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Shaft #1
Shaft
Shaft has no prejudices. He'll kill anyone- black or white. Who is John Shaft? A black Bogart who says the Revolution is a new way to chase chicks...the Mafia is a meatball...and life is going to screw you if you don't screw it. John Shaft is a private eye. John Shaft is a black man made of muscle and ice.
218 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 27, 1970
47 people are currently reading
328 people want to read
About the author
Ernest Tidyman
26 books26 followersErnest Ralph Tidyman took his first breath on Jan. 1, 1928, the son of a veteran police reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. At age 14, he dropped out of school and, concealing his youth, won his own police-reporting gig with the rival Cleveland News. Following a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, Tidyman returned to Cleveland and worked as an editor for The Plain Dealer before moving to such dailies as the New York Post and The New York Times.
Ernest Tidyman is best known for his novels featuring the African-American detective John Shaft. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the film versions of Shaft and The French Connection. Tidyman was awarded an Academy Award for his screenplay adaptation of The French Connection.
Ernest Tidyman is best known for his novels featuring the African-American detective John Shaft. He also co-wrote the screenplay for the film versions of Shaft and The French Connection. Tidyman was awarded an Academy Award for his screenplay adaptation of The French Connection.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
October 6, 2014
If ever changes made for a screen adaptation of a book was justified ... Shaft represents that. In truth whenever I think of the character Richard Roundtree's version will always be the benchmark (the way that some will always use Sean Connery as a James Bond template or will always hear Bogart's voice in their heads when they read The Maltese Falcon). His Shaft was suave, smooth confidence about him and dressed well. The book's John Shaft (along with not having a moustache ... an add on to the movie I suspect came from Mr Gordon Parks himself or mandated by the studio to have the character link somewhat to Melvin Van Peebles' Sweetback for commercial branding purposes) is mean, constantly scowling and has a dress code akin to that of a construction worker (which, in itself, isn't a negative thing).
The story jumps off when after violently disposing of some men that were sent to get him John learns that a powerful Harlem Gangster named Knocks Person (Bumpy Jonas in the movie)hires him to find his daughter who was kidnapped by members of the syndicate as a war for territory in not just Harlem but all of New York looms. If you've seen the movie you know what happens the rest of the way (and if you haven't the pace - with a breather here and there - grows increasingly violent and fast paced).
The stand out - having finally read the book after years of only knowing the character and the supporting players through the movies - is the depth given to the character that neither of the four films (including the one with Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft's similarly named nephew) really delved into. Such as the fact that John was a decorated Vietnam vet and the motivation behind him becoming a P.I once he got back to civilian life. And though the book version is a bit more self centered (he wouldn't risk his neck for his brother man or anyone that didn't specifically pay him to do that ...) and not the crusader that his iconic movie counter part proved to be ... this is still an entertaining (though very dated in spots) read.
The story jumps off when after violently disposing of some men that were sent to get him John learns that a powerful Harlem Gangster named Knocks Person (Bumpy Jonas in the movie)hires him to find his daughter who was kidnapped by members of the syndicate as a war for territory in not just Harlem but all of New York looms. If you've seen the movie you know what happens the rest of the way (and if you haven't the pace - with a breather here and there - grows increasingly violent and fast paced).
The stand out - having finally read the book after years of only knowing the character and the supporting players through the movies - is the depth given to the character that neither of the four films (including the one with Samuel L. Jackson as Shaft's similarly named nephew) really delved into. Such as the fact that John was a decorated Vietnam vet and the motivation behind him becoming a P.I once he got back to civilian life. And though the book version is a bit more self centered (he wouldn't risk his neck for his brother man or anyone that didn't specifically pay him to do that ...) and not the crusader that his iconic movie counter part proved to be ... this is still an entertaining (though very dated in spots) read.
January 27, 2024
This gritty, action-filled first novel started the Shaft franchise. I liked Isaac Hayes' theme song when it played on the radio back in the 1970s. PI John Shaft is a complex character who fights his personal demons, including PTSD from his military service in Vietnam. Some of the political content is dated now, but it doesn't distract from the novel. Tidyman's muscular prose style is also appealing. I don't know if I'll continue reading the next titles in the Shaft series, but I'm glad I read this first one.
September 3, 2010
First, the description of this book calls it the "novelisation" of the movie.
Huh?
Shaft the novel came first. The movie was adapted from it by its author, an award-winning screenplay writer, along with an award-winning television writer.
Second, this is one HELL of a novel. Gripping, profane, violent, and frankly sexual with a bi-racial love affair, while still passionately well-written---Ernest Tidyman foreshadowed the contemporary flood of "edgy" literary fiction by some forty years. That's a whole lot of years, people, especially considering he was writing barely a decade after Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade got racy with Bridgid O'Shaughnessy by kissing her before handing her over to the Death Row cops (and only a year or two after anti-miscegenation laws were finally declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967).
Forget the TV show and the hype about how Shaft was doin' all the ladies of New York. Yes, he had sex. But in contrast to the uber-explicit porn in much of today's "edgy" fiction, it's only shocking by '60s standards.
Read this novel for the intensely straight-forward look at the lives of a cross-section of black New Yorkers, for the subtle exploration of racism among those oppressed by racism, and for the sheer cojones of an author throwing out on the table everything he can be pretty sure his mostly white, mostly middle-class, mostly racist readership doesn't want to hear anyone say: this is what these times look like to black people, this is how we see Malcolm X, Harlem, Uncle Toms, family life, street life, white people, each other. Ourselves.
But most of all read it because it's great fiction. The scene in the No Name Bar midway through the novel? In which Shaft dupes a couple of mafiosos sent to kill him by pretending to be their stereotype of a black man screwing around behind the back of his fake black wife?
Classic.
Huh?
Shaft the novel came first. The movie was adapted from it by its author, an award-winning screenplay writer, along with an award-winning television writer.
