Shaft's Big Score

Shaft's Big Score!

Original theatrical release poster by John Solie
Directed by Gordon Parks
Produced by Roger Lewis
Ernest Tidyman
Written by Ernest Tidyman
Based on characters created by
Ernest Tidyman
Starring Richard Roundtree
Moses Gunn
Drew Bundini Brown
Joseph Mascolo
Julius Harris
Joe Santos
Music by Gordon Parks
Cinematography Urs Furrer
Edited by Harry Howard
Distributed by MGM
Release dates
  • June 8, 1972
Running time
104 min.
Country United States
Language English
Budget $1,978,000
Box office $10,000,000[1]

Shaft's Big Score! is a 1972 action film directed by Gordon Parks. It is the second film in the trilogy starring Richard Roundtree as the private detective John Shaft. Ernest Tidyman once more supplied the screenplay. The first film's composer Isaac Hayes was unavailable, so Parks, the returning director, did the score himself. The film was produced on a budget of $1,978,000.

Plot

While New York is never at a loss for criminal activity, things take a turn for the worse when the corrupt co-owner of a funeral parlor and insurance agency kills his partner, a personal friend of John Shaft, only to discover that the money he was planning to steal to pay his gambling debts is missing. He makes a deal with the mobster he owes (Joseph Mascolo) to split the business but also makes the same deal with crime lord Bumpy Jonas (Moses Gunn). The bullets start flying when the hoods find they've been played against each other, and Shaft is forced to clean up the mess.

Cast

Reception

The movie received a lukewarm reception from critics,[2] although Roger Ebert awarded the film 3 stars out of 4.[3]

It earned estimated North American rentals of $4 million.[4]

References

  1. "Shaft's Big Score, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved January 21, 2012.
  2. Greenspun, Roger (1972-06-22). "Something Happened on Way to the Sequel:Roundtree Returns in 'Shaft's Big Score". The New York Times. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  3. "Shaft's Big Score". Chicago Sun Times. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  4. "Updated All-time Film Champs", Variety, 9 January 1974 p 60

External links