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Shaft (1971 Film)
''Shaft'' is a 1971 American blaxploitation crime action thriller film directed by Gordon Parks and written by Ernest Tidyman and John D. F. Black. It is an adaptation of Tidyman's novel of the same name and is the first entry in the ''Shaft'' film series. The plot revolves around a private detective named John Shaft who is hired by a Harlem mobster to rescue his daughter from the Italian mobsters who kidnapped her. The film stars Richard Roundtree as Shaft, alongside Moses Gunn, Charles Cioffi, Christopher St. John, and Lawrence Pressman. The film explores themes including masculinity and sexuality, with a specific emphasis on Black Power. It was filmed in Harlem, Greenwich Village, and Times Square within the Manhattan borough of New York City. The ''Shaft'' soundtrack album, recorded by Isaac Hayes, was also a success, winning a Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture and a second Grammy (shared with Johnny Allen) for Best Instrument ...
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Gordon Parks
Gordon Roger Alexander Buchanan Parks (November 30, 1912 – March 7, 2006) was an American photographer, composer, author, poet, and filmmaker, who became prominent in U.S. documentary photojournalism in the 1940s through 1970s—particularly in issues of civil rights, poverty and African Americans—and in glamour photography. He is best remembered for his iconic photos of poor Americans during the 1940s (taken for a federal government project), for his photographic essays for ''Life'' magazine, and as the director of the films '' Shaft, Shaft's Big Score'' and the semiautobiographical '' The Learning Tree''. Parks was one of the first black American filmmakers to direct films within the Hollywood system, developing films relating the experience of slaves and struggling black Americans, and helping create the "blaxploitation" genre. The National Film Registry cites ''The Learning Tree'' as "the first feature film by a black director to be financed by a major Hollywood studio. ...
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Shaft (film Series)
The ''Shaft'' franchise consists of five action-crime feature films and seven television films, centered on a family of African-American police detectives who all share the name John Shaft. The first three features may be described as blaxploitation films, the television film series is a mystery, and the fourth feature installment is a crime thriller. By contrast the fifth film installment, released to Netflix, is a satirical buddy-cop comedy. Film ''Shaft'' (1971) John Shaft is a classy and suave African-American detective. He successfully fights local crime, including the leader of the black crime mob named Bumpy, his gang, and black nationals. The conflicting characters have to put aside their differences when they must defeat the white mafia, who kidnapped Bumpy's daughter in attempts to blackmail him. ''Shaft's Big Score!'' (1972) When John Shaft finds out that a dead friend ran an illegal money laundering scheme out of the former's legitimate business and left ...
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Shaft (Isaac Hayes Album)
''Shaft'' is a double album by Isaac Hayes, recorded for Stax Records' Enterprise label as the soundtrack LP for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1971 blaxploitation film '' Shaft''. The album mostly consists of instrumentals composed by Hayes as score for the film. Three vocal selections are included: "Soulsville", "Do Your Thing", and " Theme from ''Shaft''". A commercial and critical success, ''Shaft'' is Hayes' best-known work and the best-selling LP ever released on a Stax label. In 2014, the album was added to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Conception Hayes initially became involved with ''Shaft'' in hopes of having director Gordon Parks cast him in the title role, because he was not aware that Richard Roundtree had already been cast as John Shaft. Hayes did appear in the film in a cameo role, but, more significantly, composed the film's score. While the film was still in production, Pa ...
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Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, largest, and average area per state and territory, smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located almost entirely on Manhattan Island near the southern tip of the state, Manhattan constitutes the center of the Northeast megalopolis and the urban core of the New York metropolitan area. Manhattan serves as New York City's Economy of New York City, economic and Government of New York City, administrative center and has been described as the cultural, financial, Media in New York City, media, and show business, entertainment capital of the world. Present-day Manhattan was originally part of Lenape territory. European settlement began with the establishment of a trading post by Dutch colonization of the Americas, D ...
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Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and Neighborhoods in New York City, neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway, Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street (Manhattan), 42nd Street. Together with adjacent Duffy Square, Times Square is a bowtie-shaped plaza five blocks long between 42nd and 47th Street (Manhattan), 47th Streets. Times Square is brightly lit by numerous digital billboards and advertisements as well as businesses offering 24/7 service. One of the world's busiest pedestrian intersections, it is also the hub of the Broadway theatre, Broadway Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District and a major center of the world's entertainment industry. Times Square is one of the world's most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Squ ...
