Original Shaft on TCM right now ...

... God how I love this movie. I love blaxspoitation movies in general, but this was the highest quality out of all of them. It's tough for me to decide who is the coolest movie character of all-time, James Bond or Shaft. If it were one movie alone, Shaft in the original movie (he wasn't as cool in the sequels) is hard to beat.

And the Isaac Hayes/Bar-Kays soundtrack ... fucking awesome. It's like ... funky black lounge music. I used to wash dishes to the Shaft soundtrack.

And the secondary characters are awesome. Moses Gunn -- one of the best character actors of all-time -- as Bumpy Jonas, one of cinema's best mob bosses tricks Shaft into working for him. Vic Andruzzi -- the obligatory white cop -- is actually given some depth instead of the usual "white guy bad" treatment. And Drew Bundini Brown makes a memorable turn as Jonas' muscleman Willie, trading jibes with Shaft throughout the movie, talking shit with Shaft for being an alleged Uncle Tom.

Willy: Listen, Snow White. Me and you gonna tangle, sooner or later. Did you hear what I say?
Shaft: Why don't you stop playing with yourself, Willy? You ain't gonna do SHIT!

Too many other lines to quote here. Right now Shaft is getting his freak on with his woman ... back to the show.

 

yeah, i was watching that till I discovered Eddie Murphy Raw on Spike.

 

You got hustled. Eddie Murphy Raw is overrated (and probably edited on Spike).

Shaft is on TCM in full unedited glory.

 

Raw ... unedited on Spike

 

OK fine. Still overrated. Eddie Murphy was at his narcissistic worst in the late 80s and Raw is more sad than funny because it's so Woe Is Eddie.

Now Delirious? That's some funny shit.

 

Bubbler, I think I commented on this on another thread. My old man got me hooked on watching Shaft as a kid. I have the DVD of Shaft's Big Score, where Bumpy, Willie, and Shaft had another great trading shots of lines.

This was from the scene at the Asby's funeral:

Shaft: What are you buzzards doing here?
Bumpy Jonas: Well, well. Ha. We go to a lot of funerals, Shaft, Willy and me. One day, we'll drop in on yours.
Willy: Real soon.
Shaft: You're not invited.
Bumpy: In that case, we'll send a wreath, with love.

And when Capt. Bollin tries to put Shaft in a spot after the funeral, as he fails to link Shaft to Kelley, Mascola, and the wheel that Asby and Kelley were running.

Shaft: Do you just sit around and think these things up, or do they just come to you in a flash?