Second, this is one HELL of a novel. Gripping, profane, violent, and frankly sexual with a bi-racial love affair, while still passionately well-written---Ernest Tidyman foreshadowed the contemporary flood of "edgy" literary fiction by some forty years. That's a whole lot of years, people, especially considering he was writing barely a decade after Humphrey Bogart's Sam Spade got racy with Bridgid O'Shaughnessy by kissing her before handing her over to the Death Row cops (and only a year or two after anti-miscegenation laws were finally declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1967).
Forget the TV show and the hype about how Shaft was doin' all the ladies of New York. Yes, he had sex. But in contrast to the uber-explicit porn in much of today's "edgy" fiction, it's only shocking by '60s standards.
Read this novel for the intensely straight-forward look at the lives of a cross-section of black New Yorkers, for the subtle exploration of racism among those oppressed by racism, and for the sheer cojones of an author throwing out on the table everything he can be pretty sure his mostly white, mostly middle-class, mostly racist readership doesn't want to hear anyone say: this is what these times look like to black people, this is how we see Malcolm X, Harlem, Uncle Toms, family life, street life, white people, each other. Ourselves.
But most of all read it because it's great fiction. The scene in the No Name Bar midway through the novel? In which Shaft dupes a couple of mafiosos sent to kill him by pretending to be their stereotype of a black man screwing around behind the back of his fake black wife?
Classic.
June 25, 2019
Stay away from this book. STAY AWAY. I thought I'd read this book for the camp/kitsch/irony/pop-culture factor, but it's not even worth it for that. The book is 214 pages long and was so tedious and poorly written that it took me a month and a half to get through. First thing: the book on which the blaxploitation film classic is based was written by a white guy. A white guy named "Ernest Tidyman", to be exact, which sounds like a neurotic, OCD-addled nebbish whose mother dresses him (never mind that he also wrote the script for hit movie “The French Connection”; “Shaft” still sucks).
Maybe he is, because this book reads like fanfic written by an angry, impotent-rage-filled white guy about what he thinks it must be like to be a black badass who doesn't listen to ANYBODY and who follows nobody's rules but his own. Thing is, Mr. Tidyman tries too hard: he tries too hard to write like he's a hard-boiled hardass, AND he tries too hard to throw in unnecessary metaphors that will make him sound erudite, in-the-know, and some hackneyed version of literary. Example: "He took Shaft's arm and started to walk with him around the corner of the drugstore, down Forty-second Street toward Sixth Avenue. Two men walking arm in arm as scholars might walk through the Sorbonne."
Oh, and this nod-nod, wink-wink tidbit, with regard to a girl named Valerie that Shaft brings home from a bar: "The name bothered him. It felt like a spider crawling across his memory. Some village broad named Valerie shot up a fruit-cake painter a while back. It wasn't this one. She was in jail."
HOW CLEVER YOU ARE, MR. TIDYMAN, WITH YOUR OH-SO-SUBTLE REFERENCE TO VALERIE SOLANAS' SHOOTING OF ANDY WARHOL. YOU CERTAINLY HAVE YOUR FINGER ON THE PULSE. ALSO, THOSE WACKY WOMEN AND ARTISTS, AMIRITE?
The sex scenes are exactly what you probably think they are: unnecessary to the plot (such as it is), overly descriptive and graphic without being at all erotic, and way too long. P.S. Shaft doesn't respect women--shocker, I know. Again, I get the feeling that Tidyman has a lot of axes to grind, and he's using Shaft as the tool with which to do it. Shaft's a big black guy who went to 'Nam, now works as a private eye, and doesn't take shit from anyone! Of *course* he hates Jews, cabdrivers, black activists, "guineas", "faggots", and women! I've probably forgotten some groups of people who Shaft hates. But with lines like this, who cares:
"He couldn't see down the hallway and he had to follow Caroli, who took off up the stairs quickly, half running, one at a time. Like one of those prancing faggots who dance up the stairs in the old musicals on television."
"Two fags walked by, heading toward the men's rooms in the twenty-four-hour movie grind houses between Seventh and Eighth."
"The silly faggot jumped about three inches out of his bright blue raglan sweater and its powder-puff sleeves." (Shaft will, a few pages later, flirt with this "faggot" to bait him into a false meeting in Central Park, in hopes that the man will be mugged. This for no other reason than that the man had the gall to flirt with him first and look at him with lust while serving him coffee. Shaft is an asshole.)
And not only all THIS, but the plot of the book, despite the fact that it's rife with drugs, sex, gangsters, beatings, gunfire, extortion, fire, racial tension, and murder, is ANTICLIMACTIC! Shaft finally gets to the location where he's supposed to be to do the thing that his employer has hired him to do, and the book STOPS right in the middle of the thing he's supposed to be doing! Then cuts to what appears to be several weeks or even several months afterward, after everything's calmed down and the action's long over! Christ, for so much dullness, at least let your fucking book have a PAYOFF, Tidyman! I have an extremely strong feeling that the task that Shaft was supposed to be doing the whole time (rescuing a big-time gangster's daughter) was a MacGuffin. The book's not about that. It's about Shaft, walking around NYC being a big black badass, doing whatever he wants to do and not listening to anybody. And Tidyman grinding a political axe or ten. The only reason I finished this book was that I was too proud to admit I couldn't get through such a short book. Wasn't worth it. Save yourself the trouble and skip this one.
Maybe he is, because this book reads like fanfic written by an angry, impotent-rage-filled white guy about what he thinks it must be like to be a black badass who doesn't listen to ANYBODY and who follows nobody's rules but his own. Thing is, Mr. Tidyman tries too hard: he tries too hard to write like he's a hard-boiled hardass, AND he tries too hard to throw in unnecessary metaphors that will make him sound erudite, in-the-know, and some hackneyed version of literary. Example: "He took Shaft's arm and started to walk with him around the corner of the drugstore, down Forty-second Street toward Sixth Avenue. Two men walking arm in arm as scholars might walk through the Sorbonne."
