Shaft (1971) Movie Script
1
[HORNS HONKING
AND TIRES SCREECHING]
[TIRES SCREECHES
AND HORN HONKING]
SHAFT: Up yours!
-Get out of the way!
Fine time piece, brother?
Goodbye.
Hey, what's happening, Marty?
Same old sixes and sevens, Shaft.
[STUTTERING] Two guys were looking for you
like 10 minutes ago.
Harlem cats?
How the hell should I know?
Everybody looks the same to me.
Take it easy, Marty.
Take care, Shaft.
Thanks, brother.
Too much sugar this morning, Cul.
Then don't drink it, baby.
A couple of dudes from uptown
looking for you.
Know them?
Not by name.
Seen them around uptown.
Come in here when I was opening up.
Asked where they could find you.
What did they look like?
One was wearing a funky plaid coat,
other one was sharp.
Fifty-dollar shoes, black coat, gray flares.
-Is that all?
-They had heat on them.
The one in the plaid coat
had his hands in his coat pocket.
Pulled his coat tight, you dig?
Had some heavy iron in his belt.
You know you got a scuff on the toe
of this left shoe?
VIC:
What time you got, Tom?
TOM:
8:16.
Hey, pull over in front of that shoe-shine parlor.
He usually hangs out there.
TOM:
Okay.
-You want me to go in?
-No. We'll wait.
Got yourself a nice shine. You can go out
and make something of yourself, man.
Go out and get rich and fat like you?
We're straight, baby.
Got a minute, Shaft?
Got no use for no dirty postcards, Vic.
Get off my back, huh?
I just wanna talk to you.
Call me up. You know my number.
Come on, I'll buy you a cup of coffee, huh?
Go sit in the park a minute?
Hell, no. Just tell me
what you gotta say right here.
Tom, go get us a couple of cigars.
What kind do you smoke, Shaft?
Just say what you've gotta say, Vic.
Get us a couple of El Garcias, huh, Tom?
Look, I'm late.
What you trying to lay on me, huh?
Just love, Shaft.
Nothing but love and sympathy.
Then we're even. Go on, get on with it.
I thought you might know something
I wanna know.
Seems there's been a lot of low,
quiet rumbles going on uptown.
Our people have been able to pick up
the sounds of it, but not words.
That's because us black folk
talk mush mouth, lieutenant.
I thought we were gonna get to it.
We did. But you want me to pigeon.
I just said, "Up yours, baby."
How come a couple of cats from Harlem
come downtown this morning...
...looking for John Shaft?
Well, they're soul brothers. They came down
so I could teach them the handshake.
-They find you?
-Of course, I wasn't hiding.
If you find out anything, give me a call.
I'm still at the 38th Precinct.
Right on.
Hey, where the hell you going, Shaft?
To get laid. Where the hell you going?
That boy has got a lot of mouth on him.
The boy is man enough to back it up too.
What did he tell you?
Nothing.
Gotta lean on that kind.
You don't lean on that kind.
Give me a package of gum.
Make a noise and I'll cut you. Back up.
JIM: Something wrong, Mr. Shaft?
SHAFT: Sick friend here.
Jim, can you get us a car up?
I'll take that.
Now, be cool, man.
Where is your partner?
SHAFT:
Open the door.
[SCREAMING]
[PEOPLE SCREAMING]
Now, you've got about a half a minute
to tell me what the hell you want with me.
The police will be up here asking why you threw
that son of a bitch out the window.
They can find you dead or alive.
Now, what's your goddamn story?
Bumpy...
-Bumpy sent us to bring you uptown.
-Did he tell you to mess me up?
He said I was to bring you.
It doesn't make sense.
You arrive at your office.
You have a sick friend with you.
Suddenly, another man you don't know
rushes up and a fight starts.
Your sick friend goes out the window.
Why, Mr. Shaft?
Ask the man who started the fight,
Mr. Leibowitz.
Your friend, the only name
you know him by is "Tex"?
-No last name?
-That's right.
I don't buy that, Shaft.
I think you know more than you're letting on.
Why the fight started, for instance.
What you think and what you can prove
are two different bags.
All your friends walk around
with weapons like that in their pockets?
That depends.
My Negro friends don't walk around
with rabbits' feet no more.
Don't get wise with me.
There's a simple way for me to go.
-I'll put your goddamn ass in.
-I'll sue your goddamn ass for false arrest.
Do you expect me to believe that man
went out the window the way you said?
-What do I look like? Some kind of klutz?
-Don't ask, and I won't tell you.
BYRON:
You're licensed by the city and the state.
Nobody who's licensed can afford to be
a wise-ass where a felony case is involved.
Are you suggesting I could lose my license?
You're damn right I am.
You better believe it and level with me.
Threatening my livelihood is a violation
of my rights, isn't it, Vic?
Byron...
Why don't you let me
have a talk with him in private?
You got an assailant to interview.
Start that and I'll join you after we talk.
I think you're are BS'ing me too, Vic.
This thing stinks.
Maybe he didn't like the handshake
you taught him, huh, John?
You know, you can get your rump
in a sling for this mess?
-Static. A lot of hassle.
-You'll save me, Vic.
Well, I can try.
If?
One hand washes the other, John.
All the static and hassle in the world wouldn't
make me sing a song to the police, Vic.
No way, baby.
That cat you threw out the window
was a flunky for Bumpy Jonas. You know that.
I didn't throw no cat
out no window, lieutenant.
Bumpy isn't gonna like it.
I don't give a damn what he likes.
What the hell are you pumping me for?
Two weeks ago
we started picking up rumbles.
-You already said that.
-We know it's not the Panthers.
Or the Young Lords.
But something is on the boil, John.
I just wanna know what it is...
...before we need an adding machine
to start counting up the bodies.
Bumpy wants you for something.
He knows what's going on.
And that's what I wanna know.
Not who, just what.
It warms my black heart to see you
so concerned about us minority folks.
Come on, Shaft.
What is it with this black shit?
Huh?
You ain't so black.
And you ain't so white, baby.
[SHAFT CHUCKLING]
All right.
If you wanna play
your super-heavy black number...
...I'm gonna play mine.
We can nail your tail for manslaughter
on what we've got on you right now.
You can waltz Leibowitz, but you
know the law. You could be charged.
"Charged," lieutenant.
Yeah, but your license will be suspended.
You'll be out of business for six months.
You wanna be out of business
for six months, Shaft?
Out on the street.
No gun permit. Six months.
With Bumpy looking for you and what
sounds like all hell about to break loose.
You want it, you got it.
You scare me to death, lieutenant.
You're buying trouble not only
for yourself, but a blood bath up in Harlem.
You want that?
All I'm asking you is to let me know
what's going on.
No names, no places, just what.
I'm not asking you to sell out. Just...
...tell me the name of the game,
so I know the rules.
I'll think about it.
All right, I'll settle for that now.
That buys you 48 hours on the street,
and then we're gonna talk again.
You got the number
of Bumpy's private phone?
All right.
Take off. I'll see to Leibowitz.
Right on.
Yeah.
I'll see you.
Look at that.
[PHONE RINGING]
-Wrong number.
-Don't bull me, man. I got the right number.
This is Shaft.
How did you get this number?
Off a bathroom wall
in the goddamn subway.
-I'm looking for you, Shaft.
- I got an office.
Here you are.
Thanks.
Bag of chestnuts, please.
Cold as hell today, huh?
Yeah, yeah. Good chestnuts.
Good chestnuts.
-How much?
-Two bits.
-Here you go. Take it easy.
-Thanks.
Hey, taxi!
What the hell is this?
You white mother...
Taxi! Taxi!
Cat say he gonna be here,
he should be here.
Open it up.
Cat say he gonna be here...
...and he ain't.
It ain't right, boss.
We'll wait.
You take crap off of him,
he'll give you more crap.
We'll wait.
That's some cold shit...
...throwing my man, Leroy,
out the window.
Just picked my man up and threw him
out the goddamn window.
Got us standing around and waiting
to say thank you.
SHAFT:
Glad you let yourself in, Bumpy.
Give me a bad name,
having you hanging around in the hall.
Look...
...If the man ever comes down here again
to see you...
...you make sure you be here.
Waiting.
You're in my chair.
Wait outside.
Sims and Leroy tried to muscle you, Shaft?
Yep.
-Well, I got no grudge about Leroy.
-I couldn't give a damn.
I got a job for you.
-I'm not on no hustle, Bumpy.
-A detective job.
-What kind?
-Your kind. You take it.
Don't jive me.
What kind of job you talking about?
Somebody kidnapped my daughter, Marcy.
Done in a couple of people.
Didn't leave no ransom note or nothing.
Nobody saw nothing.
I want you to find her.
That's the fucking job.
Police got a unit,
does that kind of work free.
