Editing Shaft (1971 film) (section)

== Context ==
The fifth blaxploitation film released, ''Shaft'' is one of the most popular films of the genre.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mubi.com/lists/blaxploitation|title=Blaxploitation|last=Williams|first=Anton|date=May 11, 2010|website=Mubi.com|access-date=August 11, 2018|archive-date=August 12, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180812083024/https://mubi.com/lists/blaxploitation|url-status=live}}</ref> Commenting on the film shortly after its release, ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' movie critic [[Vincent Canby]] accurately predicted the wave of blaxploitation films to follow: "How audiences react, however, has a great deal to do with the kind of movies that do get made, and having watched the extraordinary receptions given to both ''Sweet Sweetback'' and ''Shaft'' I'm led to wonder if, perhaps, the existence of what seems to be a large, hungry, Black movie audience—an audience whose experiences and interests are treated mostly in token fashion by TV—might not be one of the more healthy and exciting developments on the current movie scene." ''Shaft'' greatly impacted future blaxploitation films which "crudely tried to emulate the success of ''Shaft'' and ''Sweetback'', repeated, filled in, or exaggerated the ingredients of the Blaxploitation formula, which usually consisted of a pimp, gangster, or their baleful female counterparts, violently acting out a revenge or retribution motif against corrupt whites in the romanticized confines of the ghetto or inner city."<ref name=":0" />