Oh, and this nod-nod, wink-wink tidbit, with regard to a girl named Valerie that Shaft brings home from a bar: "The name bothered him. It felt like a spider crawling across his memory. Some village broad named Valerie shot up a fruit-cake painter a while back. It wasn't this one. She was in jail."
HOW CLEVER YOU ARE, MR. TIDYMAN, WITH YOUR OH-SO-SUBTLE REFERENCE TO VALERIE SOLANAS' SHOOTING OF ANDY WARHOL. YOU CERTAINLY HAVE YOUR FINGER ON THE PULSE. ALSO, THOSE WACKY WOMEN AND ARTISTS, AMIRITE?
The sex scenes are exactly what you probably think they are: unnecessary to the plot (such as it is), overly descriptive and graphic without being at all erotic, and way too long. P.S. Shaft doesn't respect women--shocker, I know. Again, I get the feeling that Tidyman has a lot of axes to grind, and he's using Shaft as the tool with which to do it. Shaft's a big black guy who went to 'Nam, now works as a private eye, and doesn't take shit from anyone! Of *course* he hates Jews, cabdrivers, black activists, "guineas", "faggots", and women! I've probably forgotten some groups of people who Shaft hates. But with lines like this, who cares:
"He couldn't see down the hallway and he had to follow Caroli, who took off up the stairs quickly, half running, one at a time. Like one of those prancing faggots who dance up the stairs in the old musicals on television."
"Two fags walked by, heading toward the men's rooms in the twenty-four-hour movie grind houses between Seventh and Eighth."
"The silly faggot jumped about three inches out of his bright blue raglan sweater and its powder-puff sleeves." (Shaft will, a few pages later, flirt with this "faggot" to bait him into a false meeting in Central Park, in hopes that the man will be mugged. This for no other reason than that the man had the gall to flirt with him first and look at him with lust while serving him coffee. Shaft is an asshole.)
And not only all THIS, but the plot of the book, despite the fact that it's rife with drugs, sex, gangsters, beatings, gunfire, extortion, fire, racial tension, and murder, is ANTICLIMACTIC! Shaft finally gets to the location where he's supposed to be to do the thing that his employer has hired him to do, and the book STOPS right in the middle of the thing he's supposed to be doing! Then cuts to what appears to be several weeks or even several months afterward, after everything's calmed down and the action's long over! Christ, for so much dullness, at least let your fucking book have a PAYOFF, Tidyman! I have an extremely strong feeling that the task that Shaft was supposed to be doing the whole time (rescuing a big-time gangster's daughter) was a MacGuffin. The book's not about that. It's about Shaft, walking around NYC being a big black badass, doing whatever he wants to do and not listening to anybody. And Tidyman grinding a political axe or ten. The only reason I finished this book was that I was too proud to admit I couldn't get through such a short book. Wasn't worth it. Save yourself the trouble and skip this one.
February 21, 2019
I got this book as a sort of gag gift and decided to just read it for fun. It was... uh, something. There's a surprising amount of homophobia and antisemitism, more than I was expecting anyhow. It's also got some, I guess, decent perspective on the black experience in 1971 New York. I mean, the book is written by a white fellow named Ernest Tidyman, so I don't know. Once the plot finally gets going it becomes a much easier read, but I'd probably be better off just watching the movie. At the end, the book invited me to read a sneak peek of the sequel, "Shaft Among the Jews", but I think I'd had quite enough Shaft by that point.
May 31, 2017
Romanzo datato. Anche la questione razziale,che traspare, mi sembra confusa.Francamente tre stelle stiracchiate.
November 9, 2018
Shaft is a deep book. Oh, not in the sense that it touches on deep issues and ponders difficult sociopolitical questions, but in the sense that it puts you in Shaft’s head and he thinks deep thoughts about everything.
Every freakin’ thing.
Reading this book I wonder if Shaft has ever had a happy day in his life. The book can be a ponderous read at times because Shaft ponders everything. Nothing is just surface, everything is fodder for Shaft’s dark and dolorous musings. There’s a dark cloud behind every beam of sunlight in Shaft’s world. There’s bad intents behind every person Shaft sees in the street, and in every glance Shaft sees the bad behind the good. To be fair, Shaft comes by that worldview honestly, and it serves him well in his job, but even when the case is wrapped and Shaft is playing a board game with a child, he’s deep in brooding. And what is he brooding about? How the child beat him in the game, and Shaft will get better and beat him next time, then have to let the kid win after that because, after all, he’s an adult playing a kid in a kid’s game. Even downtime with a young child brings out the rain clouds.
Does Shaft ever smile?
Despite all that, I liked the book. It feels like a slice of the seventies and this is a book that could only have been written in that era. On the other hand, it deals extensively in stereotypes. Every black person is a militant or a drug dealer. Every Italian is connected to the Mafia. Every white girl wants to sleep with a black man and every white man is afraid of the black man. I would stop short of saying there is anything truly racist about this book, but I can see the arguments. However, Shaft does have some clearly anti-Semitic thoughts about the Jews, making the title of the next book, Shaft Among The Jews, more intriguing.
I read the book because I always like reading the source material behind classic films, and the movie Shaft is an undisputed classic. The big question is, of course, is the book better than the movie? In this case I have to say no. I enjoyed the movie much more. Even if I was listening to Isaac Hayes’ soundtrack as I read the book I couldn’t help but feel that Shaft is not a character I’m in a hurry to revisit, at least in literary form.
Every freakin’ thing.