Not for me. You know I can't go
to the cops.
And you want me, huh?
Spade detective.
Yeah, I want you because
you're a black spade detective.
And I want you because you got your other foot
in whitey's trough. She can be anywhere.
Got any idea who grabbed her?
A lot of cats hate my guts.
A sweet, loving dude like you?
Sweet-talking a man's lady...
...while you beat her man out of his paycheck
in the backroom of a horse parlor?
Feeding his kid shit to shoot in his arm?
Who could hate you, Bumpy?
My baby never sold nothing to nobody.
Never took nothing from nobody.
She's a straight kid. She's going to college.
Whoever grabbed her, got her to get at me.
They have a beef with me,
they should come to me.
So you got a rule
that somebody else don't.
Is that all you know?
There's a piece of Harlem I can't get at,
the one them militants got an arm on.
They could have my baby.
She's been into some of that stuff.
Bunch calls themselves the "La Mumbas."
Ben Buford's thing.
I could send my people to ask them.
Shit.
It'd come to a shootout and when
it's all over, a bunch of dead cats.
And maybe they'd kill Marcy.
Yeah, you're papa pimp to them.
They wanna see you burn
as bad as they wanna see the police burn.
But kidnapping sisters,
man, that ain't their thing.
The only reason anybody
grabs anybody for is money.
Now, you tell me what other bunch in Harlem
needs money bad enough to grab my baby?
If you believe that, what's all this
about me having one foot in whitey's trough?
I said I think they had her.
I didn't say they had her in Harlem.
They ain't dumb enough
to take her someplace uptown.
No, it don't lay right.
What the hell you think I need you for
if I knew who had her?
I'm guessing.
If they don't have her, all right.
Maybe they know something.
Now, I got nothing.
That's the job, Shaft.
You take it, or no?
I get 50 bucks an hour.
Plus expenses.
And no questions asked
about how I spend it.
-You got it.
- I get a free hand to move any way I want.
You...
[VOICE CRACKING]
You find my baby.
That's all I want.
I got money.
You spend it...
...and you find her.
Now, that will get you started.
When will I hear from you?
When I got something to say.
One more thing.
You send another cat after me with a gun, I'll kill
the motherfucker, and I'll come looking for you!
And I'll get you, Bumpy. You believe it.
[CHUCKLES]
Fake mother...
Hey, Joe, you seen Ben Buford around?
[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
Ben Buford used to live here.
He live here anymore?
No, why?
I'm looking for him.
I am too. He owes me six months' rent.
Take it easy.
Hello, ma'am. I'm looking for a guy
named Ben Buford. You know him?
Yeah, I know him.
-Seen him around here lately?
-Not in a long while.
Thank you.
I'm looking for Ben Buford.
You seen him around?
No, I ain't seen him. I ain't seen him.
-Thanks.
-Hey.
Know what the number was today?
[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
-Hey, Bunky. What's happening?
-Hey, man, how's it going?
Seen Ben?
Ben? Ben who?
Ben Buford. You know who I mean, man.
Look, man, I don't know no Ben Buford.
Twenty.
Oh, that Ben Buford.
He's holed up on a place
on Amsterdam, 710.
-What apartment and what time?
-Third floor. There's a meeting at 9.
I can't guarantee it.
I just heard some cat tell another cat.
They're both in the movement
with Ben. Dig?
Yeah, well, stay loose, baby.
Hi.
You all right?
Baby, are you all right?
I got to feeling like a machine.
That's no way to feel.
Come here, baby.
[WOMAN MOANING]
Had a visitor
from uptown this afternoon, John.
-What you having?
-Give me a dog with mustard and onions.
No. Hold the onions.
Cold, huh?
Well, John, what did you get?
I got laid.
Uptown, brother. Amsterdam Avenue.
Take your time. I'm early.
-Hey, champ, you lost?
-No.
-You live around here?
-Yeah.
You look cold.
Get yourself something to eat, okay?
Gee, thanks, mister.
Okay, champ.
[WOMAN LAUGHING]
[SOUL MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
[DOOR CLOSES]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
-Who is it?
-John Shaft, Ben.
Get the door.
Unless you want more visitors,
you better split up that pair out front.
Put somebody on the basement door.
-How did you find me?
-Wasn't hard. You got a big mouth.
-Cool it, man.
-You cool it, boy.
Don't let your mouth
get your ass in trouble.
BEN: I ain't got nothing to say to you.
-Don't jive me.
-We put in a lot of street time together.
-That was a long time back.
I don't know you no more.
A lot of hard years, man.
The kind you don't forget.
Now, I'm gonna give you one minute
to say what you came here to say.
And after you said it, you go back out that door
you came in or I'll throw you out.
You know Marcy Jonas?
-Yeah, why?
-You know where she is?
-What do you mean?
-Somebody grabbed her.
Bumpy thinks maybe it was you.
[MAN CHUCKLES]
We don't do that kind of thing, man.
You know anything about the kidnapping?
Okay, Tom, used up your minute.
Get out!
Don't "Tom" me, man.
[GUNFIRE]
-Where are the guns?
-None here.
SHAFT: I'll be goddamned!
WOMAN: Aah!
-Sonny! Sonny.
-They're coming!
-Up over the roof, Ben?
-Yeah. Go!
-He's dead.
-Come on, come on!
Not the roof, this way.
[BABY CRYING]
Stand back.
WOMAN: What is this?
-Everything will be all right.
-What is this?
-Go over there and be quiet.
[SCREAMING]
[BODY THUMPS]
[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE]
SHAFT: Everything is okay, ma'am.
No need to worry.
Sorry about your door.
That'll take care of it.
You set us up, man.
Young man, please. Don't do that.
Don't ever threaten me again,
and don't call me Judas.
[DOG BARKING]
Come on, man. It's no time
to count your dead. Come on.
Look.
[WOMAN GASPS AND SCREAMS]
Come on.
SHAFT:
This way, this way.
One of yours?
-No.
-Probably a finger man.
SHAFT: When you lead that revolution,
whitey better be standing still...
...because you don't run
worth a damn no more.
BEN:
We're done running, man.
SHAFT:
What the hell do you call this, man?
[POLICE SIRENS WAILING]
I gotta find out if they're after you or me.
I'll leave you with some friends.
They're straight people.
So don't you lay any of
that Uncle Tom jive on them.
I don't know what's connected
to what. I can't piece them together.
[PHONE RINGING]
Answer that.
It's only a half an hour
since it happened.
How could I have something this soon?
TOM:
He's on the other line.
VIC:
I'm not paid enough to worry...
...about what that police commissioner
or the mayor thinks.
It's Shaft. You wanna talk to him?
I got a call. I might have something.
Hold on.
No, better I call you back.
-Shaft.
-I'm coming down to see you, Vic.
Vic, you've been holding out on me.
I'll wait. Listen, several cats
were killed up in Harlem tonight.
-You know anything about it?
- I was there, lieutenant.
Ugh.
[PHONE RINGING]
Um...
Captain is at home. Why not call him back?
Tell him I had to go out, chase down a lead.
-Where you going?
-Nowhere. Just get him off my back.
Reporter from the news wants an interview.
Tell him to call the captain.
Serves the old bastard right.
This is that list from intelligence section.
What about the pictures?
They're getting them together now.
Said about five minutes.
Shaft is coming down. Send him right in.
Dina will get you a bed made up.
Why don't you get some sleep, man?
Got some dead brothers laying out there.
And this ain't where I should be.
Till we find out why they're dead,
this is the only place for you to be.
You think like a white man.
-You don't think. You wanna get wasted?
-If that's what it takes, yeah!
Marvin is sleeping.
I'll find out what I can and come back
and pick you up in the morning.
If you think I'll owe you for this, man,
you're wrong.
Man, you got nothing I want.
Ben, you can have the girls' room.
D, I gotta go out. Got an extra key
so I don't wake you when I come back?
This will open the downstairs door too.
-Watch your mouth, man.
-I'll say any damn thing I want.
Not in this house. Not here, you won't.
[SHAFT CHUCKLES]
-Have a chair, John.
- I don't like your chair.
You gave me nothing, Vic.
You wanna lock me up for manslaughter
because some dude went out my office window...
...you can go ahead and do it.
You got no deal.
I have nothing else to give you, then.
That's straight.
-What do you got now?
-One question first.
Anybody who could've identified those guys
with machine guns got wiped out.
Yeah, five of Ben Buford's people
and probably the guy that fingered you.
Me? Are you sure it's me?
Well, I'd be sure if I knew if the guys
were black or white.
I'd make it 80-20 they were after you.
But Bumpy could probably tell you that
for sure.
Just say what you got, man.
A couple of things that may fit.
You remember my telling you that Bumpy
was doubling his crews up in Harlem?
-So?
-So downtown we get some visitors.
