Shaft (franchise)

The Shaft franchise consists of five action-crime feature films and seven television films, centered on a family of African-American police detectives who all share the name John Shaft. The first three features may be described as blaxploitation films, the television film series is a mystery, and the fourth feature installment is a crime thriller. By contrast the fifth film installment, released to Netflix, is a satirical buddy-cop comedy.

Shaft (1971)
John Shaft is a classy and suave African-American detective. He successfully fights local crime, including the leader of the black crime mob named Bumpy, his gang, and black nationals. The conflicting characters have to put aside their differences when they must defeat the white mafia, who kidnapped Bumpy's daughter in attempts to blackmail him.

Shaft's Big Score! (1972)
When John Shaft finds out that a dead friend ran an illegal money laundering scheme out of the former's legitimate business and left $200,000 unaccounted for, he discovers the reason why he had suddenly found himself in the middle of a war between rival gangs. The thugs begin a war of taking over the territory that belonged to the deceased, as well as to get their hands on the missing two hundred grand. Shaft has all he can handle trying to track down the money and, at the same time, keep his friend's sister from the clutches of these dangerous groups.

Shaft in Africa (1973)
John Shaft is persuaded to take on the faux identity of a native-speaking worker in Africa by threats of violence, the enticings of money, and the lure of a potential love interest in his tutor. While undercover he must help in completing a coup on a business that is smuggling immigrants into Europe, and then exploiting them. The villains, unfortunately for him, know he is coming.

Shaft (2000)
New York City Police Detective John Shaft II, son of the 1970s cop, is the lead detective on a sensitive case when a young African-American is viciously beaten to death. After learning there was an eye-witness and upon further investigation, the man's friends lead Shaft on the trail of a man who was known to have racial prejudice, prior to the attack. The titular character confronts him and learns that he's Walter Wade Jr., the son of a wealthy real estate tycoon. He finds evidence that the perpetrator was at the location of the crime. The suspect is released on bail because of 'excessive force' from Shaft during his arrest, and flees the country. Two years later, Wade returns to the U.S. where Shaft arrests him for evading law enforcement. After the judge grants him bail, Shaft questions the magistrate's motives and intentions. He resigns from the police force and sets out to lock Wade away permanently. At the same time Wade fears that Shaft may find the witness before he does and hires a drug lord to find and kill her.

Shaft (2019)
John Shaft III, also known as JJ, is a cyber security expert for the FBI who seeks out a different kind of expertise from his absentee father John Shaft II (and ultimately, grandfather John Shaft I) after his best friend's untimely death.

In discussing the film, director Tim Story stated, "...We’re going to definitely make sure the stakes in the world are real, and then you’ve got these characters who are dealing with kind of a father/son situation, we’re going to see them put a family back together."

Television
Following the box office failure of Shaft in Africa, the studio moved the franchise to the small screen in 1973, with a television series ordered and released to CBS network. While attempting to build crossovers with another crime-drama, Hawkins, the series never garnered much success. Each episode features a different case and a different crime for the titular character to solve. The series was cancelled after one season, due to poor ratings. Richard Roundtree, who reprised his role from the theatrical feature films, has since expressed his distaste for the show and its contrasting message of "pro-police" compared to the feature films. Some episodes were later re-edited and released as television movies, including: Shaft and the Enforcers, Shaft and the Killing, Shaft and the Hit-Run, Shaft and the Kidnapping, Shaft and the Cop Killer, Shaft and the Capricorn Murders, and Shaft and the Murder Machine. The first four debuted in 1973, while the latter three released in 1974.

Main cast and characters
The film series contains four main stars, with various key characters appearing in each individual movie. The following chart organizes the films' stars, arranged by film.