Shaft (1971) Reviews & Ratings

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Shaft reviews

Shaft holds a 6.4/10 average from 439 TMDB ratings.

Richard Roundtree was great and Shaft as a character was absolutely amazing, everything else from the plot which was thin and performances by the supporting cast was a bit iffy. The pacing was also pretty slow and despite only being 100 minutes, felt a bit longer. Still, a good opening into the franchise. **3.5/5**
— JPV852 (7/10)

Richard Rowntree exudes loads of charisma here as he takes on the role of the shrewd Harlem private investigator “Shaft” who finds himself embroiled in some fairly brutal New York politics. He’s drafted in by local gangster “Bumpy” (Moses Gunn) when this man’s daughter is kidnapped. He doesn’t know by whom or why - there are no ransom demands nor many breadcrumbs to follow, but there are plenty of suspects. Initiall…
— CinemaSerf (7/10)

Cool Black private eye John Shaft is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.

Movies like Shaft

If you enjoyed Shaft, these movies have a similar feel:

• Black Caesar (1973)
• Foxy Brown (1974)
• Across 110th Street (1972)
• Paid in Full (2002)
• Dead Man Down (2013)
• Coffy (1973)
• Gangster Squad (2013)
• Al Capone (1959)
• In Cold Light (2026)
• Code of Silence (1985)
• Scarface (1932)
• The Enforcer (2022)

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