Three guys from L.A., two from Phoenix,
a guy from Decatur, Illinois...
...four guys from Philly.
Altogether, about 15 that we're sure of.
-Special guys, huh?
-All suspected of being guns for the Mafia.
Just got into town.
Most of them staying at some hotel
down the Village, taking in the sights.
-Is that it?
-No, one thing more.
A couple of dudes from Harlem
go across to Jersey.
Tried to kidnap some Mafia bigwig.
They blew it.
They killed the guy's runner.
But the man maintains that his runner
was in Florida on a fishing trip.
-Looks like war coming, huh?
-It's a bad thing, John.
Mafia against Bumpy.
It's 'hood against 'hood on the inside.
But on the outside, it's black against white.
Could be we could have tanks and troops
on Broadway if this thing breaks open.
Yeah, you got a point.
Here is what some of our visitors look like.
SHAFT: Be a good time for it.
-What, war?
SHAFT:
Heh. Fishing, down in Florida.
VIC: It might help if I knew
what Bumpy hired you for.
- I never said he did.
-He did.
It's against my ethics to say yes or no, Vic.
-He put you on the spot, Shaft.
-He did?
You're a very wise Caucasian, Vic.
I'll be here. If I'm not, call me at home.
That's a comfort.
[PHONE RINGING]
-Hello?
SHAFT: Hello, baby.
I waited up.
-Sorry, I can't make it.
-You got problems, baby?
Heh. Yeah, I got a couple of them.
I was born black and I was born poor.
[CHUCKLES]
I love you.
Yeah, I know.
Take it easy.
Hey. Get up.
We've got a man to see.
Yeah.
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
See who that is, will you?
It's Shaft.
Let him in.
-I've got an appointment with Bumpy.
- I know all about it.
I've got to see if you're clean
before you can see the man.
Better get yourself
six more helpers then, Willy.
That's how it's done.
-Who searches you?
-Nobody.
Then get the same cat to search us.
I've got to see if you got a gun on you
before you go in.
Tell Bumpy we were here. Come on, Ben.
SIMS:
If you let them walk now, Willy...
...Bumpy will have your tail.
Wait here, I'll call in to the man.
BUMPY [ON INTERCOM]:
What do you want, Willy?
-Shaft out here with some dude.
-Send them in.
-He won't let me see if they clean, Bumpy.
-Send them in.
Go on, you heard him.
But listen, Snow White...
...me and you gonna tangle sooner or later.
-Did you hear what I say?
-Why don't you stop playing with yourself?
You ain't gonna do shit.
[DOOR BUZZES]
You're a cagey spook, Bumpy.
You ride a tall horse, Mr. Shaft.
This is Ben Buford. Your little caper
cost him five friends last night.
-We'll take it out of your ass, pimp.
-You're pushing me a little far.
I found out some things, Bumpy.
Like you knew who grabbed your daughter,
and that it wasn't Ben or his people...
...when you laid all that jive on me
in my office.
I told you there was no note.
I still don't know who has her.
SHAFT:
You're lying, man.
Now, deal them up straight,
or don't deal them at all.
You grabbed the dope hustle up here
from the Mafia.
Made yourself some big bread.
Now the Mafia cats wanna move in on you.
-So, what?
-So the Mafia grabbed your daughter, Bumpy.
You knew it. Knew it when you hired me.
Yeah.
Tried to snatch one for a trade.
But your flunky friends out there blew it.
They burned some kid. Missed the man
we wanted to grab for a trade. Yeah.
Then you wanted to hustle old Shaft.
I hired you for a job. I conned you,
but I never lied to you.
My baby was grabbed.
You'll get her back. You bought that deal, Shaft.
You're gonna live with it.
Not at these prices, baby.
[CHUCKLING]
I told you, what it costs, it costs.
A lot of hyped-up black people give you
that money you're spending, pimp.
Don't you try to bullshit me, boy.
We're all on the hustle.
I sell broads and dope and numbers.
You sell crap and blue sky.
It's all the same game.
You knew the Mafia cats
would come after me, didn't you?
Uh-uh. But it doesn't shake me up.
They made a good move
to take out my front man.
They'll probably try again. I would.
You been using me, Bumpy. Suckered me.
That's okay. We stood face to face.
But I wanna know why you wanted me
to hook up with Ben.
Because you're gonna need an army
to get my baby back.
Ben's got one. My people ain't worth a damn
outside of Harlem.
If you think I'd risk some of the brothers...
...just because your daughter is black,
you're wrong, man.
We need money.
- I got a lot of brothers and sisters in jail.
-Set a price.
Ten thousand dollars a head.
That's what the honky government
pays a cat in the Army for insurance.
Ten grand a man.
That's our price.
All right.
You telling me you're willing to lay out
that kind of bread for Marcy?
Don't jive me, man.
I can always get more money.
I only got one baby.
That means you already owe him $50,000
for the men he lost last night.
All right.
We can get a lot of brothers and sisters
out of jail with that.
How many of his you gonna need?
Depends on whether
the Mafia will take a ransom.
-They want Harlem, nothing less.
-It ain't yours to give. Not anymore.
Mine or not, it's not gonna be theirs.
So all I gotta do is find out
where they've got her and bring her home.
-That's it.
-Well, if he's worth 10, I'm worth 20.
You got it, COD.
-Half now and half when I bring her home.
BEN: All.
-Right now.
-Half. That's the best I'll do.
SHAFT:
You just been hustled, Bumpy.
-Deliver the money tonight.
-I'll have my boys drop it off.
At these prices, you blow it, Shaft,
I'm not gonna like it. Not even a little bit.
I thought the money didn't matter to you,
just getting your baby back.
Money always matters.
This is where I get off, man.
Look, one thing we gotta get straight, man.
If we gotta make a move
and it comes to a fight, we do it my way.
For that kind of bread, the brothers will play.
-As long as you remember we owe them five.
-I said my way.
I'll call you.
BILLY: Hey, man.
-Hey, Billy? Come here.
-Do me a favor, huh?
-Sure.
-Go up to my place and turn on the--
-Hey, no, man. I've already turned on.
-No, Billy, turn on the lights.
-Oh, lights.
-About two minutes, okay?
-Got it. Got it.
[JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]
[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
ROLLIE:
How we doing, love?
That's nice. Don't make any trouble.
-Johnny.
-What do you say, Rollie?
Gorgeous coat.
How about letting me
take over the bar for a while?
There's nothing I wouldn't do for $20.
Have funzies.
-You look ready.
-Yeah, okay. Scotch and water, both.
On the house, gents.
And since the house is buying,
I'll have one.
To the big-hearted owner
of the No Name Bar.
Whether he knows he's generous or not.
[SHAFT LAUGHS]
-That's all booze.
-Right on.
All booze. One zillion percent.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
[PHONE RINGING]
Hello.
Hello.
Hold on.
Hold on.
No, he ain't here.
Right.
ROLLIE:
Hello there, innkeeper.
Two gin and tonics and a Virgin Mary...
...for moi.
I'm thirsty. Parched.
There's a girl over there...
...with the dark hair and the groovy boobs.
You really turn her on, if you're interested.
Well, I ain't dead.
Her friend, Valerie, says she's hot
for my body. I told her I was gay.
You know what she said?
She'd straighten me out.
That's what she said.
It's not enough that I'm lovely,
she wants me to play character parts.
The one with the titillating boobs
is named Linda.
Uh-huh.
Man can't walk on one leg.
Hate drinking alone.
[DIALING PHONE]
[PHONE RINGING]
Vic, private line.
SHAFT:
Hey, sweet baby.
This is your lover man.
Who the hell is this?
Two sweet guesses.
That you, Shaft?
You bet your lovely self it is.
And I'm ready. Can you dig it?
You got troubles?
- I got what you want.
-Where are you?
No Name Bar in the Village. On Jane Street.
-What do you want me to do?
-Haul your beautiful self down here.
-How many of them are there?
-Uh, about two.
I'll close up, then we'll go over to my pad.
You walk in that front door
and I'll close up right now.
-I'll have a car there in a few seconds.
-That's what I wanna hear, baby.
Right.
A lot of loose stuff around here, Jim?
All a man can handle, deacon.
[SHAFT CHUCKLES]
What you looking at, man?
Get lost, huh?
Go do something.
Where are my manners?
I didn't even introduce myself
to you gentlemen.
My name is John Shaft.
Freeze.
All right, you, let's go. Let's go.
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
Hey, throw me a towel.
There's two of them.
We're generous around here.
It's not so bad.
It's a nice pad you got here.
Look, baby, I'm going upstairs and take
a shower. I'll be right back.
I just couldn't wait.
SHAFT: What you say, Vic?
-Morning.
Both of them had guns,
licenses to carry them.
"Jewelry couriers," the licenses say.
Detroit people.
