close it yourself, Shitty

On Shaft:

There is an interesting comparison between Shaft and Sweetback. Both movies pioneered the genre of blaxploitation films, but one had much more commercial success. Shaft is simply a much better movie. The dialogue and the plot are clear, easy to follow and make sense. Shaft is funny, and even at times suspenseful. The characters are likable and the music is awesome. Sweetback is none of those things. Shaft is more relate-able than Sweetback; it is made in the style of movies in that time. Shaft is a gangster movie, with a little bit of romance and a lot of racial undertones, whereas Sweetback is just a semi-pornographic, boring movie. Enough about how much I did not like Sweetback and how much I enjoyed Shaft.

One important thing about Shaft is the character John Shaft himself. He is more than just likable, he is the coolest man ever. Shaft is the main character in this movie and he is black, this is not a movie full of black people either, there are main characters that are white, there is the Italian-mafia, and not all the black characters are good either. There is diversity, or at least relative diversity in the characters in the movie, and Shaft is still a likable, seemingly flawless, black, main character. This had not really been done in movies before. Sure, Sidney Poitier does play the main character in a bunch of movies, but when he does he is always the black character in a sea of white characters. Shaft is different.

Another comparison can be made between Shaft and In the Heat of the Night. The setting is completely different in the two movies, Shaft is in Harlem during the 70s, In the Heat of the Night is in Sparta, Mississippi during the 60s. But in both movies there are two cops, one black and one white, who are working together. A big part of what makes In the Heat of the Night such a great movie is the relationship between Virgil and Officer Gillespie. They both have a certain hate for each other, neither of them is blatant about it, but the viewer can tell. In the end they over come their prejudices in the search for the truth about the murder case they are partners on. The dialogue between Virgil and Gillespie is great, and there interactions are always interesting to watch. In Shaft John Shaft works with Lt. Vic Androzzi. Shaft keeps Vic in the closet about so many things, but Vic trusts Shaft for the most part. Race does play a part in Vic and Shaft's relationship, but in a different way than in Virgil and Gillespie's. Because Shaft is black he has inside information on a lot of the goings on in the Harlem gang scene. Vic recognizes this and gives Shaft a degree of independence, but the two still have quite the rapport.