Shaft, the blaxploitation hit that rocked the world, is perhaps definitely a product of its time, and I'd love to see it with a 1971 audience (alas, I was born that year). While it hasn't exactly aged well, I don't think that's because of period details, but simply that its attitude and politics don't seem as shocking or groundbreaking today. So we're left with an exploitation movie done on the cheap, with bad dubbing and not as much action as you imagine. Still, Richard Roundtree's charisma in the lead role takes us a long way, the groovy production design is fun, the funky Isaac Hayes music is iconic, and the camera work is actually pretty cool in the first half of the film (but the tricks seem to evaporate in the second half as the complicated, unmemorable plot takes hold). Shaft will feel a little slow to today's audience, but you can tell why its insolence had an impact back in the day.

A true noir, hehe.

Shut yo' mouth!