Shaft (franchise)

John Shaft is a classy and suave African-American detective. Successfully, he fights local crime, in the leader of the black crime mob named Bumpy and 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.

When John Shaft finds out that a dead friend ran an illegal money laundering scheme out of the former's legitimate business and left $200,000 unaccounted for, he discovers the reason why he had suddenly found himself in the middle of a war between rival gangs. The thugs begin a war of taking over the territory that belonged to the deceased, as well as to get their hands on the missing two hundred grand. Shaft has all he can handle trying to track down the money and, at the same time, keep his friend's sister from the clutches of these dangerous groups.

John Shaft is persuaded to take on the faux identity of a native-speaking worker in Africa by threats of violence, the enticings of money, and the lure of a potential love interest in his tutor. While undercover he must help in completing a coup on a business that is smuggling immigrants into Europe, and then exploiting them. The villains, unfortunately for him, know he is coming.

New York City Police Detective John Shaft II, nephew of the 1970s cop,[lower-alpha 1] is the lead detective on a sensitive case when a young African-American is viciously beaten to death. After learning there was an eye-witness and upon further investigation, the man's friends lead Shaft on the trail of a man who was known to have racial prejudice, prior to the attack. The titular character confronts him and learns that he's Walter Wade Jr., the son of a wealthy real estate tycoon. He finds evidence that the perpetrator was at the location of the crime. The suspect is released on bail because of 'excessive force' from Shaft during his arrest, and flees the country. Two years later, Wade returns to the U.S. where Shaft arrests him for evading law enforcement. After the judge grants him bail, Shaft questions the magistrate's motives and intentions. He resigns from the police force and sets out to lock Wade away permanently. At the same time Wade fears that Shaft may find the witness before he does and hires a drug lord to find and kill her.

John Shaft III, also known as JJ, is a cyber security expert for the FBI who seeks out a different kind of expertise from his absentee father John Shaft II (and ultimately, grandfather John Shaft I) after his best friend’s untimely death.

In discussing the film, director Tim Story stated, "...We’re going to definitely make sure the stakes in the world are real, and then you’ve got these characters who are dealing with kind of a father/son situation, we’re going to see them put a family back together."[2]

Following the box office failures of Shaft in Africa, the studio moved the franchise to the small screen in 1973. The first season of series, a collection of TV movies, was released on CBS network television. The show attempted to build crossovers with another crime-drama, Hawkins, but never garnered much success. Each week a new episode was aired, which presents a different case and a different crime for the titular character to solve. After the first season, the series was cancelled, due to poor viewing ratings. Richard Roundtree, who reprised his role from the films, has since expressed his distaste for the TV show.[3]

The film series contains three main stars, with various key characters appearing in each individual movie. The following chart organizes the films' stars, arranged by film.

According to writer/director, Quentin Tarantino, the characters in Django Unchained are ancestors of John Shaft. Broomhilda "Hildi" von Schaft, and Django Freeman as her husband, are the progenitors to the Shaft family line. Tarantino stated that while the film isn't an official prequel to the series, his intention was that the characters have familial ties.[19]