Richard Roundtree stars John Shaft, a tough New York City private detective, who is always in the know and always in the middle of trouble. Roundtree is coolness personified and his charismatic presence really carries the film. There are some markings on the print, noticeable film grain is present and the colors show the telltale signs of 70 s film stocks.
Colors tend to favor earthen tones and are somewhat subdued.
Backs are well rendered and the level of shadow detail is decent for a 1971 release. Digital compression artifacts did not effect the presentation in any perceivable manner. The Dolby Digital monaural soundtrack gets the job done, but it isn t what anyone would call high fidelity. Because of this, the sound is a bit thin, with Isaac Hayes music being the biggest loser. Dialogue is always intelligible, but the voices have an inconsistent quality.