Although a Jun 1970 Publishers Weekly news item stated that M-G-M had already expressed interest in obtaining the rights to Ernest Tidyman’s novel for production by Stirling Silliphant and Roger Lewis, an Aug 1970 HR item reported that Herb Solow, then M-G-M’s production head, was about to start an independent production company and would be making Shaft as his “initial venture.” Later contemporary sources reported that Silliphant and Lewis would be producing the film in conjunction with Tidyman, although Tidyman is not listed as a producer in the onscreen picture’s credits. According to a May 1972 Publishers Weekly report, when M-G-M and Tidyman’s Shaft Productions, Ltd. joined to make the first “Shaft” film, the agreement between the novelist and the studio “included provision for at least three Shaft movies.” When Lewis subsequently left M-G-M for Warner Bros. and could not produce the first movie full-time, Joel Freeman was brought in as the line producer.
       The film differs significantly from the Tidyman novel on which it was based. In the book, "Ben Buford" agrees to help "John Shaft" and "Bumpy Jonas" so that the Mafia will not gain control of Harlem, rather than for monetary gain. In the ending confrontation between Shaft and the mobsters, only Shaft and "Willy" go after "Marcy," while Ben and his supporters start a riot in an exclusive, white neighborhood to distract the police away from Shaft's mission.
       Additionally, "Ellie Moore," Shaft's main girl friend, is white in the book, whereas in the film, she is African American. The race of "Linda," the girl Shaft picks up in the No Name Bar, is also reversed, as she is African American in the book but white in the film. [In later 1970s interviews, the filmmakers noted that they received many complaints from black women about Shaft’s sexual encounter with a white woman, and in the subsequent films, Shaft’s paramours were always black.] The bartender of the No Name Bar, "Rollie," is black in the novel, but in the film is a white friend of Shaft who nonchalantly declares that he is gay. In the book, Shaft is very antagonistic toward homosexuals.
       According to a modern interview with Tidyman’s son, the author was dismayed with the changes made for the film, as he felt the studio was trying too hard, in an unauthentic way, to make the character more ethnic. Tidyman wrote six other novels featuring the Shaft character, which were published between 1972 and 1975. Tidyman, a prominent, white novelist and screenwriter, received an NAACP Image award for his creation of Shaft.
       According to director Gordon Parks’s autobiography, Ron O’Neal had been considered for the part of Shaft, but was rejected because he was too light-skinned. Parks makes a cameo in the picture as a Harlem resident questioned by Shaft about the location of Ben. As noted by contemporary sources, the picture was shot entirely on location in New York City, including in Harlem, Greenwich Village and Times Square. According to studio press notes, all of the film’s “non-location interiors” were constructed and shot in the old City Hospital on Welfare Island. In his autobiography, Parks stated that because of the potential for budget overruns due to the extremely cold weather, studio officials wanted to shoot in Los Angeles, but Parks threatened to quit the project unless it was filmed in New York.
       Shaft marked the first major film role of theater actor and model Richard Roundtree. [Roundtree had previously appeared in a bit role in the 1970 film What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?, see entry.] Roundtree received mixed reviews, as did the film, with New York magazine stating that he made “an authentic star debut” while the Village Voice termed him a “failure” and a “James Bond in blackface.” The picture also marked the motion picture debuts of Gwenn Mitchell and Drew Bundini Brown, well-known as a trainer of boxer Muhammed Ali, and the only film role of Sherri Brewer.
       According to Filmfacts, Shaft was one of 1971’s highest grossing pictures, with over six million dollars in domestic rentals. In Jul 1972, NYT noted that the film had grossed more than $18 million in the United States and Canada, and that due to its success, M-G-M “was able to pull itself out of the fiscal red sea.” In reporting on the film’s progress, a Jul 1971 Var article noted that up to that point, it was estimated that eighty percent of the film’s audience had been black, and that a large part of its success was due to a “black-owned ad agency, the UniWorld Group.” The article explained that UniWorld’s strategy was to screen the film for “every level of the black community” before it opened in various cities, as well as to make sure that “a clearly identifiable black voice” was used for radio and television ads. In discussing his concept of the film’s potential audience in the May 1971 Publishers Weekly article, producer Joel Freeman stated: “The first Shaft film is aimed much more directly at a black audience. The language is very pointedly black, which is what we wanted. Later on, if Shaft succeeds, we will open the series up and send Shaft anyplace. That’s when we expect to start picking up our real white audience.”
       Shaft was one of the most popular and influential examples of the “Blaxploitation” genre, which began in 1971 and usually featured African-American characters in a gritty, urban setting. [For more information about Blaxploitation films, see the entry below for Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song.] Shaft, as with other Blaxploitation films, was controversial, especially during the 1970s, with many black and white film critics arguing that it presented shallow, stereotyped characters. Other critics lauded it, however, feeling that it gave black moviegoers the opportunity to enjoy the exploits of a powerful and successful black man who was comfortable with his racial identity.
       Isaac Hayes was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic Score and won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Theme from Shaft," making him the first African-American composer to win an Oscar. A Mar 1972 DV article reported that after the song “Theme from Shaft" was submitted by M-G-M for consideration, a “special meeting of the Academy music committee” had to be called to “consider its eligibility” due to the song being predominantly instrumental, with a repetitive theme, and having minimal lyrics. The song and the film’s score gained great popularity, with both the song and the soundtrack album becoming number-one hits and winning two Grammy Awards and a Golden Globe for Hayes. In addition, Hayes won Best Musical Score at the 1971 NAACP Image Awards, where the picture took Film of the Year honors and Joel Freeman was named Producer of the Year.
       Shaft was the first in a series of three films featuring the character. According to the pressbook for Shaft, Roundtree originally had a contract for three sequels, but only two were produced. Roundtree starred in all three "Shaft" pictures, with Moses Gunn and Brown reprising their roles in the second film. The second picture, entitled Shaft’s Big Score! (see entry), was directed by Parks, co-produced by Tidyman and released by M-G-M in 1972. Tidyman turned his screenplay for the film into a novel of the same name that was published to coincide with the picture’s release. In 1973, Shaft and Shaft’s Big Score! were re-released theatrically as a double bill. The third film, Shaft in Africa (see entry), was the only one in the series not to feature a script by Tidyman. Directed by John Guillermin and released by M-G-M in 1973, the film had an original screenplay by Stirling Silliphant.
       Tidyman’s character was also the inspiration for a series of seven, ninety-minute television movies that aired on CBS from 9 Oct 1973 to 19 Feb 1974, all starring Roundtree. A parody of the original film, called Shafted!, was released in 1999. Directed by Tom Putnam, the comedy starred David James Alexander as a white man convinced he is a black superhero. In 2000, Paramount released a film very loosely based on Tidyman’s original novel. Also called Shaft, the picture, updated to 2000, was directed by John Singleton and starred Samuel L. Jackson as the police detective nephew of the “original” Shaft who joins his uncle’s private detective firm. Roundtree reprised his role of Shaft for the 2000 release, which used Hayes's theme song and featured a cameo by Gordon Parks as “Mr. P.”