-You gonna turn them loose?
- I have no choice.
Oh, they'll leave town.
You're gonna have strangers looking for you,
not them.
Can I have a private talk with them?
What are you gonna do to poor Carmen now,
give him cancer?
You busted his head. Settle.
I just wanna find out his views
on urban renewal.
All right.
Tom.
I'm speaking for Bumpy Jonas.
He wants to make sure his daughter is okay.
My word is all he'll take.
No phone calls and no letters from her.
I've got to see her.
Then maybe he'll deal.
Nothing I wanna say in this rat hole.
-People might be listening.
SHAFT: That's a risk we'll have to take.
Now, give me a number
so I can let you know where ['ll be.
I'll call you at 12:30 sharp.
And meet you at a quarter to 1,
somewhere in the Village.
Hey, baby.
LINDA: Come here.
-Party's over.
You have to split.
Some other time, huh?
Same feeling, same place.
Right now I've gotta take care
of some business.
MAN [ON PHONE]: Yeah?
-Put Ben on.
He's asleep. Who wants him?
Wake him up, it's John Shaft.
You're really great, but, um...
...you're pretty shitty afterwards.
Yeah?
I'm trying to take care of some business,
baby, okay?
BEN:
Hello. Come on.
Ben.
- I need two good men. Are you ready?
-Yeah.
They better be tough.
Hey, baby, please close the door, huh?
Close it yourself, shitty.
-Hey, just tell me where and when.
-In front of Caf Reggio in the Village.
-Know where it is?
-I'll find it.
-12:30. Five minutes late would be too late.
-I'll be there. Bye.
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
-Yeah?
VIC: It's Vic Androzzi.
What the hell are you doing here?
I got no time for chats.
You had time for a chat with Carmen
and Patsy in my office this morning.
You got me in one hell of a mess, John.
-Did you have the room bugged?
-Oh, no, not me.
Me? I could turn the other way.
Not hear what I heard.
It's that big-eared captain I got
who was listening.
He thinks he heard you discussing
a kidnapping.
He thinks the Mafia is involved.
And he knows Bumpy Jonas is involved.
-Tell him to ask Bumpy, then.
-Yeah, I did.
But he wants to ask you. Now.
At the station.
-It's lousy timing, right?
-Gonna take me in?
I will if I find you.
-Are you home?
-Hell, no.
That's too bad.
Call me when you get home.
I will.
"Close it yourself, shitty." Ha, ha, ha.
[CHUCKLES]
This is Shaft. Now, get this straight.
I'll be at Caf Reggio
on McDougall Street at a quarter to 1.
-Got it?
MAN: Reggio, a quarter to 1.
Right.
Menu?
Espresso.
Don't you want a sandwich
or something with it?
Just espresso.
I hope you don't like lemon peel.
Let it go.
I think you'll like it. I'll go get you some.
I always forget the lemon peel.
I'm looking for a nigger named John Shaft.
You just found him, wop.
-Sit down.
-I have to take you to visit a lady. Come on.
I haven't finished my espresso.
Why don't you have some?
Maybe they'll put a little garlic in it,
if you're nice.
No, thanks. But you go ahead.
We've even got time for you
to have your soul food.
Espresso?
No, thanks.
Keep it.
Thanks, baby.
Let's go.
Come on.
After you, man.
Okay. Davies, you stay here.
You get around the back, keep an eye
on the alley door. And stay out of sight.
What if they come out our way?
Davies, you follow them.
Rem, you come back for me. Now, move it.
[WHISPERS]
No noise. Now, answer me straight.
No lies and no con.
How many men you got in there with her?
Two.
Okay. When I tell you, you open that door like
this gun was about to blow your head off.
No signals or you're gone. Got it?
Yeah.
Ha! Gin.
Open it.
[MARCY GASPS]
Okay, turn her loose or he goes.
-Tell them to turn her loose.
-He won't.
They won't shoot, Marcy.
Come on over here.
CHARLIE:
There's nothing you can do, Shaft.
Nothing, except go back to Harlem
and tell Bumpy his little girl is fine.
-When I leave, she leaves with me.
-No way, Shaft.
-She's our ace. You never give up your ace.
SHAFT: Maybe you're right.
Maybe I ought to take you uptown
and turn you over to Bumpy, huh?
Change your mind, you can walk right now.
You try to take the girl or me along,
you're dead.
You trying to tell me they'd blow you away
to get me?
That's right.
[MARCY WHIMPERING]
I halfway believe you.
But you're my ace, so I gotta call you.
[MARCY SCREAMS]
Unh!
[GROANS]
Unh!
Unh!
The only thing that's keeping you alive
right now, the only thing...
...you gotta be fit enough
to tell that black punk in Harlem...
...that he's got 24 hours to deal
or he's got a dead daughter...
...and a war.
You hear me?
Unh!
Come on, let's go.
Let's go!
Back door.
[MARCY SHRIEKS]
LEE:
Come on.
[MARCY SOBBING]
Come on.
-Come on.
MARCY: Help!
Come on, in front of me.
John, you all right? Come on.
Come on. You all right?
Huh?
Get me up out of here.
The place will be stinking with cops
in a minute.
BEN: Grab those guns.
Let's get the hell out of here.
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
BEN:
Ellie!
-Ellie! Ellie, open up!
ELLIE: Yes.
My God! What happened?
BEN:
He's been shot.
ELLIE:
Put him on the couch.
BEN:
Didn't wanna tell you over the phone.
SHAFT:
Ellie, call Sam.
-You need a real doctor, baby.
SHAFT: I said, call Sam.
Let's get him up.
[GRUNTS]
Easy.
[GRUNTING]
Blade.
Ben, get on the phone.
We gonna need some more brothers,
with guns this time.
Bumpy will handle the transportation.
Had to bring you to, Johnny.
Can't fix anything else
till you tell me where you hurt.
Wall to wall, Sam.
Ellie, give me that phone.
-Get those boys?
-Got eight.
Know where they took her?
One of the brothers tailed them.
He's watching the place now.
-What about the back exit?
-Everything's cool, baby. Don't worry.
Did you run into a train?
Tight as you can get it.
I gotta get up soon as you're done.
[SHAFT GRUNTS]
Damn. Unh!
Damn, those were some tough white boys.
You're gonna have one hell of a time.
-Got a bad sprain on that right wrist.
-Well, tape it.
I did, damn it. What do you think I am,
an amateur? For Christ sakes.
Too good of a job, Sam. I didn't even feel it.
BUMPY:
Wrong number.
Cut the crap, man. This is Shaft.
I saw Marcy.
She all right?
Scared to death, but she's okay.
Look, I need three cabs,
on the corner of 9th and Washington.
-Pick up some of Ben's people.
-How soon?
Now, man. Now.
[LINE HANGS UP]
[CHEF SINGING INDISTINCTLY]
BROTHER:
Okay, you two, outside! Move, move!
Let's go!
Tie them up.
All right, baby, where are the uniforms?
-Who's that?
-Night janitor. He's okay.
-Use him to find out which room they got her in.
-Right.
-Getting it together?
-Yeah, baby, right on.
VIC:
Beautiful.
Just beautiful.
Hey, Jerry, how are you doing, baby?
Hey, boy?
Send up two coffees and a Coke.
Glass or a straw?
-For the Coke.
-Make it a straw.
-Straw?
-You heard me, straw.
BEN:
Right. Right.
MAN:
You're a shrewd cat, Shaft.
You and your boys blow it
and I'll be one dead cat.
You all know the plan. No mistakes.
Let's go.
Here you are, sir.
Two coffees, a Coke and a straw.
-Want me to take it in?
-Whoa.
Right.
Hey, thank you.
-Be seeing you.
-Okay.
[ELEVATOR BUZZER SOUNDS]
Shut up.
-What do you guys want?
-Your coat.
SHAFT:
Rope and harness.
SHAFT:
Go ahead down.
[THUMP]
-Did you hear anything?
-Uh-uh.
[MAN GRUNTS]
This damn thing won't burn hot enough.
See if you got something else
in there that'll burn.
This is gin, man.
What else you got?
Gasoline.
Come on.
Give me a cigarette.
SHAFT: You know what to do?
-Yeah.
Come on.
Bitch.
[HORN HONKING]
[MARCY SCREAMING]
BROTHER:
Let's get out of here! Let's get out of here!
BROTHER 1:
Come on!
BROTHER 2:
Let's go!
BROTHER 1:
Let's go!
[POLICE SIREN WAILING]
VIC [ON PHONE]:
Androzzi here.
-Vic, your case just busted wide open.
-So close it for me.
Cut the crap, man. This is Shaft.
Looks like you're gonna have
to close it yourself, shitty.
[LAUGHING]
[English - US - SDH]
[HORNS HONKING
AND TIRES SCREECHING]
[TIRES SCREECHES
AND HORN HONKING]
SHAFT: Up yours!
