Editing Shaft (1971 film) (section)

== Background ==
''Shaft'' was adapted from Ernest Tidyman's novels by Tidyman and screenwriter John D. F. Black. Joel Freeman and executive producers [[Stirling Silliphant]] and Roger Lewis produced the film.<ref name=":2">Reid, Mark. ''Redefining Black Film''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.</ref>

The screen detective genre in the late 1960s had been dominated by the big movies, big stars. [[Paul Newman]] had established his [[Harper (film)|Harper]] in 1966, (the character reprised 1975, in ''[[The Drowning Pool (film)|The Drowning Pool]]''). Soon following, [[Frank Sinatra]]'s ''[[Tony Rome]]'' (1967), ''[[The Detective (1968 film)|The Detective]]'' (1968), and ''[[Lady in Cement]]'' (1968) further set the quality. Industry knowledge suggested that the first of the [[Clint Eastwood]] ''[[Dirty Harry (film series)|Dirty Harry]]'' productions was also slated for a 1971 release. Gordon Parks's directorial debut of a major entertainment production was set on a course for an appreciation of comparisons. The instinctive cultural polymath knew where a coup of casting was his by necessity to play.

Although black in the source novel, Tidyman's original draft screenplay had Shaft as white. However, [Gordon] Parks cast African American actor [[Richard Roundtree]] as the eponymous hero.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Crime Wave: The Filmgoers' Guide to Great Crime Movies|last=Hughes|first=Howard|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=2006|location=London}}</ref> The entire dynamic of the film, its later success, and the future of blaxploitation films were all greatly impacted by Parks' decision. This film was created less to impact black consciousness and more to simply to show a {{" '}}fun film', which people could attend on Saturday night and see a black guy winning."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Framing Blackness: The African American Image in Film (Culture and The Moving Image)|last=Guerrero|first=Ed|author-link=Ed Guerrero|publisher=Temple University Press|year=1993|location=Philadelphia}}</ref> Nevertheless, Parks said in the documentary about his work, ''Half Past Autumn'' (2000), that he had hoped the film would inspire young African Americans by presenting them with "a hero they hadn't had before." ''Shaft'' was intentionally created to "appeal to a black urban audience, along with contiguous white youths."<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Henry|first=Matthew|date=Spring 2004|title=He Is a "Bad Mother*$%@!#": ''Shaft'' and Contemporary Black Masculinity|journal=African American Review|volume=38|issue=1|pages=119–126|doi=10.2307/1512235|jstor=1512235}}</ref>

After production, in an effort to entice a large black audience to see the film, [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] hired [[UniWorld Group|UniWorld]], a black advertising firm, who "popularized ''Shaft'' by using the rhetoric of black power."<ref name=":2" /> Although this film was notable for its crossover success with both white and black audiences, UniWorld focused largely on attracting members of the African-American community. "For example, ''Variety'' reported UniWorld's advertisement description of the protagonist John Shaft as, 'A lone, black [[Superspade]]—a man of flair and flamboyance who has fun at the expense of the (white) establishment.'"<ref name=":2" /> They also promoted {{" '}}the behind-the-camera participation of blacks', thereby appealing to blacks who would appreciate the film as a black production or could fantasize that blacks had somehow beat the Hollywood system and taken over Metro-Goldwyn Mayer studios."<ref name=":2" />

=== Roundtree's view about being in the film ===
When asked at the 2014 [[Virginia Film Festival]] how it felt to be cast as Shaft, [[Richard Roundtree]] responded that he had been extremely excited about the part at the time. He had previously been cast mostly in commercials, and this role, his first in a feature film, was a big break for him.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBObDMpaXeo|title=Richard Roundtree Discusses 'Shaft' at Virginia Film Festival|date=November 11, 2014|via=YouTube|access-date=May 28, 2016|archive-date=February 16, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160216023513/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBObDMpaXeo|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Production ===
{{expand section|date=November 2014}}
[[Melvin Van Peebles]] claimed that the success of his film ''[[Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song]]'' caused ''Shaft'' to be changed from a "white movie" into a "black one".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jun/05/features.review|title=Baadasssss is back!|date=5 June 2005|newspaper=[[The Observer]]|access-date=2010-10-31|archive-date=2018-04-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180407184132/https://www.theguardian.com/film/2005/jun/05/features.review|url-status=live}}</ref> In fact, filming of ''Shaft'' began in January 1971, several months before the release of Van Peebles' film, with Roundtree already confirmed in the lead role.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=S2tkAAAAIBAJ&pg=2331,4657347&dq=richard-roundtree+shaft&hl=en|title=Filming of Shaft on in New York|date=Jan 27, 1971|work=[[The Calgary Herald]]|access-date=May 29, 2020|archive-date=June 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620230429/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=S2tkAAAAIBAJ&pg=2331%2C4657347&dq=richard-roundtree+shaft&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HclOAAAAIBAJ&pg=2467,4235894&dq=richard-roundtree+shaft&hl=en|title=Roundtree plays detective|date=March 28, 1971|work=Toledo Blade|access-date=May 29, 2020|archive-date=June 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210620230421/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=HclOAAAAIBAJ&pg=2467%2C4235894&dq=richard-roundtree+shaft&hl=en|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=First 1971 Movie Is Ready to Shoot: Times Square Scenes for 'Shaft' Set for Monday|date=January 5, 1971|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> The story is set in the same month, as shown by a calendar on Shaft's office wall.

Tidyman, who is white, was an editor at ''The New York Times'' prior to becoming a novelist. He sold the movie rights to ''Shaft'' by showing the galley proofs to the studio (the novel had not yet been published). Tidyman was honored by the [[NAACP]] for his work on the ''Shaft'' movies and books.