Shaft's Big Score! (1972) (2025)

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1972

Directed by Gordon Parks

Synopsis

Last time he was nice. This time he's ice!

John Shaft is back as the lady-loved black detective cop on the search for the murderer of a client.

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  • Cast
  • Crew
  • Details
  • Genres
  • Releases

Cast

Richard Roundtree Moses Gunn Drew Bundini Brown Joseph Mascolo Kathy Imrie Wally Taylor Julius Harris Rosalind Miles Joe Santos Angelo Gnazzo Don Blakely Melvin Green, Jr. Thomas Anderson Evelyn Davis Richard Pittman Robert Kya-Hill Thomas Brann Bob Jefferson Dan P. Hannafin Jimmy Hayeson Harry Ferrentino Frank Adonis Kitty Jones Gregory Reese Marilyn Hamlin Jahangir Ghaffari Joyce Walker

DirectorDirector

Gordon Parks

ProducersProducers

Roger H. Lewis Ernest Tidyman

WriterWriter

Ernest Tidyman

CastingCasting

Judith Lamb

EditorEditor

Moe Howard

CinematographyCinematography

Urs Furrer

Assistant DirectorAsst. Director

William C. Gerrity

Art DirectionArt Direction

Emanuel Gerard

Set DecorationSet Decoration

Robert Drumheller

ComposerComposer

Gordon Parks

Costume DesignCostume Design

Joseph G. Aulisi

MakeupMakeup

Martin Bell

Studios

Shaft Productions Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Country

USA

Language

English

Alternative Titles

Shaft - Liebesgrüße aus Pistolen, Shaft 2 - Les nouveaux exploits de Shaft, Shaft 2 - Liebesgrüße aus Pistolen, Liebesgrüße aus Pistolen, Les nouveaux exploits de Shaft, Shaft és a nagy zsákmány, Shaft colpisce ancora, Големият удар на Шафт, Большая удача Шафта, Το Μεγάλο Κόλπο του Shaft, Shaft vuelve a Harlem, O Grande Golpe de Shaft, 黑街神探大出击, Marea lovitură a lui Shaft!, Wielki sukces Shafta, 黒いジャガー/シャフト旋風, Shaft rensar stan, A Marca de Shaft, Shaft's store kup

Genres

Mystery Crime Adventure Action

Releases by Date

Sort by

  • Date
  • Country

Theatrical

08 Jun 1972
  • Shaft's Big Score! (1972) (3)USAR

13 Oct 1972
  • Shaft's Big Score! (1972) (4)Ireland15

25 May 1973
  • Shaft's Big Score! (1972) (5)Germany16

Physical

01 Jul 1993
  • Shaft's Big Score! (1972) (6)USAR

Releases by Country

Sort by

  • Date
  • Country
Shaft's Big Score! (1972) (7)Germany
25 May 1973
  • Theatrical16
Shaft's Big Score! (1972) (8)Ireland
13 Oct 1972
  • Theatrical15
Shaft's Big Score! (1972) (9)USA
08 Jun 1972
  • TheatricalR
01 Jul 1993
  • PhysicalRVHS

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  • Review by demi adejuyigbe 3

    Love a menacing clarinet score, love a villain that brings it in diegetically. I guess my big note here would be that a Shaft movie should probably have a notable amount of Shaft in it

  • Review by David Sims ★★★ 2

    I'll say it: this Shaft guy is pretty cool

  • Review by dmartsfilm ★★★

    Nowhere near as good or iconic as the first entry, but that climax is thrilling! This film loses that dark noir approach and just gives us a less moody atmosphere and story. Richard Roundtree is still really good in the role, but this material just isn’t on the level of the first even though it’s still solid. Criterion including this sequel in their 4K edition of Shaft is a GOAT move. It’s really fun to do a Shaft double feature like I did with it!

  • Review by {Todd} ★★★ 2

    "What else can you offer me?" -Shaft,

    Silver painted naked lady dancing!!! And more!!!!

    If you can get past the intense sexism of the first film, Shaft is a wonderful noir with great moments, an iconic lead performance, and an amazing soundtrack. Shaft's Big Score brings back many of those elements of the first film but just doesn't work quite as well, despite the fact that I did enjoy parts of it. It's just kind of a boring and obvious procedural that feels like it is going through the motions a lot. That said, there are a few really special scenes and the finale is pretty fun.

    Worth it... barely.

  • Review by AD917 ★★★

    Like so many other hastily produced sequels to groundbreaking hit action movies, Shaft’s Big Score! does little more than trying to one up its predecessor in terms of scale and production value. I expect the word “more” was heard on the set on a daily basis.

