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Shaft's Big Score! (1972)

A review by Damian Cannon.
Copyright © Movie Reviews UK 1997
The rapidly produced sequel to Shaft, this time around John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) ventures into the criminal underworld and encounters a mass of gang bosses squabbling over the same prize. When a man, Cal Ashby (Robert Kya-Hill), is observed hunched over a safe, removing large amounts of cash, the implication is that he's doing something wrong. However, when Cal takes the money into an adjoining room and loads it into a coffin, the night cleaner recognises him as his employer. A 2am call from Cal then disturbs Shaft, who happens to be relaxing with his sister Ama Ashby (Rosalind Miles), with the request that he come to his office right away. Since $5000 have been placed in his account Shaft complies, sending Ama safely home. Unfortunately as Shaft draws up to the kerb, Cal flicks a light switch and his office dissolves in the inferno of a massive explosion.

There's no obvious motive behind Cal's murder, since he was a well-liked member of the community with plans to construct a child-care centre. Interestingly his funeral is attended by Bumpy Jones (Moses Gunn), an infamous Harlem gang boss, which reinforces Shaft's suspicions about Kelly (Wally Taylor), Cal's former partner. After the funeral Shaft escorts Ama back home, to find that it's been ransacked in their absence. The intruder manages to escape but, coincidentally, Kelly turns up at the same time and mentions his plans to run the funeral/insurance business left by Cal. Continuing the run of visitors, Capt. Bollin (Julius Harris) arrives to take Shaft downtown and throw a few questions. In this session it turns out that Cal and Kelly were running a numbers racket (rather than a legitimate business), while the name of another gangster, Gus Mascola (Joseph Mascolo) keeps popping up. Suspected of being mixed up in the whole affair, Bollin lets Shaft loose on the condition that he feeds them some useful information.

On the street, Shaft delves deeper into the sticky web connecting Kelly, Mascola and Bumpy. It seems that Kelly is an inveterate gambler, wildly disposing of the substantial income arising within the Kelly-Cal partnership. Such profligate behaviour has left him deeply in debt to Mascola, the owner of several back-room casinos. Cal was going to buy out Kelly's share of their business, allowing payment of all funds owing. However, such a deal would have left Kelly with absolutely nothing and he wasn't going to allow that, even when it meant the life of Cal. Fearlessly Shaft drifts from crook to villain, outsmarting them and looking after the underdogs (such as Ama). This path is not without risk though; Shaft ends up with a fine collection of bruises, cuts and scrapes. It's lucky that the ever-present violence is cartoonish, otherwise he'd be no use to anyone.

While Shaft's Big Score! was obviously put together quickly to cash in on the success of its predecessor, it manages to avoid the common trap of rehashing the same story again. Instead the film comes across as just another sequence in Shaft's action-packed life, even if the quota of sex and violence has been notched a fair amount higher. As usual Shaft is a real hard-edged private dick - bolshie, dangerous to cross and loyal to his friends. He's not infallible (occasionally his bullets miss while the bad guys hit), though women seem to be falling over themselves in a bid for his erotic attention. While the script is reasonably cogent, the vibrant dialogue of Shaft is mostly missing in this episode (a grave disappointment). The dirty streets of Harlem, covered in snow at this time of year, provide fine atmosphere, although Shaft ventures further afield. However, the most fun occurs during an extended chase which caps the movie. Oscillating from breath-taking to implausible nonsense, the power of this careering crash-fest is undeniable.

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