Reading this book I wonder if Shaft has ever had a happy day in his life. The book can be a ponderous read at times because Shaft ponders everything. Nothing is just surface, everything is fodder for Shaft’s dark and dolorous musings. There’s a dark cloud behind every beam of sunlight in Shaft’s world. There’s bad intents behind every person Shaft sees in the street, and in every glance Shaft sees the bad behind the good. To be fair, Shaft comes by that worldview honestly, and it serves him well in his job, but even when the case is wrapped and Shaft is playing a board game with a child, he’s deep in brooding. And what is he brooding about? How the child beat him in the game, and Shaft will get better and beat him next time, then have to let the kid win after that because, after all, he’s an adult playing a kid in a kid’s game. Even downtime with a young child brings out the rain clouds.
Does Shaft ever smile?
Despite all that, I liked the book. It feels like a slice of the seventies and this is a book that could only have been written in that era. On the other hand, it deals extensively in stereotypes. Every black person is a militant or a drug dealer. Every Italian is connected to the Mafia. Every white girl wants to sleep with a black man and every white man is afraid of the black man. I would stop short of saying there is anything truly racist about this book, but I can see the arguments. However, Shaft does have some clearly anti-Semitic thoughts about the Jews, making the title of the next book, Shaft Among The Jews, more intriguing.
I read the book because I always like reading the source material behind classic films, and the movie Shaft is an undisputed classic. The big question is, of course, is the book better than the movie? In this case I have to say no. I enjoyed the movie much more. Even if I was listening to Isaac Hayes’ soundtrack as I read the book I couldn’t help but feel that Shaft is not a character I’m in a hurry to revisit, at least in literary form.
August 18, 2021
Shaft is physically different than the one everyone knows from the films and he's a bit of a clothes horse on the page, but the unexpected co-star of the novel is really early 70's New York City. Brought to life in all is seedy, ragged glory without a glass tower or penthouse in sight, traveling the length and breadth of the island - walking from Shaft's apartment in the Village to his office in Times Square, taxiing about up to 199th and Amsterdam, back down to Harlem and most everyplace else as well - Shaft pulls no punches with the opponents it's titular PI encounters on in his inner monologues, which flesh out the character in a way impossible to duplicate on film.
The only drawbacks are that Shaft overshadows most every other person in the book, to the point that the plot is occasionally sidetracked or derailed entirely for dozens of pages at a time before being hastily recovered - so hastily that it seems several fairly important scenes were edited out entirely (if they were ever even written).
The only drawbacks are that Shaft overshadows most every other person in the book, to the point that the plot is occasionally sidetracked or derailed entirely for dozens of pages at a time before being hastily recovered - so hastily that it seems several fairly important scenes were edited out entirely (if they were ever even written).
November 12, 2013
Ernest Tidyman, Shaft (Bantam, 1971)
[originally posted 12Jun2000]
Hollywood pounced on Ernest Tidyman's afro-sporting overly brutal private eye, releasing the film of Shaft in the same year as the novel upon which it is based. Not surprisingly for a 1971 film, it's toned down. John Shaft is a tough-talking twenty-nine-year-old tightly-wrapped mass of violence waiting to explode. He is hired by Harlem narcotics boss Knocks Persons to retrieve Persons' kidnapped daughter. To that end, Shaft recruits his childhood friend, Black Panther-styled activist Ben Buford. Buford's militia, Persons' money, and Shaft—the man behind it all—are up against the Mafia, who let the drug trade in Harlem go, assuming a number of smaller operators would pick it up. Now that it's centralized, they want it back, and they've taken Persons' nineteen-year-old daughter as a method of persuasion.
Tidyman's writing isn't up to that of the true genre classics, but it's easily on a par with those on the second level of good, hard-boiled PI writing, such as Spillane or Thompson. And while some of the cultural references are dated (it was the seventies in New York, whaddya want?), the main storyline and crisp, bloody writing holds up exceptionally well after almost thirty years. Take the ride, it's a good one. *** ½
[originally posted 12Jun2000]
Hollywood pounced on Ernest Tidyman's afro-sporting overly brutal private eye, releasing the film of Shaft in the same year as the novel upon which it is based. Not surprisingly for a 1971 film, it's toned down. John Shaft is a tough-talking twenty-nine-year-old tightly-wrapped mass of violence waiting to explode. He is hired by Harlem narcotics boss Knocks Persons to retrieve Persons' kidnapped daughter. To that end, Shaft recruits his childhood friend, Black Panther-styled activist Ben Buford. Buford's militia, Persons' money, and Shaft—the man behind it all—are up against the Mafia, who let the drug trade in Harlem go, assuming a number of smaller operators would pick it up. Now that it's centralized, they want it back, and they've taken Persons' nineteen-year-old daughter as a method of persuasion.
Tidyman's writing isn't up to that of the true genre classics, but it's easily on a par with those on the second level of good, hard-boiled PI writing, such as Spillane or Thompson. And while some of the cultural references are dated (it was the seventies in New York, whaddya want?), the main storyline and crisp, bloody writing holds up exceptionally well after almost thirty years. Take the ride, it's a good one. *** ½
November 1, 2014
Meh. Two stars seems a bit harsh, but really, the best I can say is it was okay. Tidyman tries way too hard to be tough and edgy, without really being convincing. Sure, there is a lot of violence (Shaft is willing to be cold-bloodedly murderuos, which, admittedly, is a bit unusual even for hard-boiled detective heroes), and cursing, and racism, and a bit of gratuitous sex ("'this is why you're called Shaft'"--yes, really), but there doesn't seem to be much depth or texture to it. Too many scenes just don't seem to carry the plot forward, or offer interesting characterization or social commentary. Many passages feel like they're trying to make this into serious stuff rather than just pulp adventure. They do not succeed in doing so. A year from now, I doubt I'll remember much, if anything, of the plot, despite all the pieces: major crime lord hiring Shaft to find his mob-abducted daughter, Shaft enlisting a Farrakan-style activist and his troops to rescue the girl, much violence and death without much larger purpose or payoff.
January 28, 2010
We read this as the inaugural book for the WTF? Bookclub- an online collection of misfits who sporadically engage in group reads, of both the serious and the ridiculous.