-Get out of the way!
Fine time piece, brother?
Goodbye.
Hey, what's happening, Marty?
Same old sixes and sevens, Shaft.
[STUTTERING] Two guys were looking for you
like 10 minutes ago.
Harlem cats?
How the hell should I know?
Everybody looks the same to me.
Take it easy, Marty.
Take care, Shaft.
Thanks, brother.
Too much sugar this morning, Cul.
Then don't drink it, baby.
A couple of dudes from uptown
looking for you.
Know them?
Not by name.
Seen them around uptown.
Come in here when I was opening up.
Asked where they could find you.
What did they look like?
One was wearing a funky plaid coat,
other one was sharp.
Fifty-dollar shoes, black coat, gray flares.
-Is that all?
-They had heat on them.
The one in the plaid coat
had his hands in his coat pocket.
Pulled his coat tight, you dig?
Had some heavy iron in his belt.
You know you got a scuff on the toe
of this left shoe?
VIC:
What time you got, Tom?
TOM:
8:16.
Hey, pull over in front of that shoe-shine parlor.
He usually hangs out there.
TOM:
Okay.
-You want me to go in?
-No. We'll wait.
Got yourself a nice shine. You can go out
and make something of yourself, man.
Go out and get rich and fat like you?
We're straight, baby.
Got a minute, Shaft?
Got no use for no dirty postcards, Vic.
Get off my back, huh?
I just wanna talk to you.
Call me up. You know my number.
Come on, I'll buy you a cup of coffee, huh?
Go sit in the park a minute?
Hell, no. Just tell me
what you gotta say right here.
Tom, go get us a couple of cigars.
What kind do you smoke, Shaft?
Just say what you've gotta say, Vic.
Get us a couple of El Garcias, huh, Tom?
Look, I'm late.
What you trying to lay on me, huh?
Just love, Shaft.
Nothing but love and sympathy.
Then we're even. Go on, get on with it.
I thought you might know something
I wanna know.
Seems there's been a lot of low,
quiet rumbles going on uptown.
Our people have been able to pick up
the sounds of it, but not words.
That's because us black folk
talk mush mouth, lieutenant.
I thought we were gonna get to it.
We did. But you want me to pigeon.
I just said, "Up yours, baby."
How come a couple of cats from Harlem
come downtown this morning...
...looking for John Shaft?
Well, they're soul brothers. They came down
so I could teach them the handshake.
-They find you?
-Of course, I wasn't hiding.
If you find out anything, give me a call.
I'm still at the 38th Precinct.
Right on.
Hey, where the hell you going, Shaft?
To get laid. Where the hell you going?
That boy has got a lot of mouth on him.
The boy is man enough to back it up too.
What did he tell you?
Nothing.
Gotta lean on that kind.
You don't lean on that kind.
Give me a package of gum.
Make a noise and I'll cut you. Back up.
JIM: Something wrong, Mr. Shaft?
SHAFT: Sick friend here.
Jim, can you get us a car up?
I'll take that.
Now, be cool, man.
Where is your partner?
SHAFT:
Open the door.
[SCREAMING]
[PEOPLE SCREAMING]
Now, you've got about a half a minute
to tell me what the hell you want with me.
The police will be up here asking why you threw
that son of a bitch out the window.
They can find you dead or alive.
Now, what's your goddamn story?
Bumpy...
-Bumpy sent us to bring you uptown.
-Did he tell you to mess me up?
He said I was to bring you.
It doesn't make sense.
You arrive at your office.
You have a sick friend with you.
Suddenly, another man you don't know
rushes up and a fight starts.
Your sick friend goes out the window.
Why, Mr. Shaft?
Ask the man who started the fight,
Mr. Leibowitz.
Your friend, the only name
you know him by is "Tex"?
-No last name?
-That's right.
I don't buy that, Shaft.
I think you know more than you're letting on.
Why the fight started, for instance.
What you think and what you can prove
are two different bags.
All your friends walk around
with weapons like that in their pockets?
That depends.
My Negro friends don't walk around
with rabbits' feet no more.
Don't get wise with me.
There's a simple way for me to go.
-I'll put your goddamn ass in.
-I'll sue your goddamn ass for false arrest.
Do you expect me to believe that man
went out the window the way you said?
-What do I look like? Some kind of klutz?
-Don't ask, and I won't tell you.
BYRON:
You're licensed by the city and the state.
Nobody who's licensed can afford to be
a wise-ass where a felony case is involved.
Are you suggesting I could lose my license?
You're damn right I am.
You better believe it and level with me.
Threatening my livelihood is a violation
of my rights, isn't it, Vic?
Byron...
Why don't you let me
have a talk with him in private?
You got an assailant to interview.
Start that and I'll join you after we talk.
I think you're are BS'ing me too, Vic.
This thing stinks.
Maybe he didn't like the handshake
you taught him, huh, John?
You know, you can get your rump
in a sling for this mess?
-Static. A lot of hassle.
-You'll save me, Vic.
Well, I can try.
If?
One hand washes the other, John.
All the static and hassle in the world wouldn't
make me sing a song to the police, Vic.
No way, baby.
That cat you threw out the window
was a flunky for Bumpy Jonas. You know that.
I didn't throw no cat
out no window, lieutenant.
Bumpy isn't gonna like it.
I don't give a damn what he likes.
What the hell are you pumping me for?
Two weeks ago
we started picking up rumbles.
-You already said that.
-We know it's not the Panthers.
Or the Young Lords.
But something is on the boil, John.
I just wanna know what it is...
...before we need an adding machine
to start counting up the bodies.
Bumpy wants you for something.
He knows what's going on.
And that's what I wanna know.
Not who, just what.
It warms my black heart to see you
so concerned about us minority folks.
Come on, Shaft.
What is it with this black shit?
Huh?
You ain't so black.
And you ain't so white, baby.
[SHAFT CHUCKLING]
All right.
If you wanna play
your super-heavy black number...
...I'm gonna play mine.
We can nail your tail for manslaughter
on what we've got on you right now.
You can waltz Leibowitz, but you
know the law. You could be charged.
"Charged," lieutenant.
Yeah, but your license will be suspended.
You'll be out of business for six months.
You wanna be out of business
for six months, Shaft?
Out on the street.
No gun permit. Six months.
With Bumpy looking for you and what
sounds like all hell about to break loose.
You want it, you got it.
You scare me to death, lieutenant.
You're buying trouble not only
for yourself, but a blood bath up in Harlem.
You want that?
All I'm asking you is to let me know
what's going on.
No names, no places, just what.
I'm not asking you to sell out. Just...
...tell me the name of the game,
so I know the rules.
I'll think about it.
All right, I'll settle for that now.
That buys you 48 hours on the street,
and then we're gonna talk again.
You got the number
of Bumpy's private phone?
All right.
Take off. I'll see to Leibowitz.
Right on.
Yeah.
I'll see you.
Look at that.
[PHONE RINGING]
-Wrong number.
-Don't bull me, man. I got the right number.
This is Shaft.
How did you get this number?
Off a bathroom wall
in the goddamn subway.
-I'm looking for you, Shaft.
- I got an office.
Here you are.
Thanks.
Bag of chestnuts, please.
Cold as hell today, huh?
Yeah, yeah. Good chestnuts.
Good chestnuts.
-How much?
-Two bits.
-Here you go. Take it easy.
-Thanks.
Hey, taxi!
What the hell is this?
You white mother...
Taxi! Taxi!
Cat say he gonna be here,
he should be here.
Open it up.
Cat say he gonna be here...
...and he ain't.
It ain't right, boss.
We'll wait.
You take crap off of him,
he'll give you more crap.
We'll wait.
That's some cold shit...
...throwing my man, Leroy,
out the window.
Just picked my man up and threw him
out the goddamn window.
Got us standing around and waiting
to say thank you.
SHAFT:
Glad you let yourself in, Bumpy.
Give me a bad name,
having you hanging around in the hall.
Look...
...If the man ever comes down here again
to see you...
...you make sure you be here.
Waiting.
You're in my chair.
Wait outside.
Sims and Leroy tried to muscle you, Shaft?
Yep.
-Well, I got no grudge about Leroy.
-I couldn't give a damn.
I got a job for you.
-I'm not on no hustle, Bumpy.
-A detective job.
-What kind?
-Your kind. You take it.
Don't jive me.
What kind of job you talking about?
Somebody kidnapped my daughter, Marcy.
Done in a couple of people.
Didn't leave no ransom note or nothing.
Nobody saw nothing.
I want you to find her.
That's the fucking job.
Police got a unit,
does that kind of work free.
Not for me. You know I can't go
to the cops.
And you want me, huh?
Spade detective.
Yeah, I want you because
you're a black spade detective.
