The problem with this movie isn't whether Sam Jackson is cool or not, cause, in my opinion, he is. But he's only Jules cool... he's playing Jules when he should be playing Shaft. So many lines and deliveries in this movie are straight out of Pulp Fiction, and that's one major place where this film falters.
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ecarle
17 years ago
Jackson is way cool with line delivery, and confidently portrays action heroes a lot (see: "Snakes on a MFin' Plane") but the fact is that John Shaft was originally conceived as a very sexy ladies man of a private eye and played by a very young and handsome actor, Richard Roundtree. Shaft '71 was almost the "black Cary Grant" in his portrayal by Roundtree.
I'm sure Samuel L. has sex appeal to certain fans out there,but his looks are not Roundtree-pretty.
The embarrassment in this film came with Jackson's gracious willingness to let Roundtree PLAY "the original Shaft" (Jackson is "the next generation" -- a nephew?) -- even a 60-something Richard Roundtree was more handsome and smooth than Jackson. I understand the producers finally elected to cut down on Roundtree's scenes because they distracted too much from Jackson.
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Minorda920
17 years ago
The embarrassment in this film came with Jackson's gracious willingness to let Roundtree PLAY "the original Shaft" (Jackson is "the next generation" -- a nephew?) -- even a 60-something Richard Roundtree was more handsome and smooth than Jackson. I understand the producers finally elected to cut down on Roundtree's scenes because they distracted too much from Jackson.
Actually it is possible for an uncle to be close in age with the nephew. In fact, it's possible for the uncle to be younger than the nephew. Richard Roundtree is only 6 years older than Samuel L. Jackson. However, we don't know if the younger Shaft is the same age as Jackson. The main point is that Jackson was never really supposed to play Shaft the same way as Richard Roundtree.
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