Richard Roundtree returned once more as the super-cool black private eye in this second sequel to the Blaxploitation classic Shaft (1971).
With a screenplay by Stirling Silliphant – who also scripted In the Heat of the Night (1967) – this third film about the exciting exploits of the Harlem detective has John Shaft lured out of his home turf and going undercover in Africa to break Frank Finlay’s slave-smuggling racket.
Shaft poses as an African native and allows himself to be recruited for hard labour in Europe.
His relentless pursuit of the deadly slavers then takes him from New York to Addis Ababa and across Africa to the Red Sea.
The film (shot largely in Ethiopia) gets across its message with some cracking dialogue and bursts of tough violence, with British director John Guillermin showing an acute eye for sadistic detail.
John Shaft
Richard Roundtree
Amafi
Frank Finlay
Aleme
Vonetta McGee
Jazar
Neda Arneric
Wassa
Debebe Eshetu
Emir Ramila
Cy Grant
Sassari
Spiros Focas
Director
John Guillermin
