Before Black Panther (the movie, of course), there was Shaft. What I mean is that while there were movies with a black protagonist before the 1971 film of the same title (another legend, Sidney Poitier, was in several of them). ), Shaft was one of the first advertising films to turn a black man into something of a superhero. And Richard Roundtree was that leader.
Now don’t get me wrong. John Shaft wasn’t wearing a cloak or anything like that. But here is a black character who answered to the police (and not calmly as Sydney Poitier did in In the Heat of the Night), a womanizer, and “risked his life for his brother. ” as sung in the famous theme song from Shaft, which I will definitely be returning to soon.
And, with the recent passing of Richard Roundtree, I thought it was a good time to revisit the seismic effect that the character of Shaft has left on the black community, but also on cinema in general. Can you understand it?
Question: Do you need to know when a theme song is super effective?Answer: When future generations can grow up and know what movie it came from without even seeing it. A good example could be the theme of John Williams’ Indiana Jones. or the theme of Star Wars (also by John Williams). Or, uh, the Superman theme (which ALSO comes from John Williams).
The fact is, even though John Williams is the GOAT, you don’t even need to have seen one of those videos to know where those themes are coming from. The songs themselves are no longer part of pop culture.
And the same can be said for Isaac Hayes’ Oscar-winning theme for Shaft. With this song, Hayes has become the first black man to win the Best Original Song category at the Oscars, and he fully justifies it. Without this song, John Shaft probably wouldn’t have been as cool as HeArray because, essentially, the song is the theme song for Shaft’s superhero.
This theme teaches us many things about the character, such as that she is “a sexual device for all girls”. But that’s not all. He is also “a confused man” whom no one understands “except his wife. “And that theme made the character seem larger than life.
In addition, Hayes’ Oscar win also paved the way for other black musicians to win Oscars for their songs, such as EGOT winner John Legend. That’s how hard Shaft’s subject matter is. This opened doors for other black artists in the years to come. Talk about being a bad mother: shut your mouth!
I mentioned this in the introduction, but I think it’s worth repeating that Richard Roundtree himself was necessarily the first primary black superhero. But let me explain what I mean: You know how prominent administrators like Scorsese and Tarantino have so much contempt for the MCU?Well, on the 2 Bears, 1 Cave podcast, Tarantino went even further by saying that there has been a “marvel at Hollywood” and that the actors are gone. literally the stars, but rather the characters, like Captain America or Thor, are the new stars of today.
Now, I don’t think Tarantino would put Richard Roundtree in that category, even though the character of Shaft, who was PLAYED through Richard Roundtree, will probably live in Array, but that’s about it. Richard Roundtree was, and will be, related to a character, just like Robert Downey Jr. will always be associated with Iron Man, or how Michael Keaton will always be Batman in some people’s eyes.
Richard Roundtree starred in several other films after Shaft, but no matter which film he directed, other people will recognize him as Shaft. People might have even mistakenly noticed it in some other movie and said, “Hey, that’s Shaft. “In fact, I did when I saw it in Speed Racer.
It’s a lot like how Sean Connery will be “James Bond” for some people, or how Tobey Maguire, who, despite what Tarantino thinks of the actors behind the mask, will still be “Spider-Man” for some people.
So, like Chadwick Boseman, it IS Black Panther. Richard Roundtree IS Tree. He’s a hero to many, and I think that’s pretty cool (you know what I did there?).
Today, we have films that are commonly encouraged through the blaxploitation videos of the 1970s, such as They Cloned Tyrone, which is excellent. But before we had Black Dynamite or the Undercover Brothers, we had Shaft. Now, Shaft arguably wouldn’t have been the first movie about blaxploitation (there are conflicting arguments, but the guys choose Melvin Van Peebles’ Badasssss Song as the real deyet), but it’s the first major publicity movie. John Shaft, an unadorned black guy who kicked ass and took names, and other people enjoyed it.
I wasn’t alive when Shaft came out, but my father said it was actually very different from the videos that featured black actors at the time. This film helped fuel the blaxploitation movement in the 1970s, and we’ve even seen videos spread. in the ’80s, like The Last Dragon (Sho’nuff!) and Action Jackson, until the day of the offer.
And I’m not sure that would have happened if it wasn’t for Shaft making those kinds of great videos. Why did you notice the song Badasssss by Sweet Sweetback?I mean, I like it and everything, but it’s not an ad. But Shaft was, and that’s why I think blaxploitation is where it is today.
I also need to mention Shaft director Gordon Parks, because I feel like a lot of other people don’t talk about him in those days. Yes, Richard Roundtree was the face in front of the camera, but Gordon Parks was the face of , and he was just as vital to cinema as a whole as Richard Roundtree.
A renowned photographer before becoming a filmmaker, Parks’ first major film, The Learning Tree, we’ve included in our list of 15 wonderful films that explore race and social justice. The movie, which is a coming-of-age movie, might not be Shaft’s extra. But that’s the good looks of Gordon Parks’ career.
A true Renaissance man, in addition to being a famous photographer, Parks is also a writer, composer, painter, and even contributed to the creation of Essence magazine. And with Shaft, he helped usher in an entirely new film subgenre with blaxploitation.
Hell, his son, Gordon Parks Jr. , even led another crop of blaxploitation at Super Fly a year later. There’s even a base that works to maintain your art. So you can’t communicate the importance of Shaft without its director, Gordon Parks. .
Well, I’m a little embarrassed to admit it, but I didn’t start with the original Shaft. I mean, I knew about Shaft, of course, but the first Shaft movie I saw was the 2000 one with Samuel L. Jackson. Of course, Richard Roundtree has been around since the film served as a sequel, but that’s essentially my cinematic arrival in the character of John Shaft.
And to be honest, even though I liked the movie, I didn’t like it. I even think it’s pretty decent, but I think there’s probably a bigger arrival of the character.
And sure enough, there were. After all, when I saw the 1971 film, I was hooked. I temporarily watched its two sequels, Shaft’s Big Score and Shaft In Africa, and they were a gateway for me to blaxploitation in general. Also, the good thing is that with five films spanning a mere six decades, a total legion of new enthusiasts have grown up with Shaft and will most likely share his legacy with their own children, which is what I intend to do.
So, we’ll miss you, Richard Roundtree, but we’ll have Shaft. This legacy will live on forever.
Rich is a guy from Jersey, track and way. He graduated from Rutgers University (Go, UK!) and believes the Garden State is the most productive state in the country. That said, you’ll prefer Chicago Deep Dish. pizza up to a slice of New York any day of the week. Don’t hate. When she’s not hunting her two sons, she’s reading a novel, watching old movies, or reading a hard-to-understand book.
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