Shaft is a black private eye in the sleazy, downtown part of Brooklyn, and of all the new gumshoes trying to fill the Marlowe shoes, he probably comes nearest to the type of character devised by Dashiel Hammett in "The Maltese Falcon" and sharpened by Raymond Chandler in "The Big Sleep."
He is the kind of man of whom Chandler wrote: "But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid."
If Shaft is ever afraid, he does not show it He moves through city streets on foot with the slim grace of a panther He can hold his own with black man or white
To the white police detective who looks sardonically at him and comments: 'You ain't so black," Shaft is quick to pick up a white coffee-cup, hold it alongside the cop's face, and reply: "And you ain't so white either baby."
The mood of the film is set in the beginning when Shaft, striding along the pavements, is asked where he is going. "To get laid," he says without pausing At the end, almost the same situation recurs He is asked: "Where've you been, man?" and he says: 'I got laid. "
The real point about Shaft, however, is that though the character does happen to be a black man, he could just as easily be white, red or yellow Yes, some of the dialog would have to be altered if he were turned into a Charlie Chan, but that is not at issue There is a good deal of the Bogart characterization in Richard Rountree's portrayal, blended with a touch of the Paul Newman's...
He is the kind of man of whom Chandler wrote: "But down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid."
If Shaft is ever afraid, he does not show it He moves through city streets on foot with the slim grace of a panther He can hold his own with black man or white
To the white police detective who looks sardonically at him and comments: 'You ain't so black," Shaft is quick to pick up a white coffee-cup, hold it alongside the cop's face, and reply: "And you ain't so white either baby."
The mood of the film is set in the beginning when Shaft, striding along the pavements, is asked where he is going. "To get laid," he says without pausing At the end, almost the same situation recurs He is asked: "Where've you been, man?" and he says: 'I got laid. "
The real point about Shaft, however, is that though the character does happen to be a black man, he could just as easily be white, red or yellow Yes, some of the dialog would have to be altered if he were turned into a Charlie Chan, but that is not at issue There is a good deal of the Bogart characterization in Richard Rountree's portrayal, blended with a touch of the Paul Newman's...