Good lord, was it ever awful. Homophobic, misogynistic, racist, anti-semetic, and uber-violent, John Shaft is a big dick in every sense of the word.
and Ernest Tidyman is no better. (but probably cuts a less dashing figure in a leather jacket)
Good lord, was it ever awful. Homophobic, misogynistic, racist, anti-semetic, and uber-violent, John Shaft is a big dick in every sense of the word.
and Ernest Tidyman is no better. (but probably cuts a less dashing figure in a leather jacket)
January 4, 2017
I know I'm about to blaspheme but... BETTER THAN THE MOVIE
October 14, 2025
Shaft was surely a cornerstone, one of the first films to promote and celebrate an African American hero, an actor in a leading role that was nominated for a Golden globe for Most Promising Newcomer- Male.
The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list has included this appreciated, groundbreaking film:
https://www.listchallenges.com/new-yo...
Yet, even if Samuel L. Jackson has started in a re-make and seems to be intent on making another soon, one may wonder what is so special about this detective, crime thriller.
Maybe this should be repeated: it certainly opened some roads- even today, minorities are not well represented: African Americans and other groups are seldom given preeminence, the actors are not awarded, sometimes even nominated; women are paid much less than men- the recent case of All the Money in the World and the huge gap between the co-stars, Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg, made headlines.
It is also very possible that Shaft was one of the first to present what is now such a familiar story, audiences having seen so many similar narratives that looking at this they would be tempted to say that they know this, they have seen this before, only this déjà vu feeling is experienced because others have travelled on the road opened by Shaft.
For whatever reason, one could wonder why this is among the best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.
John Shaft is different and part in that he is an African American private investigator and we do not really see many- if any (?)- of those on the big screen, or in literature for that matter, given the aforementioned scarcity of black heroes in general and the now destroyed prejudice- actually it seems a racist statement- that productions with black stars do not sell well- Black Panther broke records and annihilated that premise.
The hero is smart, socially intelligent, brave, honest, kind, persistent, wise, curios, creative, has perspective and he is engaged in a difficult and challenging task, to try and save a young woman.
Bumpy Jonas is one of the leaders of the underworld, involved in all sorts of illegal activities that bring not just the antipathy, but the hatred and the wrath of competitors who want to eliminate him or, at the very least, kill his business and take over territory and profits.
This gangster is looking for Shaft in a vicious manner, sending two hatchet men after him, when a fight breaks out; one of the bandits is going through the window of the higher floor and lands on the pavement, killed.
The police are taking Shaft at the station to interrogate him and press the witness and the suspect into confessing or at least testifying and informing the law about who the other man was and what happened.
The private detective is not a “rat” and he knows the law very well, the details that are needed for a case to stand in court, evidence that he did something wrong and that he can sue, if they take away his license and livelihood in the process.
When Shaft meets with Bumpy, there is a confrontation with the thugs that are keeping the gate and have to search all those entering to see the Big Man, to make sure that they carry no weapons.
Bumpy has a first version, in which he says that his daughter had been kidnapped, he has multiple enemies and they should come to confront him, not the innocent child who had had no role in the wars over territory and illegal business developments and the gang leader wants the African American investigator to search for and find his daughter.
In order to do that, Shaft is asking his connections and has to trace Ben Buford- when they finally face each other, a shooting spree erupts and they all have to run for cover, while five of Buford’s men are killed and this leader of Black Nationals has to find refuge- that he at first refuses vehemently- with the detective.
Shaft finds that Bumpy was behind this attack and furthermore, his client had lied- that is he did not give the investigator the information he dad, deceiving by omission-and actually knew who was behind the kidnapping- the mafia, which wanted to push him out and force his hand.
In order to defeat the powerful white criminal organization, John Shaft arranges for Bumpy and Ben Buford to work together in what looks like a race war, on the one side the Italian organized crime and on the other an outré alliance between otherwise antagonistic African American groups.
It is not at all easy, the operation requires wisdom, courage, brilliance, self-sacrifice, dedication, tactical thinking, astuteness and a good deal of good luck, as shootings and firearm use are not just likely, but only to be expected- indeed, they do happen.
What is different in all this?
The race of the protagonists- very rarely do we see this prominence of Black Power, the arrangement of the various clashing groups, amusing elements and yet, the final production still lacks some sophistication, refined achievement.
The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made list has included this appreciated, groundbreaking film:
https://www.listchallenges.com/new-yo...
Yet, even if Samuel L. Jackson has started in a re-make and seems to be intent on making another soon, one may wonder what is so special about this detective, crime thriller.
Maybe this should be repeated: it certainly opened some roads- even today, minorities are not well represented: African Americans and other groups are seldom given preeminence, the actors are not awarded, sometimes even nominated; women are paid much less than men- the recent case of All the Money in the World and the huge gap between the co-stars, Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg, made headlines.
It is also very possible that Shaft was one of the first to present what is now such a familiar story, audiences having seen so many similar narratives that looking at this they would be tempted to say that they know this, they have seen this before, only this déjà vu feeling is experienced because others have travelled on the road opened by Shaft.
For whatever reason, one could wonder why this is among the best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.
John Shaft is different and part in that he is an African American private investigator and we do not really see many- if any (?)- of those on the big screen, or in literature for that matter, given the aforementioned scarcity of black heroes in general and the now destroyed prejudice- actually it seems a racist statement- that productions with black stars do not sell well- Black Panther broke records and annihilated that premise.
The hero is smart, socially intelligent, brave, honest, kind, persistent, wise, curios, creative, has perspective and he is engaged in a difficult and challenging task, to try and save a young woman.
Bumpy Jonas is one of the leaders of the underworld, involved in all sorts of illegal activities that bring not just the antipathy, but the hatred and the wrath of competitors who want to eliminate him or, at the very least, kill his business and take over territory and profits.
