John Shaft is a famous fictional detective character created by well know novelist and screen writer Ernest Tidyman. The fictional character created by Ernest was actually the answer of African American issues that were prominent in 1970’s and John Shaft was compared with James Bond.
John Shaft is a private eye detective who solves and investigates various cases so as to facilitate people. The novel was well appreciated by the readers and this ever increasing popularity helped the work of fiction to be presented as a movie named “Shaft”. The movie featuring John starring Richard Roundtree in the main lead role was again a big hit on the television.
The TV Show
The fictional detective, John Shaft was treasured a lot by the people and this ever increasing popularity helped the story of a novel to become more popular as television series and movies. The short lived television series was a hit on the television and were highly rated for the performance of private eye detective.
The innovative techniques to solve the case, focusing on the detail and keeping undercover all the time are a few things that were capable of leaving a deep impression on the mind of viewers. The television series was first aired on 1973 and ended up the show in 1974 starring Richard Roundtree in the lead role as John Shaft.
The Shaft Movies
Various movies were also based on John Shaft and his inventive techniques of solving the mysteries. Some of the famous movies included “Shaft”, “Shaft’s Big Score” and “Shaft in Africa” starring Richard Roundtree and again “Shaft” released in the year 2000 and 2019 starring Samuel L. Jackson.
The first Movie was released in the year 1971. Shaft the movie was directed by Gordon Parks, produced by Joel Freeman and written by Ernest Tidyman and John D. F. Black. The movie features John Shaft who is a private eye detective and travels through different locations so as to find the daughter of a black thug.
The main lead role in the movie of Shaft is played by Richard Roundtree and the movie focused the exploitation of black people, which was a prominent issue those days. Theme from Shaft won the academy award for best original song and movie was a real chartbuster that was cherished by millions of viewers.
Shaft emerges from New York City portrayed as in early 1970’s and is informed by a person working in the shoeshine parlour that he is being followed by a gang. A police lieutenant knows that a gangster is following Shaft continuously and tries to get more information on this gangster, but he fails to do so.
The leader of the gangster Bumpy has a daughter who has been kidnapped and so he asks John Shaft to get his daughter back. The entire story has been focused greatly on blaxploitation and Richard Roundtree has done a tremendous job. John Shaft has an exceptional way of handling with crimes and criminals which makes him a well accepted private eye detective.