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Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street (Manhattan), 14th Street to the north, Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village also contains several subsections, including the West Village west of Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue and the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District in the northwest corner of Greenwich Village. Its name comes from ''Groenwijck'', Dutch language, Dutch for "Green District". In the 20th century, Greenwich Village was known as an artists' haven, the Bohemianism, bohemian capital, the cradle of the modern LGBTQ social movements, LGBTQ movement, and the East Coast birthplace of both the Beat Generation and counterculture of the 1960s. Greenwich Village contains Washington Square Park, as well as two of New York City's private colleges, New York University (NYU) ...
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Human Sexuality
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied with historical contexts over time, it lacks a precise definition. The biological and physical aspects of sexuality largely concern the human reproductive functions, including the human sexual response cycle. Someone's sexual orientation is their pattern of sexual interest in the opposite and/or same sex. Physical and emotional aspects of sexuality include bonds between individuals that are expressed through profound feelings or physical manifestations of love, trust, and care. Social aspects deal with the effects of human society on one's sexuality, while spirituality concerns an individual's spiritual connection with others. Sexuality also affects and is affected by cultural, political, legal, philosophical, moral, ethical, and religi ...
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Masculinity
Masculinity (also called manhood or manliness) is a set of attributes, behaviors, and roles generally associated with men and boys. Masculinity can be theoretically understood as Social construction of gender, socially constructed, and there is also evidence that some behaviors considered masculine are influenced by both cultural factors and biological factors. To what extent masculinity is biologically or socially influenced is subject to debate. It is Sex and gender distinction, distinct from the definition of the Male, biological male sex, as anyone can exhibit masculine traits. Standards of masculinity vary across different cultures and historical periods. In Western cultures, its meaning is traditionally drawn from being contrasted with femininity. Overview Standards of manliness or masculinity vary across different cultures, subcultures, ethnic groups and historical periods. Traits traditionally viewed as masculine in Western world, Western society include physical stren ...
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Lawrence Pressman
Lawrence Pressman (born David Milton Pressman; July 10, 1939) is an American actor. He is best known for roles on '' Doogie Howser, M.D.'', '' Ladies' Man'', a recurring role on '' Profiler'', the title character on '' Mulligan's Stew'' and as a fictional scientist in the 1971 film '' The Hellstrom Chronicle''. Career His first role was on the soap opera ''The Edge of Night'', and one of his first movie starring roles was in '' Shaft'' (1971). Other film credits include '' Making It'' (1971), ''9 to 5'' (1980), ''The Hanoi Hilton'' (1987), ''Trial and Error'' (1997), '' Mighty Joe Young'' (1998) and '' American Pie'' (1999). He has appeared in TV movies such as '' The Gathering'', '' A Fighting Choice'', '' Victims for Victims: The Theresa Saldana Story''. Guest roles on American television series includes episodes of '' Hawaii Five-O'', ''The Bob Newhart Show'', ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'', ''Dawson's Creek'', ''The Drew Carey Show'', ''Law & Order'', ''Matlock (1986 TV serie ...
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Christopher St
Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρειν (''phérein''), "to bear"; hence the "Christ-bearer". As a given name, 'Christopher' has been in use since the 10th century. In English, Christopher may be abbreviated as "Chris", "Topher", and sometimes " Kit". It was frequently the most popular male first name in the United Kingdom, having been in the top twenty in England and Wales from the 1940s until 1995, although it has since dropped out of the top 100. Within the United Kingdom, the name is most common in England and not so common in Wales, Scotland, or Northern Ireland. Cognates in other languages *Afrikaans: Christoffel, Christoforus *Albanian: Kristofer, Kristofor, Kristoforid, Kristo *Arabic: كريستوفر (''Krīstafor, Kristūfar, Krístufer''), اصطفر (''ʔi� ...
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Sicilian Mafia
The Sicilian Mafia or Cosa Nostra (, ; "our thing"), also referred to as simply Mafia, is a secret society, criminal society and criminal organization originating on the island of Sicily and dates back to the mid-19th century. Emerging as a form of local protection and control over land and agriculture, the Mafia gradually evolved into a powerful criminal network. By the mid-20th century, it had infiltrated politics, construction, and finance, later expanding into drug trafficking, money laundering, and other crimes. At its core, the Mafia engages in protection racketeering, arbitrating disputes between criminals, and organizing and overseeing illegal agreements and transactions. The basic group is known as a "Crime family, family", "clan", or ''cosca''. Each family claims sovereignty over a territory, usually a town, village or neighborhood (''borgata'') of a larger city, in which it operates its Racketeering, rackets. Its members call themselves "Made man, men of honour", although ...
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