This gangster is looking for Shaft in a vicious manner, sending two hatchet men after him, when a fight breaks out; one of the bandits is going through the window of the higher floor and lands on the pavement, killed.
The police are taking Shaft at the station to interrogate him and press the witness and the suspect into confessing or at least testifying and informing the law about who the other man was and what happened.
The private detective is not a “rat” and he knows the law very well, the details that are needed for a case to stand in court, evidence that he did something wrong and that he can sue, if they take away his license and livelihood in the process.
When Shaft meets with Bumpy, there is a confrontation with the thugs that are keeping the gate and have to search all those entering to see the Big Man, to make sure that they carry no weapons.
Bumpy has a first version, in which he says that his daughter had been kidnapped, he has multiple enemies and they should come to confront him, not the innocent child who had had no role in the wars over territory and illegal business developments and the gang leader wants the African American investigator to search for and find his daughter.
In order to do that, Shaft is asking his connections and has to trace Ben Buford- when they finally face each other, a shooting spree erupts and they all have to run for cover, while five of Buford’s men are killed and this leader of Black Nationals has to find refuge- that he at first refuses vehemently- with the detective.
Shaft finds that Bumpy was behind this attack and furthermore, his client had lied- that is he did not give the investigator the information he dad, deceiving by omission-and actually knew who was behind the kidnapping- the mafia, which wanted to push him out and force his hand.
In order to defeat the powerful white criminal organization, John Shaft arranges for Bumpy and Ben Buford to work together in what looks like a race war, on the one side the Italian organized crime and on the other an outré alliance between otherwise antagonistic African American groups.
It is not at all easy, the operation requires wisdom, courage, brilliance, self-sacrifice, dedication, tactical thinking, astuteness and a good deal of good luck, as shootings and firearm use are not just likely, but only to be expected- indeed, they do happen.
What is different in all this?
The race of the protagonists- very rarely do we see this prominence of Black Power, the arrangement of the various clashing groups, amusing elements and yet, the final production still lacks some sophistication, refined achievement.
November 10, 2018
I picked this up after watching the 2000 remake of "Shaft" starring Samuel L. Jackson. I had been meaning to see if there were any books as the basis for the 'Shaft' stories, and the 2000 movie reminded me to resume the search. The 1971 movie with Richard Roundtree was an event, but I had a hard time following the story. Fortunately, this first book - in what turns out to be a series of seven - is the basis for the 1971 movie which follows the story almost as closely as Tinseltown ever can.
In this book, Shaft leaves his girlfriend's and starts out his day as a (very cool) private eye, but realizes the streets seem different - not safe, actually - and he's right. Right on, you might say. Seems the police are looking for him, and a gangster has all his minions looking for him, and none of them are going to be asking questions politely. Shaft is hot (yet still cooler than anyone else on earth).
As the day matures in an unpleasant way, we discover that the gangster's beloved yet wayward daughter has been kidnapped for an (as yet) unknown reason, and he wants Shaft's help getting her back. Shaft wants the help of the local Black Power leader who has his ear to the ground, but that will involve enduring no end of righteous attitude (now I know why the movie was confusing). Meanwhile, the motive of the kidnapping is concerning the local police, since 1970 race relations are such a tinder box. And Shaft has to work with all sides, even the Italian mafia, to make this come together ... and stay alive.
Shaft has double the attitude (and the book double the pages) of Mike Hammer or James Bond, and replaces secret agent savoir fair with superhuman street smarts. Similar to the movie, you have to follow the plot carefully - Tidyman makes no effort to hold your hand. But I can see why it became a movie, with its 1970 frankness, open acknowledgement of racial differences, contemporary language, hyper manliness, and edgy plot.
As a side note, I still remember the Isaac Hayes performance of the theme song on the Academy Award show. I was not even in my teens, but that music was riveting - and MADE Shaft. I don't know if I would have seen the character the same way without that theme song. Amazing.
In this book, Shaft leaves his girlfriend's and starts out his day as a (very cool) private eye, but realizes the streets seem different - not safe, actually - and he's right. Right on, you might say. Seems the police are looking for him, and a gangster has all his minions looking for him, and none of them are going to be asking questions politely. Shaft is hot (yet still cooler than anyone else on earth).
As the day matures in an unpleasant way, we discover that the gangster's beloved yet wayward daughter has been kidnapped for an (as yet) unknown reason, and he wants Shaft's help getting her back. Shaft wants the help of the local Black Power leader who has his ear to the ground, but that will involve enduring no end of righteous attitude (now I know why the movie was confusing). Meanwhile, the motive of the kidnapping is concerning the local police, since 1970 race relations are such a tinder box. And Shaft has to work with all sides, even the Italian mafia, to make this come together ... and stay alive.
Shaft has double the attitude (and the book double the pages) of Mike Hammer or James Bond, and replaces secret agent savoir fair with superhuman street smarts. Similar to the movie, you have to follow the plot carefully - Tidyman makes no effort to hold your hand. But I can see why it became a movie, with its 1970 frankness, open acknowledgement of racial differences, contemporary language, hyper manliness, and edgy plot.
As a side note, I still remember the Isaac Hayes performance of the theme song on the Academy Award show. I was not even in my teens, but that music was riveting - and MADE Shaft. I don't know if I would have seen the character the same way without that theme song. Amazing.
