Shaft's Big Score (1972)

Director: Gordon Parks
Starring: Richard Roundtree, Moses Gunn, Drew Bundini Brown

Synopsis:
Shaft investigates the murder of a friend who was in the numbers racket.

Impressions:
While this isn't as iconic as the original, it's still an organic continuation of the story. I like how the main bad guy isn't wholly incompetent but is nevertheless over his head. I really like Mascola, who's a pretty chill guy until you put the pressure on him. I also like how we see Bumpy in his element. In the first film, he was just a distraught father but now we see him as a major Harlem kingpin. I enjoyed the dynamic between Shaft and Lieutenant Androzzi in the previous film, but here there's a much more acrimonious relationship with police counterpart Captain Bollins, which seems to be almost entirely because Bollins is something of a race traitor for being a cop. There are some decent action sequences and a few good songs. If you're a Shaft fan, you should dig it. Give it a watch.

Rating:
Watch It