Shaft in Africa is a 1973 blaxploitation film directed by John Guillermin (King Kong, Kong Lives, The Towering Inferno, Death on the Nile, & Sheena). It was written by Shaft franchise producer Stirling Silliphant (Village of the Damned, Over the Top, The Poseidon Adventure, & In the Heat of the Night). It was produced by René Dupont (A Christmas Story, The Man in the Iron Mask, Loose Cannons, & Collision Course) & Roger H. Lewis (Shaft franchise, The Swimmer, Night Games, & The Deadly Trap). This is the third film from the Shaft series. The budget was $2,142,000 & it made $1,458,000 during it’s run. It was followed up by a television show that very same year!!!!
At home in his New York City apartment, John Shaft (played by: Richard Roundtree from the Shaft franchise, Heroes, Angel III: The Final Chapter, Young Warriors, & Amityville: A New Generation) is drugged with a tranquilizer dart. He is kidnapped & persuaded by threats of physical force. They promise lots of money & the lure of a pretty tutor to travel to Africa. He assumes the identity of a native-speaking itinerant worker. His mission is to help break a criminal ring that is smuggling immigrants into Europe then exploiting them. Shaft is forced to do some tests & simulations to prove he can handle the real Africa. The bad guys behind everything lead by the dangerous Amafi (played by: Frank Finlay from Lifeforce, Enigma, The Wild Geese, & The Pianist) with henchman Angelo (played by: Aldo Sambrell from The Dollars trilogy, Navajo Joe, Kill Django… Kill First, & Killer Barbys) already knew he is on the way so they send one of their best assassins to take him out. He still finds time for the ladies which includes Aleme (played by: Vonetta McGee from Blacula, Hammer, Repo Man, & Detroit 9000) & Jazar (played by: Neda Arneric from Wheels, Breakdown, & Who’s Singin’ Over There?). The legendary Shaft has gone international, he goes on a journey to infiltrate & destroy a human trafficking and slavery ring in West Africa and France.
Have you ever wanted to see a Black James Bond? This is the closest as it gets so far to that, this production mixed several sub-genres. Lots of action, violence, & sex in this final entry for the original trilogy. The first two films were very similar, they tried something completely different with Shaft in Africa. They tried to go bigger & they were hoping it was going to pay off. Unfortunately, the audience didn’t want something like this so it failed when it was released. They sold the rights to the character & a television show was made right away after this experiment. I actually thought it was pretty cool to see John Shaft in a whole new situation. The spy sub-genre was very popular at the time so they tried putting this iconic character in that scenario. It still delivered on everything that you would expect from a Shaft feature. I will say the other two had a much better cast, this one is solid but nothing special besides Richard Roundtree. He was good in this but it’s definitely his weakest performance in the role, I think at this point he was just there to collect the check. He was still the best thing about the entire production except for the beautiful eye candy from Vonetta McGee & Neda Arneric. The script knew exactly what it going for with this, it tried to stand out from the others but it went away what made this franchise so special. It’s a very fun & entertaining experience, it’s better than a decent amount produced during the same time. RECOMMENDED!!!!
Let’s talk about the high definition presentation & special feature from Warner Bros! This 1080p (2.40:1) is a huge upgrade to the previous VHS & DVD releases! Shaft in Africa has never looked before on home video, I am very happy that it finally got HD treatment to go with the other films. This is visually more stylized compared to the others & the locations are great on this sequel.The English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is a major improvement from options from the past. The dialogue is very clean, all the action is elevated, & the music has a nice boost to it. For a 70s film, it sounds very impressive. It also has English SDH subtitles. The only extra on the disc is the “Theatrical Trailer”. It was released in a triple feature pack with the other two also. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!