And I want you because you got your other foot
in whitey's trough. She can be anywhere.
Got any idea who grabbed her?
A lot of cats hate my guts.
A sweet, loving dude like you?
Sweet-talking a man's lady...
...while you beat her man out of his paycheck
in the backroom of a horse parlor?
Feeding his kid shit to shoot in his arm?
Who could hate you, Bumpy?
My baby never sold nothing to nobody.
Never took nothing from nobody.
She's a straight kid. She's going to college.
Whoever grabbed her, got her to get at me.
They have a beef with me,
they should come to me.
So you got a rule
that somebody else don't.
Is that all you know?
There's a piece of Harlem I can't get at,
the one them militants got an arm on.
They could have my baby.
She's been into some of that stuff.
Bunch calls themselves the "La Mumbas."
Ben Buford's thing.
I could send my people to ask them.
Shit.
It'd come to a shootout and when
it's all over, a bunch of dead cats.
And maybe they'd kill Marcy.
Yeah, you're papa pimp to them.
They wanna see you burn
as bad as they wanna see the police burn.
But kidnapping sisters,
man, that ain't their thing.
The only reason anybody
grabs anybody for is money.
Now, you tell me what other bunch in Harlem
needs money bad enough to grab my baby?
If you believe that, what's all this
about me having one foot in whitey's trough?
I said I think they had her.
I didn't say they had her in Harlem.
They ain't dumb enough
to take her someplace uptown.
No, it don't lay right.
What the hell you think I need you for
if I knew who had her?
I'm guessing.
If they don't have her, all right.
Maybe they know something.
Now, I got nothing.
That's the job, Shaft.
You take it, or no?
I get 50 bucks an hour.
Plus expenses.
And no questions asked
about how I spend it.
-You got it.
- I get a free hand to move any way I want.
You...
[VOICE CRACKING]
You find my baby.
That's all I want.
I got money.
You spend it...
...and you find her.
Now, that will get you started.
When will I hear from you?
When I got something to say.
One more thing.
You send another cat after me with a gun, I'll kill
the motherfucker, and I'll come looking for you!
And I'll get you, Bumpy. You believe it.
[CHUCKLES]
Fake mother...
Hey, Joe, you seen Ben Buford around?
[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
Ben Buford used to live here.
He live here anymore?
No, why?
I'm looking for him.
I am too. He owes me six months' rent.
Take it easy.
Hello, ma'am. I'm looking for a guy
named Ben Buford. You know him?
Yeah, I know him.
-Seen him around here lately?
-Not in a long while.
Thank you.
I'm looking for Ben Buford.
You seen him around?
No, I ain't seen him. I ain't seen him.
-Thanks.
-Hey.
Know what the number was today?
[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
-Hey, Bunky. What's happening?
-Hey, man, how's it going?
Seen Ben?
Ben? Ben who?
Ben Buford. You know who I mean, man.
Look, man, I don't know no Ben Buford.
Twenty.
Oh, that Ben Buford.
He's holed up on a place
on Amsterdam, 710.
-What apartment and what time?
-Third floor. There's a meeting at 9.
I can't guarantee it.
I just heard some cat tell another cat.
They're both in the movement
with Ben. Dig?
Yeah, well, stay loose, baby.
Hi.
You all right?
Baby, are you all right?
I got to feeling like a machine.
That's no way to feel.
Come here, baby.
[WOMAN MOANING]
Had a visitor
from uptown this afternoon, John.
-What you having?
-Give me a dog with mustard and onions.
No. Hold the onions.
Cold, huh?
Well, John, what did you get?
I got laid.
Uptown, brother. Amsterdam Avenue.
Take your time. I'm early.
-Hey, champ, you lost?
-No.
-You live around here?
-Yeah.
You look cold.
Get yourself something to eat, okay?
Gee, thanks, mister.
Okay, champ.
[WOMAN LAUGHING]
[SOUL MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]
[PEOPLE CHATTERING]
[DOOR CLOSES]
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
-Who is it?
-John Shaft, Ben.
Get the door.
Unless you want more visitors,
you better split up that pair out front.
Put somebody on the basement door.
-How did you find me?
-Wasn't hard. You got a big mouth.
-Cool it, man.
-You cool it, boy.
Don't let your mouth
get your ass in trouble.
BEN: I ain't got nothing to say to you.
-Don't jive me.
-We put in a lot of street time together.
-That was a long time back.
I don't know you no more.
A lot of hard years, man.
The kind you don't forget.
Now, I'm gonna give you one minute
to say what you came here to say.
And after you said it, you go back out that door
you came in or I'll throw you out.
You know Marcy Jonas?
-Yeah, why?
-You know where she is?
-What do you mean?
-Somebody grabbed her.
Bumpy thinks maybe it was you.
[MAN CHUCKLES]
We don't do that kind of thing, man.
You know anything about the kidnapping?
Okay, Tom, used up your minute.
Get out!
Don't "Tom" me, man.
[GUNFIRE]
-Where are the guns?
-None here.
SHAFT: I'll be goddamned!
WOMAN: Aah!
-Sonny! Sonny.
-They're coming!
-Up over the roof, Ben?
-Yeah. Go!
-He's dead.
-Come on, come on!
Not the roof, this way.
[BABY CRYING]
Stand back.
WOMAN: What is this?
-Everything will be all right.
-What is this?
-Go over there and be quiet.
[SCREAMING]
[BODY THUMPS]
[DOG BARKING IN DISTANCE]
SHAFT: Everything is okay, ma'am.
No need to worry.
Sorry about your door.
That'll take care of it.
You set us up, man.
Young man, please. Don't do that.
Don't ever threaten me again,
and don't call me Judas.
[DOG BARKING]
Come on, man. It's no time
to count your dead. Come on.
Look.
[WOMAN GASPS AND SCREAMS]
Come on.
SHAFT:
This way, this way.
One of yours?
-No.
-Probably a finger man.
SHAFT: When you lead that revolution,
whitey better be standing still...
...because you don't run
worth a damn no more.
BEN:
We're done running, man.
SHAFT:
What the hell do you call this, man?
[POLICE SIRENS WAILING]
I gotta find out if they're after you or me.
I'll leave you with some friends.
They're straight people.
So don't you lay any of
that Uncle Tom jive on them.
I don't know what's connected
to what. I can't piece them together.
[PHONE RINGING]
Answer that.
It's only a half an hour
since it happened.
How could I have something this soon?
TOM:
He's on the other line.
VIC:
I'm not paid enough to worry...
...about what that police commissioner
or the mayor thinks.
It's Shaft. You wanna talk to him?
I got a call. I might have something.
Hold on.
No, better I call you back.
-Shaft.
-I'm coming down to see you, Vic.
Vic, you've been holding out on me.
I'll wait. Listen, several cats
were killed up in Harlem tonight.
-You know anything about it?
- I was there, lieutenant.
Ugh.
[PHONE RINGING]
Um...
Captain is at home. Why not call him back?
Tell him I had to go out, chase down a lead.
-Where you going?
-Nowhere. Just get him off my back.
Reporter from the news wants an interview.
Tell him to call the captain.
Serves the old bastard right.
This is that list from intelligence section.
What about the pictures?
They're getting them together now.
Said about five minutes.
Shaft is coming down. Send him right in.
Dina will get you a bed made up.
Why don't you get some sleep, man?
Got some dead brothers laying out there.
And this ain't where I should be.
Till we find out why they're dead,
this is the only place for you to be.
You think like a white man.
-You don't think. You wanna get wasted?
-If that's what it takes, yeah!
Marvin is sleeping.
I'll find out what I can and come back
and pick you up in the morning.
If you think I'll owe you for this, man,
you're wrong.
Man, you got nothing I want.
Ben, you can have the girls' room.
D, I gotta go out. Got an extra key
so I don't wake you when I come back?
This will open the downstairs door too.
-Watch your mouth, man.
-I'll say any damn thing I want.
Not in this house. Not here, you won't.
[SHAFT CHUCKLES]
-Have a chair, John.
- I don't like your chair.
You gave me nothing, Vic.
You wanna lock me up for manslaughter
because some dude went out my office window...
...you can go ahead and do it.
You got no deal.
I have nothing else to give you, then.
That's straight.
-What do you got now?
-One question first.
Anybody who could've identified those guys
with machine guns got wiped out.
Yeah, five of Ben Buford's people
and probably the guy that fingered you.
Me? Are you sure it's me?
Well, I'd be sure if I knew if the guys
were black or white.
I'd make it 80-20 they were after you.
But Bumpy could probably tell you that
for sure.
Just say what you got, man.
A couple of things that may fit.
You remember my telling you that Bumpy
was doubling his crews up in Harlem?
-So?
-So downtown we get some visitors.
Three guys from L.A., two from Phoenix,
a guy from Decatur, Illinois...
