bottom-of-the-barrel junk.)

[–] Tresix 8 years ago

"Shaft's Big Score!" is pretty good with a great chase scene at the end. I honestly can't remember too much about "Shaft in Africa" other than I had a crush on Vonnetta McGee. The SLJ version definitely could use some improvement.

Annoying the world since 1960!