In the early 1970s black private superdetective John Shaft was supposed to replace James Bond as the world's most popular action hero. Unfortunately, the series of Shaft movies failed to repeat the most important accomplishment of the early 1960s Bond films - each of the sequels being better than the original. Instead of that Shaft films were falling into the same pattern as most of the modern-day sequels - larger budgets that couldn't compensate for a lack of originality. Even Gordon Parks, the legendary director of the 1971 original, didn't escape this fate while making Shaft's Big Score! one year later.
The plot begins with John Shaft (played by Richard Roundtree) receiving a telephone call from Harlem businessman and good friend Cal Asby (played by Robert Kya-Hill) who wants to hire his services. Shaft, who just happens to sleep with Cal's sister Arna (played by Rosalind Miles), agrees to help him but arrives too late to prevent Cal from being blown away by a bomb planted in his funeral parlour. Seeing his old acquaintance and Harlem crime boss Bumpy Jonas (played by Moses Gunn) at Cal's funeral, Shaft knows that Cal had been involved in something illegal. His investigation reveals that Cal, together with his surviving partner Kelly (played by Wally Taylor) used to run lucrative lottery rackets. Cal's piece of the action becomes tempting both for Bumpy and Mafia boss Mascola (played by Joseph Mascolo). Shaft is caught in the middle of escalating gang war and now must not only protect Arna but also find the missing stash of Cal's money.
Despite a higher budget, Shaft's Big Score! is worse than the original because it lacks almost all key ingredients of the original. Isaac Hayes' score is replaced by much inferior score by Gordon Parks, the majority of colourful characters from the original (with the exception of Bumpy Jonas and his bodyguard) are absent and Julius Harris as black police captain Bollin is a bad replacement for Charles Cioffi in the first film. Even the atmosphere of the film is different from the original - luxurious apartments, elite night clubs and snow-covered exteriors of New York look visually attractive, but they lack the realistic impact of gritty and mean streets of the original Shaft_. Even the character of Shaft is changed from streetwise manipulator into an invincible one-man-army, and the spectacular yet overlong chase scene at the end only strengthens such impression. Roundtree is, however, able to maintain the coolness of the original character and Shaft's Big Score! still has few interesting moments, like elevator exchange between Kelly and old lady or near-surreal scene of a Mafia boss playing clarinet. Because of them, Shaft's Big Score! still can entertain the audience despite fitting the description of "blaxploitation" more than the original.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on October 24th 2001)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/493-shaft-s-big-score?language=en-US
Critic: AA