June 12, 2023
A Private Detective novel. A variation on a standard Private Detective narrative. Shaft is hired by a Harlem mobster to find his missing daughter. The mobster controls the Harlem drug trade. It turns out that the Mafia have got the daughter, wanting to trade her for control of the Harlem drug market. Shaft is the tough individual between two forces. Then there is a third force, the cops. Shaft has to play them all. There are the usual tropes of the Private Detective novel, e.g., the use of violence, the ritual beating, etc – although Shaft has none of Philip Marlowe’s wit. And, of course, Shaft is Black…and, to point out the obvious, the Mafia are White, the cops are White. There is a fourth force, a group of Black revolutionaries – and it is interesting that the cops and authorities seem to think revolution or race war is inevitable. But Shaft contrasts with the Black revolutionaries: he is a good American: he isn’t political (Shaft and the novel are patronising to the revolutionaries), he is just trying to make a buck, improve himself, an operator in the market. The revolutionaries finally prove themselves by supporting Shaft, their political struggle just a tool for Shaft. Shaft’s attitude to women is largely that of cool Playboy – the book doesn’t challenge this. More vicious is his attitude to gay characters: for instance, he arranges a meeting with one in Central Park, knowing that at the best the man will be beaten up, at the worst killed…this is treated as a joke, both by Shaft and the book. As the story advances, these side issues fall away, but they leave a bad taste. Although there is no great character development, there is a physical development: at the beginning Shaft is fit, toned, alert, a man in peak condition; by the end he is beaten to a pulp, hardly able to walk…but, of course, he continues with fortitude. A pulp novel with the strengths of a pulp novel (the narrative motors along) and the weaknesses (the nastiness).
July 14, 2023
My primary motivation for reading this in that I believe it falls under the heading of a classic for its genre. It is one of, if not the, first mystery to have a black lead character, especially one who not portrayed in a stereotypical manner. This book and the later film were significant factors in the rise of blaxploitation films in the 1970s.
The odd thing to me, both in reading the book, and trying to use some hindsight is that Tidyman is white. His films and book work lead to him receiving a NAACP award.
And, it is probably deserved. The novel, arguably more so than the movie (which I have not seen in years) falls very much into the hard boiled detective category. What rises this book above the only Spillane I managed to finish is that Shaft is a well rounded character.
Shaft doesn't think about only women, money, revenge (for getting beaten) or the case. Shaft ponders the state of the Black man and Black people in the early 1970s. Arguably Shaft feels conflicted about his feelings in that he has one foot in the White (because of his occupation and contacts) and Black worlds. Hell, Hammer's Spillane barely thinks (I still think I, The Jury is not a good book).
Shaft is hired to find the drug addict daughter of Harlem's crime boss. During his travels he encounters NYC cops, Mafia, and other characters. Ben Buford arguably stands out as Shaft's childhood friend, now a Black Revolutionary.
I still see Richard Roundtree in my mind as I read this, and be aware that the book does differ from the movie.
The odd thing to me, both in reading the book, and trying to use some hindsight is that Tidyman is white. His films and book work lead to him receiving a NAACP award.
And, it is probably deserved. The novel, arguably more so than the movie (which I have not seen in years) falls very much into the hard boiled detective category. What rises this book above the only Spillane I managed to finish is that Shaft is a well rounded character.
Shaft doesn't think about only women, money, revenge (for getting beaten) or the case. Shaft ponders the state of the Black man and Black people in the early 1970s. Arguably Shaft feels conflicted about his feelings in that he has one foot in the White (because of his occupation and contacts) and Black worlds. Hell, Hammer's Spillane barely thinks (I still think I, The Jury is not a good book).
Shaft is hired to find the drug addict daughter of Harlem's crime boss. During his travels he encounters NYC cops, Mafia, and other characters. Ben Buford arguably stands out as Shaft's childhood friend, now a Black Revolutionary.
I still see Richard Roundtree in my mind as I read this, and be aware that the book does differ from the movie.
May 26, 2023
2.9: I've been on a kick lately of finding the source material for some of the major characters. This is definitely that. You can see a lot of the original film here (he wrote the script), the intelligence and the unstoppable nature of Shaft is on every page. The prose is classic noir and it moves fast, but with clarity.
Pro- The descriptions feel so vividly of the time and place. It's cool to get a sense of the origins of the character as a Vet working outside and for the system (love me some core motives). The confidence, the intelligence, and the ability to playfully banter or put the scariest dude in their place. Every bit of Shaft's classic cool is here
Con- I'm so glad they changed Shaft's persona for the movie. This is guy is mean, just mean and cruel. There isn't really the same heroic core to him in the way Roundtree portrayed him in the film. I know it's "of the time", but even still the homophobia, anti-semitism, and general misanthropy reads like Mickey Spillane's angrier younger brother, and these asides don't further the narrative and take away from the moments of actual examination of racial tension.
It's cool to see where it all began, but veery glad that I knew the film Shaft before the book Shaft.
Pro- The descriptions feel so vividly of the time and place. It's cool to get a sense of the origins of the character as a Vet working outside and for the system (love me some core motives). The confidence, the intelligence, and the ability to playfully banter or put the scariest dude in their place. Every bit of Shaft's classic cool is here
Con- I'm so glad they changed Shaft's persona for the movie. This is guy is mean, just mean and cruel. There isn't really the same heroic core to him in the way Roundtree portrayed him in the film. I know it's "of the time", but even still the homophobia, anti-semitism, and general misanthropy reads like Mickey Spillane's angrier younger brother, and these asides don't further the narrative and take away from the moments of actual examination of racial tension.
It's cool to see where it all began, but veery glad that I knew the film Shaft before the book Shaft.
June 24, 2019
è difficile non leggere "shaft" e non ripensare al mitologico film che ne venne tratto: già le prime pagine sono esattamente la meravigliosa sequenza introduttiva del film, perennemente legata alla colonna sonora di isaac hayes.
"shaft" è una macchina temporale che riporta alla new york di qualche era fa, una città quasi allo sbando, dove tra politiche inefficienti, delinquenza diffusa e rivolte politiche la situazione è sempre potenzialmente esplosiva, con in mezzo ai fuochi il prototipo dell'eroe blaxploitation (duro ma malinconico, che sente il razzismo ma è oltre le politica a la black panthers, che salta da una donna all'altra ma soffre la propria inesprimibile solitudine) ad indagare: forse la trama può sembrare troppo semplice, forse il nostro eroe la passa liscia più volte di quanto la logica vorrebbe, ma il romanzo fa il suo sporco mestiere e intrattiene il lettore fino all'ultima pagina.
non il miglior poliziesco del mondo ma un personaggio come shaft è talmente ben costruito che le quattro stelle ci sono tutte; e poi è perfetto per le giornate estive, quando il caldo manda in crisi ogni velleità di leggere cose più corpose...
