Shaft's Big Score!

I'm not sure what went wrong with this sequel to 'Shaft'. Once again Gordon Parks directs, Ernest Tidyman writes and Richard Roundtree stars, but there's something missing. It isn't anywhere near as entertaining as the original and the story is very thin and padded out. The score isn't as good either. Isaac Hayes only contributes one number, Parks himself does the rest. Moses Gunn and Drew Bundini Brown reprise their roles as Bumpy and Willy and blaxploitation fave Julius W. Harris ('Superfly', 'Black Caesar') appears as a cop who forms an uneasy alliance of sorts with Shaft. Also check out future soap star Joseph Mascolo as a clarinet playing mobster called, er, Mascolo and Joe Santos later of 'The Rockford Files' as his right hand man. Richard Roundtree is still super cool as John Shaft and he helps make this movie to be fairly enjoyable. Personally I prefer the third in the series 'Shaft In Africa' to this, but if the truth be told neither sequel is a patch on the original which in an undisputed blaxploitation classic and essential viewing for any 70s buff.