...four guys from Philly.
Altogether, about 15 that we're sure of.
-Special guys, huh?
-All suspected of being guns for the Mafia.
Just got into town.
Most of them staying at some hotel
down the Village, taking in the sights.
-Is that it?
-No, one thing more.
A couple of dudes from Harlem
go across to Jersey.
Tried to kidnap some Mafia bigwig.
They blew it.
They killed the guy's runner.
But the man maintains that his runner
was in Florida on a fishing trip.
-Looks like war coming, huh?
-It's a bad thing, John.
Mafia against Bumpy.
It's 'hood against 'hood on the inside.
But on the outside, it's black against white.
Could be we could have tanks and troops
on Broadway if this thing breaks open.
Yeah, you got a point.
Here is what some of our visitors look like.
SHAFT: Be a good time for it.
-What, war?
SHAFT:
Heh. Fishing, down in Florida.
VIC: It might help if I knew
what Bumpy hired you for.
- I never said he did.
-He did.
It's against my ethics to say yes or no, Vic.
-He put you on the spot, Shaft.
-He did?
You're a very wise Caucasian, Vic.
I'll be here. If I'm not, call me at home.
That's a comfort.
[PHONE RINGING]
-Hello?
SHAFT: Hello, baby.
I waited up.
-Sorry, I can't make it.
-You got problems, baby?
Heh. Yeah, I got a couple of them.
I was born black and I was born poor.
[CHUCKLES]
I love you.
Yeah, I know.
Take it easy.
Hey. Get up.
We've got a man to see.
Yeah.
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
See who that is, will you?
It's Shaft.
Let him in.
-I've got an appointment with Bumpy.
- I know all about it.
I've got to see if you're clean
before you can see the man.
Better get yourself
six more helpers then, Willy.
That's how it's done.
-Who searches you?
-Nobody.
Then get the same cat to search us.
I've got to see if you got a gun on you
before you go in.
Tell Bumpy we were here. Come on, Ben.
SIMS:
If you let them walk now, Willy...
...Bumpy will have your tail.
Wait here, I'll call in to the man.
BUMPY [ON INTERCOM]:
What do you want, Willy?
-Shaft out here with some dude.
-Send them in.
-He won't let me see if they clean, Bumpy.
-Send them in.
Go on, you heard him.
But listen, Snow White...
...me and you gonna tangle sooner or later.
-Did you hear what I say?
-Why don't you stop playing with yourself?
You ain't gonna do shit.
[DOOR BUZZES]
You're a cagey spook, Bumpy.
You ride a tall horse, Mr. Shaft.
This is Ben Buford. Your little caper
cost him five friends last night.
-We'll take it out of your ass, pimp.
-You're pushing me a little far.
I found out some things, Bumpy.
Like you knew who grabbed your daughter,
and that it wasn't Ben or his people...
...when you laid all that jive on me
in my office.
I told you there was no note.
I still don't know who has her.
SHAFT:
You're lying, man.
Now, deal them up straight,
or don't deal them at all.
You grabbed the dope hustle up here
from the Mafia.
Made yourself some big bread.
Now the Mafia cats wanna move in on you.
-So, what?
-So the Mafia grabbed your daughter, Bumpy.
You knew it. Knew it when you hired me.
Yeah.
Tried to snatch one for a trade.
But your flunky friends out there blew it.
They burned some kid. Missed the man
we wanted to grab for a trade. Yeah.
Then you wanted to hustle old Shaft.
I hired you for a job. I conned you,
but I never lied to you.
My baby was grabbed.
You'll get her back. You bought that deal, Shaft.
You're gonna live with it.
Not at these prices, baby.
[CHUCKLING]
I told you, what it costs, it costs.
A lot of hyped-up black people give you
that money you're spending, pimp.
Don't you try to bullshit me, boy.
We're all on the hustle.
I sell broads and dope and numbers.
You sell crap and blue sky.
It's all the same game.
You knew the Mafia cats
would come after me, didn't you?
Uh-uh. But it doesn't shake me up.
They made a good move
to take out my front man.
They'll probably try again. I would.
You been using me, Bumpy. Suckered me.
That's okay. We stood face to face.
But I wanna know why you wanted me
to hook up with Ben.
Because you're gonna need an army
to get my baby back.
Ben's got one. My people ain't worth a damn
outside of Harlem.
If you think I'd risk some of the brothers...
...just because your daughter is black,
you're wrong, man.
We need money.
- I got a lot of brothers and sisters in jail.
-Set a price.
Ten thousand dollars a head.
That's what the honky government
pays a cat in the Army for insurance.
Ten grand a man.
That's our price.
All right.
You telling me you're willing to lay out
that kind of bread for Marcy?
Don't jive me, man.
I can always get more money.
I only got one baby.
That means you already owe him $50,000
for the men he lost last night.
All right.
We can get a lot of brothers and sisters
out of jail with that.
How many of his you gonna need?
Depends on whether
the Mafia will take a ransom.
-They want Harlem, nothing less.
-It ain't yours to give. Not anymore.
Mine or not, it's not gonna be theirs.
So all I gotta do is find out
where they've got her and bring her home.
-That's it.
-Well, if he's worth 10, I'm worth 20.
You got it, COD.
-Half now and half when I bring her home.
BEN: All.
-Right now.
-Half. That's the best I'll do.
SHAFT:
You just been hustled, Bumpy.
-Deliver the money tonight.
-I'll have my boys drop it off.
At these prices, you blow it, Shaft,
I'm not gonna like it. Not even a little bit.
I thought the money didn't matter to you,
just getting your baby back.
Money always matters.
This is where I get off, man.
Look, one thing we gotta get straight, man.
If we gotta make a move
and it comes to a fight, we do it my way.
For that kind of bread, the brothers will play.
-As long as you remember we owe them five.
-I said my way.
I'll call you.
BILLY: Hey, man.
-Hey, Billy? Come here.
-Do me a favor, huh?
-Sure.
-Go up to my place and turn on the--
-Hey, no, man. I've already turned on.
-No, Billy, turn on the lights.
-Oh, lights.
-About two minutes, okay?
-Got it. Got it.
[JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING OVER SPEAKERS]
[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]
ROLLIE:
How we doing, love?
That's nice. Don't make any trouble.
-Johnny.
-What do you say, Rollie?
Gorgeous coat.
How about letting me
take over the bar for a while?
There's nothing I wouldn't do for $20.
Have funzies.
-You look ready.
-Yeah, okay. Scotch and water, both.
On the house, gents.
And since the house is buying,
I'll have one.
To the big-hearted owner
of the No Name Bar.
Whether he knows he's generous or not.
[SHAFT LAUGHS]
-That's all booze.
-Right on.
All booze. One zillion percent.
[BOTH LAUGHING]
[PHONE RINGING]
Hello.
Hello.
Hold on.
Hold on.
No, he ain't here.
Right.
ROLLIE:
Hello there, innkeeper.
Two gin and tonics and a Virgin Mary...
...for moi.
I'm thirsty. Parched.
There's a girl over there...
...with the dark hair and the groovy boobs.
You really turn her on, if you're interested.
Well, I ain't dead.
Her friend, Valerie, says she's hot
for my body. I told her I was gay.
You know what she said?
She'd straighten me out.
That's what she said.
It's not enough that I'm lovely,
she wants me to play character parts.
The one with the titillating boobs
is named Linda.
Uh-huh.
Man can't walk on one leg.
Hate drinking alone.
[DIALING PHONE]
[PHONE RINGING]
Vic, private line.
SHAFT:
Hey, sweet baby.
This is your lover man.
Who the hell is this?
Two sweet guesses.
That you, Shaft?
You bet your lovely self it is.
And I'm ready. Can you dig it?
You got troubles?
- I got what you want.
-Where are you?
No Name Bar in the Village. On Jane Street.
-What do you want me to do?
-Haul your beautiful self down here.
-How many of them are there?
-Uh, about two.
I'll close up, then we'll go over to my pad.
You walk in that front door
and I'll close up right now.
-I'll have a car there in a few seconds.
-That's what I wanna hear, baby.
Right.
A lot of loose stuff around here, Jim?
All a man can handle, deacon.
[SHAFT CHUCKLES]
What you looking at, man?
Get lost, huh?
Go do something.
Where are my manners?
I didn't even introduce myself
to you gentlemen.
My name is John Shaft.
Freeze.
All right, you, let's go. Let's go.
[WOMAN SCREAMS]
Hey, throw me a towel.
There's two of them.
We're generous around here.
It's not so bad.
It's a nice pad you got here.
Look, baby, I'm going upstairs and take
a shower. I'll be right back.
I just couldn't wait.
SHAFT: What you say, Vic?
-Morning.
Both of them had guns,
licenses to carry them.
"Jewelry couriers," the licenses say.