"shaft" è una macchina temporale che riporta alla new york di qualche era fa, una città quasi allo sbando, dove tra politiche inefficienti, delinquenza diffusa e rivolte politiche la situazione è sempre potenzialmente esplosiva, con in mezzo ai fuochi il prototipo dell'eroe blaxploitation (duro ma malinconico, che sente il razzismo ma è oltre le politica a la black panthers, che salta da una donna all'altra ma soffre la propria inesprimibile solitudine) ad indagare: forse la trama può sembrare troppo semplice, forse il nostro eroe la passa liscia più volte di quanto la logica vorrebbe, ma il romanzo fa il suo sporco mestiere e intrattiene il lettore fino all'ultima pagina.
non il miglior poliziesco del mondo ma un personaggio come shaft è talmente ben costruito che le quattro stelle ci sono tutte; e poi è perfetto per le giornate estive, quando il caldo manda in crisi ogni velleità di leggere cose più corpose...
November 12, 2021
pretty racist
who was this book written for? i have a hard time thinking ernest tidyman was writing it for black people. he repeatedly refers to black people as animals and portrays "John SHAFT" (i think the pun was intended) as a hypersexual negro who really doesn't like to think about much except money and having intercourse with white women. the book also has a homoerotic vibe.
who was this book written for? i have a hard time thinking ernest tidyman was writing it for black people. he repeatedly refers to black people as animals and portrays "John SHAFT" (i think the pun was intended) as a hypersexual negro who really doesn't like to think about much except money and having intercourse with white women. the book also has a homoerotic vibe.
April 26, 2019
Edgy novel from the streets of NYC circa 1970. There's a no holds barred brutal elegance to Shaft, one that's unapologetic and "keeps it real." Shaft is an anachronism though, a killing machine with a sexual drive that only the 1970s could satisfy. Shaft would frighten the culturally aware if today, with his brutal honest and deep look into urban dystopia.
January 15, 2017
A rare instance where the movie was better than the book it was based on. This is an exercise in style over substance. Not particularly well written, it tries too hard to be edgy. This John Shaft is a murderous dick.
September 9, 2018
A solid read but there's not much of a storyline. It's told straight without ambiguity and the way it played out was a little rough / a little boring as a result. Definitely a book of it's time and worth a read. Certainly made me want to rewatch the movie.
November 16, 2016
Any book where the hero saves the girl by inciting a race riot as a distraction is good times! Should I have said spoiler alert?
March 17, 2019
Send it to me.
September 28, 2019
Excellent
Better than the film, very entertaining and realistic. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series as soon as possible.
Better than the film, very entertaining and realistic. Looking forward to reading the next book in the series as soon as possible.
August 24, 2022
"Shaft is gonna light your fire."
Shaft puts funk into the detective/noir genre.
Shaft puts funk into the detective/noir genre.
July 2, 2023
Filled to the brim with homophobia. Some pretty sexist shit, too. Going beyond Shaft being a womanizer.
November 26, 2023
3.5 stars
February 22, 2024
Wtf were the 70s
November 20, 2011
The first, and among the best of the Shaft books. Tidyman weaves a very tight plot centred around his creation of John Shaft. Shaft is written as a tough, streetwise private eye who was brought up in the rough streets of Harlem. His decision to work as a private eye based in the "white" area of Manhattan is viewed by his black acquaintances as a betrayal. This is most notably protested by the character of Ben Buford, a militant with whom Shaft had grown up with in Harlem, but also by the gangster Knocks Persons who claims he approached Shaft because of his white connections.
The race issue is not the centre of the book, however, it is just a backdrop giving it a unique (at the time) flavour. The main drive of the book is the plot surrounding the kidnapping of Persons' daughter by the Mafia and how Shaft is used, by both the gangsters and the police, despite his cockiness and self-assurance. Shaft carries himself with such arrogance that he thinks no one will get the better of him. He thus gets himself into some pretty dangerous situations along the way and even gets a severe beating by mafia hit men.
That Shaft wins out in the end comes as no surprise and the reader is carried along with him through to the exciting finale. Along the way the book is liberally dosed with barbed dialogue and wisecracks. As such it follows the tradition of the hard-boiled detective books of Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane, albeit spiced up with heavier doses of sex and violence.
Other books in the series are:- Shaft Among the Jews, Shaft's Big Score!, Shaft Has a Ball, Good-bye Mr Shaft, Shaft's Carnival of Killers and the last Shaft. All are worth searching out for entertaining thick ear fiction.
The race issue is not the centre of the book, however, it is just a backdrop giving it a unique (at the time) flavour. The main drive of the book is the plot surrounding the kidnapping of Persons' daughter by the Mafia and how Shaft is used, by both the gangsters and the police, despite his cockiness and self-assurance. Shaft carries himself with such arrogance that he thinks no one will get the better of him. He thus gets himself into some pretty dangerous situations along the way and even gets a severe beating by mafia hit men.
That Shaft wins out in the end comes as no surprise and the reader is carried along with him through to the exciting finale. Along the way the book is liberally dosed with barbed dialogue and wisecracks. As such it follows the tradition of the hard-boiled detective books of Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane, albeit spiced up with heavier doses of sex and violence.
Other books in the series are:- Shaft Among the Jews, Shaft's Big Score!, Shaft Has a Ball, Good-bye Mr Shaft, Shaft's Carnival of Killers and the last Shaft. All are worth searching out for entertaining thick ear fiction.
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