Shaft's Big Score (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) (1972)

Announcement Story Richard Roundtree, whose portrayal of a tough Harlem private eye named “Shaft’’ catapulted him to international stardom, TOUUKNS@ ote sehr. kes AG fo moeemeetieak. sets ceca, eee theatre(s) in “Shaft’s Big Score!’’ Many of the same men responsible for the first ‘‘Shaft’’ movie from MGM, are teamed again for ‘‘Shaft’s Big Score!’”’ Gordon Parks directs for co-producers Roger Lewis and Ernest Tidyman. Tidyman, who created the character in his novel, wrote the screenplay for the Stirling Silliphant-Roger Lewis Production. “Shaft’s Big Score!’’ co-stars Moses Gunn, Drew Bundini Brown, Kathie Imrie, Julius W. Harris and Rosalind Miles. In this adventure, Shaft tangles with the law and organized crime while tracking down a murderer. SUCCESS STORY= DOUBLED Every Black actor able to walk into director Gordon Parks’ New York casting offices turned up last year at auditions for MGM’s “Shaft,”’ a film that was to become so enormously popular that a second adventure for the tough private detective, ‘‘Shaft’s Big Score!”’ will be opening soon. Indeed, some of the nation’s biggest names strode through those doors drooling over what was to prove to be the acting coup of the year, possibly the decade. And when it fell into the lap of ar unknown acting hopeful with the unlikely name of Richard Roundtree, he was the most surprised and emotionally unprepared of all. ““Well,’’ Richard notes in retrospect, ‘‘at that time | wasn’t aware of who | was up against or which actors had been interviewed for the part. | did know that more than 200 actors had been interviewed in New York alone, not counting those who were auditioned in Hollywood, but even that fact didn’t settle fully on my consciousness. “| knew there was a strong chance | wouldn’t get the part. I'd gone out on interviews many times and I’d become used to competition. You come to a point where you go in with the attitude that if you get it, then good. And if you don’t, then you look ahead to the next interview. You just keep on keepin’ on. “But this time was different. | was called back three times, which had never happened before. | knew something was going on. My confidence grew. Then | was called back for a screen test and | found that | was one of only two men being tested for the role and at that point | got really cocky and figured ‘well, hell, that’s it. I’ve got it.’ “But that was only until | found out who the other actor was. He turned out to be one of the biggest actors in the business. | could have died. We walked into the office at the same time and John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) tries to outrun underworld killers in a helicopter in ‘‘Shaft’s Big Score!” from MGM. MAT NO. 2A | started murmuring ‘Jesus!’ to myself over and over. At first | started to just turn around and walk out the room. Then | figured I’d stay and go through it just for the experience.” When Richard was notified later that he had been chosen for the role, he still couldn’t believe it. ‘‘At first | had no conception of the magnitude of the whole thing. | had no thoughts of how many countless people would see the film or how much money it would make,”’ he says reflectively. “As an actor, | always thought someday I’d make it big. | always visualized that first opening day on my first major film. In my dream the film was always one which knocked everyone dead. But when that opening night actually happened, | wasn’t prepared for it at all. | was numb and light headed the whole evening. | knew | was there, but it was like | was somehow outside myself looking at the whole affair. “The whole thing of the lights and cameras and people was a heavy trip.’ As far as the film itself went, Richard insists that he couldn’t look at it after having viewed it three times. He simply lost all objectivity. Then, too, there was only one scene which he really liked. ‘‘That was the scene in the No Name bar,’’ he points out excitedly. ‘‘That sequence seemed to really work for me. All systems were go in that scene for some reason. As for the rest of it, | wish | could tear it up and do it all over again.’ He almost got his wish. He’s doing it again — the same character, but not the same story. This time private detective John Shaft is tracking down hot money and the gunman who killed his friend to get the money. As the title implies, you can guess who is successful in ‘“‘Shaft’s Big Score!”’ ENTERTAINMENT, NOT REALITY Richard Roundtree, who achieved instant stardom as a tough private eye named ‘“‘Shaft’’ is concerned about how young Blacks react both to him and to his character John Shaft on screen. “The thing I’ve noticed most,’’ says Roundtree, ‘‘is the fact that many of the kids, especially those between the ages of about eight and 13, are like little Shafts, man. They really emulate that character. And many parents of kids in this age range tell me their youngsters really identify strongly with Shaft, which | think is beautiful. It’s a positive thing. “| don’t think all the things John Shaft does up there are admirable and | wouldn’t teach all of what he does, and is, to my own son if | had one. But the fact of Shaft’s presence is enough to redeem whatever negative aspects he may possess. | mean, let’s face it. Our kids have had an overly prolonged diet of John Wayne and Doris Day.”’ With Roundtree starring in his second MGM film ‘“‘Shaft’s Big Score!’’ he’s certainly providing whatever he can for diversified film appetites. And what does Roundtree think of the overall image of Blacks on the tube and in movie houses? “‘Basicaly,”’ he reflects, ‘‘I think it’s all positive. There’s something good to be found in all of it. A lot of people put down ‘Sweet Sweetback,’ for example. Well, whether or not they dug the Black picture out there on the open market to which Blacks could relate. And that’s got to be positive. “Of course, as more and more Black films come out, we’re going to get a more diversified look at Black life. Now, | wouldn’t suggest for one minute that ‘Shaft’ or ‘Shaft’s Big Score!’ are true depictions of Black life in this country by any means. But neither are the vast majority of films depicting the life style of white America. It’s entertainment, not reality. “But the Whites have always had, along with the exaggerations, images they could relate to in a real sense. We haven’t had that. That’s why at this point | feel that everything Black on film deserves examination. “But in another three or four years | think we’ll be seeing everything from Black sexploitation on films to love stories and historical films. It’s all part of a very natural ethnic movie revolution. “This is a very exciting period we’re undergoing in films, which reflects the change going on in other aspects of our culture, and we have to try to view each phase of it in its proper perspective.”’