Shaft is a 1971 Blaxploitation film directed by Gordon Parks and stars Richard Roundtree as John Shaft, a private detective who is hired by Harlem Mafia boss Bumpy Jonas (Moses Gunn) to find his kidnapped daughter Marcy (Sherri Brewer). With help from gang leader Ben Buford (Christopher St. John) and Police Inspector Vic Androzzi (Charles Cioffi), he ventures into a dangerous world of gangsters, pimps and junkies. The film received an Academy Award for actor/musician Isaac Hayes, who composed the music and sang the now iconic theme song. The film would spawn several sequels and would later inspire a feature film update released in 2000 that starred Samuel L. Jackson and Roundtree reprising his role.
The following weapons were used in the film Shaft (1971):
John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) uses a Colt Detective Special 1st Gen throughout the film. Throughout the first half of the film, he carries a blued one and keeps a nickel one wrapped up in his refrigerator, which he uses for the rest of the film.
One of the gangsters that Shaft fights in the beginning carries a Colt M1911, identifiable by its ejection port, which is smaller than the M1911A1. Shaft is also seen using one to arrest some of Marcy's kidnappers in a bar.
The Smith & Wesson Model 10 is briefly seen being used by one of Ben Buford's gangsters and one of the kidnappers. A snubnose version is also seen being held by one of Buford's men.
The M1928 Thompson submachine gun is commonly seen throughout the film, most notably used by Marcy's kidnappers. It is also wielded by some of Ben Buford's (Christopher St. John) men while rescuing Marcy with Shaft in the end. There is also a brief scene when three of Buford's gangsters are gunned down of a stairway by a policeman's Thompson when cops stormed his building.
