Shaft / Shaft's Big Score! / Shaft in Africa

Shaft (1971)

Richard Roundtree is John Shaft, "the black private dick who's a sex machine with all the chicks," in this action-packed blaxploitation classic that spawned two sequels and a TV series. Hired to track down a Harlem ganglord's missing daughter, Shaft must find the girl before New York erupts into a gang war zone. Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, Gwenn Mitchell also star; features an Oscar-winning theme song by Isaac Hayes. 100 min. C/Rtg: R

Shaft's Big Score! (1972)

That bad cat John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) investigates an old friend's murder, only to find that $200,000 of the dead man’s cash set aside to pay off his mob debts has gone missing...and that two rival factions of gangsters are willing to blow Harlem apart to get their hands on it. Thrilling chases, exciting shootouts, and lively music highlight the second outing in the "Shaft" series; Moses Gunn and Drew Bundini Brown, as well as director Gordon Parks and screenwriter Ernest Tidyman, return. 104 min. C/Rtg: R

Shaft In Africa (1973)

Richard Roundtree’s third and final big-screen go-round as John Shaft finds the detective earning his pay way, way out of Harlem, when an Ethiopian emir hires him to go undercover as a tribesman and bring down the modern-day European slavery ring that killed his son. With coaching from the noble’s beautiful daughter (Vonetta McGee), can he destroy the racket and its ruthless head (Frank Finlay) from within? Debebe Eshetu, Frank McRae also star. 112 min. C/Rtg: R

Standard; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital mono, French Dolby Digital mono; featurette; theatrical trailers.