Detroit people.
-You gonna turn them loose?
- I have no choice.
Oh, they'll leave town.
You're gonna have strangers looking for you,
not them.
Can I have a private talk with them?
What are you gonna do to poor Carmen now,
give him cancer?
You busted his head. Settle.
I just wanna find out his views
on urban renewal.
All right.
Tom.
I'm speaking for Bumpy Jonas.
He wants to make sure his daughter is okay.
My word is all he'll take.
No phone calls and no letters from her.
I've got to see her.
Then maybe he'll deal.
Nothing I wanna say in this rat hole.
-People might be listening.
SHAFT: That's a risk we'll have to take.
Now, give me a number
so I can let you know where ['ll be.
I'll call you at 12:30 sharp.
And meet you at a quarter to 1,
somewhere in the Village.
Hey, baby.
LINDA: Come here.
-Party's over.
You have to split.
Some other time, huh?
Same feeling, same place.
Right now I've gotta take care
of some business.
MAN [ON PHONE]: Yeah?
-Put Ben on.
He's asleep. Who wants him?
Wake him up, it's John Shaft.
You're really great, but, um...
...you're pretty shitty afterwards.
Yeah?
I'm trying to take care of some business,
baby, okay?
BEN:
Hello. Come on.
Ben.
- I need two good men. Are you ready?
-Yeah.
They better be tough.
Hey, baby, please close the door, huh?
Close it yourself, shitty.
-Hey, just tell me where and when.
-In front of Caf Reggio in the Village.
-Know where it is?
-I'll find it.
-12:30. Five minutes late would be too late.
-I'll be there. Bye.
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
-Yeah?
VIC: It's Vic Androzzi.
What the hell are you doing here?
I got no time for chats.
You had time for a chat with Carmen
and Patsy in my office this morning.
You got me in one hell of a mess, John.
-Did you have the room bugged?
-Oh, no, not me.
Me? I could turn the other way.
Not hear what I heard.
It's that big-eared captain I got
who was listening.
He thinks he heard you discussing
a kidnapping.
He thinks the Mafia is involved.
And he knows Bumpy Jonas is involved.
-Tell him to ask Bumpy, then.
-Yeah, I did.
But he wants to ask you. Now.
At the station.
-It's lousy timing, right?
-Gonna take me in?
I will if I find you.
-Are you home?
-Hell, no.
That's too bad.
Call me when you get home.
I will.
"Close it yourself, shitty." Ha, ha, ha.
[CHUCKLES]
This is Shaft. Now, get this straight.
I'll be at Caf Reggio
on McDougall Street at a quarter to 1.
-Got it?
MAN: Reggio, a quarter to 1.
Right.
Menu?
Espresso.
Don't you want a sandwich
or something with it?
Just espresso.
I hope you don't like lemon peel.
Let it go.
I think you'll like it. I'll go get you some.
I always forget the lemon peel.
I'm looking for a nigger named John Shaft.
You just found him, wop.
-Sit down.
-I have to take you to visit a lady. Come on.
I haven't finished my espresso.
Why don't you have some?
Maybe they'll put a little garlic in it,
if you're nice.
No, thanks. But you go ahead.
We've even got time for you
to have your soul food.
Espresso?
No, thanks.
Keep it.
Thanks, baby.
Let's go.
Come on.
After you, man.
Okay. Davies, you stay here.
You get around the back, keep an eye
on the alley door. And stay out of sight.
What if they come out our way?
Davies, you follow them.
Rem, you come back for me. Now, move it.
[WHISPERS]
No noise. Now, answer me straight.
No lies and no con.
How many men you got in there with her?
Two.
Okay. When I tell you, you open that door like
this gun was about to blow your head off.
No signals or you're gone. Got it?
Yeah.
Ha! Gin.
Open it.
[MARCY GASPS]
Okay, turn her loose or he goes.
-Tell them to turn her loose.
-He won't.
They won't shoot, Marcy.
Come on over here.
CHARLIE:
There's nothing you can do, Shaft.
Nothing, except go back to Harlem
and tell Bumpy his little girl is fine.
-When I leave, she leaves with me.
-No way, Shaft.
-She's our ace. You never give up your ace.
SHAFT: Maybe you're right.
Maybe I ought to take you uptown
and turn you over to Bumpy, huh?
Change your mind, you can walk right now.
You try to take the girl or me along,
you're dead.
You trying to tell me they'd blow you away
to get me?
That's right.
[MARCY WHIMPERING]
I halfway believe you.
But you're my ace, so I gotta call you.
[MARCY SCREAMS]
Unh!
[GROANS]
Unh!
Unh!
The only thing that's keeping you alive
right now, the only thing...
...you gotta be fit enough
to tell that black punk in Harlem...
...that he's got 24 hours to deal
or he's got a dead daughter...
...and a war.
You hear me?
Unh!
Come on, let's go.
Let's go!
Back door.
[MARCY SHRIEKS]
LEE:
Come on.
[MARCY SOBBING]
Come on.
-Come on.
MARCY: Help!
Come on, in front of me.
John, you all right? Come on.
Come on. You all right?
Huh?
Get me up out of here.
The place will be stinking with cops
in a minute.
BEN: Grab those guns.
Let's get the hell out of here.
[KNOCKING ON DOOR]
BEN:
Ellie!
-Ellie! Ellie, open up!
ELLIE: Yes.
My God! What happened?
BEN:
He's been shot.
ELLIE:
Put him on the couch.
BEN:
Didn't wanna tell you over the phone.
SHAFT:
Ellie, call Sam.
-You need a real doctor, baby.
SHAFT: I said, call Sam.
Let's get him up.
[GRUNTS]
Easy.
[GRUNTING]
Blade.
Ben, get on the phone.
We gonna need some more brothers,
with guns this time.
Bumpy will handle the transportation.
Had to bring you to, Johnny.
Can't fix anything else
till you tell me where you hurt.
Wall to wall, Sam.
Ellie, give me that phone.
-Get those boys?
-Got eight.
Know where they took her?
One of the brothers tailed them.
He's watching the place now.
-What about the back exit?
-Everything's cool, baby. Don't worry.
Did you run into a train?
Tight as you can get it.
I gotta get up soon as you're done.
[SHAFT GRUNTS]
Damn. Unh!
Damn, those were some tough white boys.
You're gonna have one hell of a time.
-Got a bad sprain on that right wrist.
-Well, tape it.
I did, damn it. What do you think I am,
an amateur? For Christ sakes.
Too good of a job, Sam. I didn't even feel it.
BUMPY:
Wrong number.
Cut the crap, man. This is Shaft.
I saw Marcy.
She all right?
Scared to death, but she's okay.
Look, I need three cabs,
on the corner of 9th and Washington.
-Pick up some of Ben's people.
-How soon?
Now, man. Now.
[LINE HANGS UP]
[CHEF SINGING INDISTINCTLY]
BROTHER:
Okay, you two, outside! Move, move!
Let's go!
Tie them up.
All right, baby, where are the uniforms?
-Who's that?
-Night janitor. He's okay.
-Use him to find out which room they got her in.
-Right.
-Getting it together?
-Yeah, baby, right on.
VIC:
Beautiful.
Just beautiful.
Hey, Jerry, how are you doing, baby?
Hey, boy?
Send up two coffees and a Coke.
Glass or a straw?
-For the Coke.
-Make it a straw.
-Straw?
-You heard me, straw.
BEN:
Right. Right.
MAN:
You're a shrewd cat, Shaft.
You and your boys blow it
and I'll be one dead cat.
You all know the plan. No mistakes.
Let's go.
Here you are, sir.
Two coffees, a Coke and a straw.
-Want me to take it in?
-Whoa.
Right.
Hey, thank you.
-Be seeing you.
-Okay.
[ELEVATOR BUZZER SOUNDS]
Shut up.
-What do you guys want?
-Your coat.
SHAFT:
Rope and harness.
SHAFT:
Go ahead down.
[THUMP]
-Did you hear anything?
-Uh-uh.
[MAN GRUNTS]
This damn thing won't burn hot enough.
See if you got something else
in there that'll burn.
This is gin, man.
What else you got?
Gasoline.
Come on.
Give me a cigarette.
SHAFT: You know what to do?
-Yeah.
Come on.
Bitch.
[HORN HONKING]
[MARCY SCREAMING]
BROTHER:
Let's get out of here! Let's get out of here!
BROTHER 1:
Come on!
BROTHER 2:
Let's go!
BROTHER 1:
Let's go!
[POLICE SIREN WAILING]
VIC [ON PHONE]:
Androzzi here.
-Vic, your case just busted wide open.
-So close it for me.
Cut the crap, man. This is Shaft.
Looks like you're gonna have
to close it yourself, shitty.
[LAUGHING]
[English - US - SDH]