Synopsis
This action drama puts a new spin on Shaft, one of the key "blaxploitation" films of the 1970s. John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson), the namesake nephew of the legendary private eye (Richard Roundtree), is a street-smart police detective who with his partner Carmen Velez (Vanessa L. Williams) has been assigned to a racially motivated murder case, in which a black college student was killed in front of a restaurant by Walter Williams Jr. (Christian Bale), the sociopathic son of a New York construction tycoon, who then fled the country rather than face prosecution. Diane Palmieri (Toni Collette), a waitress on a smoke break, saw the murder, but she doesn't want to talk to the police. Two years later, Walter is forced to return to New York, but without Diane's testimony, the city doesn't have much of a case. Soon, Shaft, Walter Junior, and Walter Senior's goons are all looking for Diane, with Junior enlisting the help of Peoples Hernandez (Jeffrey Wright), a small-time drug dealer who will do anything to move into the big leagues. Shaft and Carmen find Diane, but discover that she had a good reason for being on the lam for the past two years. Amidst all this activity, John gets frequent advice from his uncle, with whom he ponders the idea of quitting the force and opening a detective agency. Shaft was directed by John Singleton, from a screenplay by Singleton, Richard Price, and Shane Salerno.
What Critics Say
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Movie News
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Welles shafted again?
Madeleine Stowe star of the remake of Orson Welles The Magnificent Ambersons has expressed her dismay over the outcome of the project
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EXTRA: 'Shaft' Gets Dot.com Shaft
HOLLYWOOD, May 25, 2000 - Imagine you're the Paramount promo person in charge of the studio's official "Shaft" Web site. Then imagine you try to register the no-brainer URL -- www.shaft.com. Now envision (bare with us here) your frustration in finding that you've been beaten to the punch. Not only is the URL registered, but it's been taken by, ahem, The Ultimate Penis and Parts Resource Center, which is exclusively dedicated to the fine techniques of penile enlargement.
Oops.
This experience is not uncommon in the crowded cyber real-estate market. And with more and more Web sites springing up on the Net, fewer of the so-called "good" and/or "cool" dot.com names are available. To movie studios, the URL shortage means execs have to be more creative -- no more with the tagging a dot.com (or, sometimes, a dot.net) at the end of a movie title.
"Of course, our first ch
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FORECAST: Is 'Brockovich' Gonna Get Shafted?
SANTA MONICA, Calif., April 6, 2000 -- As the box-office turns: Is Julia Roberts still the best thing going? Or will Samuel L. Jackson open up a can of whoop-you-know-what and knock her off her pedestal? This weekend, four new movies hit theaters nationwide ("Rules of Engagement," "Black and White," "Ready To Rumble" and "Return to Me") but experts think that only "Rules," starring Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, has the cojones to kick Julia's box-office butt and end the three-weekend-long reign of "Erin Brockovich."
"I think it's gonna be tight for No. 1," says Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co.
Here's a look at the new players:
"Rules of Engagement" RULES OF ENGAGEMENT (See the trailer) The skinny: Samuel L. Jackson is a military man wrongfully court-martialed for murder; Tommy Lee Jones is his gruff lawyer
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EXTRA: Castrating 'Shaft' ?
HOLLYWOOD, June 9, 2000 – OK, let's get the cliché out of the way: "Who's the Black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks?" If you answered "Shaft," well, you're only half right.
Because in the new "Shaft" (opening next Friday), Samuel L. Jackson doesn't get any booty.
Sure, there's some lovemaking going on during the opening credits, and there's one scene where Jackson (as the titular Black private dick) picks up a female bartender by asking if she wants him to hold her, or to give her the "L.D." (and we're guessing that's not code for cheap long-distance rates).
But when you recall that the original Shaft, Richard Roundtree, went to bed with at least two women in his three "Shaft" movies (and yes, you saw him in the sack with the chicks) -- including sexy Vonetta McGee and the woman who propositioned him by asking, "How long is your phallus?" -- J