    This time around we get more cars in more chases, causing more explosions; more (and bigger) guns blowing away more bad guys and spilling more blood in the process; more babes showing more boobs in more sex scenes. And that’s not even counting the other additional content. Shit, the first movie didn’t have any speedboats or helicopters!

    My friends, I promise you I am not mad at any of that.

    I will say, though,…

  • Review by AndrewC ★★★

    Whereas the first Shaft was more of a detective film, its immediate sequel Shaft's Big Score! is far more action-oriented and comes at the cost of having a much less interesting story and dynamic. It certainly is still a fun enough watch with solid action and another ultra-cool lead turn from Richard Roundtree, but the film lacks a bit of the vibes and social incisiveness that the first had. Overall, the film just feels too sanitized and is clearly made more for a mass appeal in the vein of a Bond-like thriller complete with a bombastic final 20 minutes that, while well-staged in its action and stunts, goes on for way too long. The plot this time is also not…

  • Review by Rock ★★★★

    Shaft had an opening sequence where the hero walked around looking super cool while a kickass song blared on the soundtrack. Shaft's Big Score! has a sequence where the hero gets beat up in slow motion in between an exotic dancer montage while a kickass song blares on the soundtrack. I'll let you judge which is better.

    This is nicer looking than the original and more concerned with plot, although it loses some of the purity of the earlier movie, which was concerned with how cool its hero was above all else. It does drag in parts, but comes roaring back with an amazing climax.

    Automatic four stars for cool helicopter shit.

  • Review by Cinema_Strikes ★★★ 6

    The first Shaft sequel has two of the three human elements that made the first such a smash - Richard Roundtree’s effortless cool and Gordon Parks’s dynamic direction- but lacks the slammin’ funk score from Isaac Hayes, replacing it with a decidedly inferior jazzy score from Parks and OC Smith (including a super goofy theme song that tries to piggyback off the iconic original). The sequel also doubles down on the weakest aspect of the first film, the detective plotting (I’ve seen the original a number of times and can barely remember the plot). It’s a bit smoother, more generic, significantly less iconic than the groundbreaking original.

    Buuuttt … you get Moses Gunn reprising his role as Bumpy Jonas and Julius Harris (Big Papa himself) as a testy cop, Shaft vs a helicopter, a terrific dummy fall, a great car chase, and plenty of boobs and shoot-outs, so more than enough to keep the punters happy.

  • Review by Gregor Kreyca ★★★

    I didn’t even know I acquired this one when I bought the Shaft 4K Blu-ray from Criterion. Imagine my surprise when I realized the sequel was part of the deal. It’s an OK movie but I kinda see why it didn’t get its own release. It has a very slow moving first half but gets considerable better towards the end. The final has a great and lengthy action set-piece which ends the movie on a high note. So if you bought the Criterion package this is definitely worth checking out as well.

  • Review by Sonny_Jim ★★★ 2

    Not as great as the first in the series, but still very fun and Richard Roundtree is as badass as ever. I think it suffers a bit by having so many of the scenes occur in the daytime or in brightly lit interiors; it loses some of the gritty street-level feel that the first one had.

    It does amp up the action considerably in the third act, however, and any movie that's nuts enough to have a helicopter fly around inside a building is worth at least 3 stars.

    (In case there was any doubt, Shaft scores more than once in this.)

  • Review by Wood ★★★ 1

    The year was 1972 and MGM dives right in to producing more Shaft, Gordon Parks and Richard Roundtree are back for more.

    Shaft’s fuck session is interrupted by a Call from his old friend Cal Ashby. After a 20 minute driving session to the new Shaft music he arrives at Cal’s to find a bomb went off, and oops all the money's gone. Why did it take 20 minutes, was the intro in real time?

    No Issac Hayes? That's gonna be a big no from me dawg. Director Gordon Parks did composition it’s just not as funky. Sounds closer to cruise ship lounge music.

    Police Captain is black this time. A Steve Harvey looking mother fucker, no longer feels groundbreaking…

  • Review by Michael501 📺 ★★½

    1972 In Review - June
    #11

    Shaft is back to find the murderer of an old friend on the cold hard city streets with a little help from his new friends.

    Due to the success of the original Shaft, a much bigger budget was thrown at this sequel, giving us helicopters, speedboats, elaborate car chases but unfortunately that also means the story is a lot more slower paced and slightly bloated. The character of Shaft here isn’t as good as in the original although Richard Roundtree does play him well.
    I can’t believe they don’t reuse the awesome Shaft theme song either, although Isaac Hayes does contribute a song, it’s just not as memorable.
    The original has an underground guerilla…

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