From blockbuster to lackluster, this followup to the enormously popular SHAFT (1971) wastes its appealing hero in an implausible and unexciting plot.
After being summoned by a late-night phone call, private detective John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) arrives at a Queens mortuary owned by Cal Asby (Robert Kya-Hill) just as the building is blown to bits. After Asby's funeral, Shaft discovers that the dead man was behind an illegal numbers racket and
that his former partner Kelly (Wally Taylor) owed a large debt to gangster Gus Mascola (Joseph Mascolo). It turns out Kelly killed Asby for a wad of cash that subsequently disappeared, and now Mascola is pressuring Kelly ...
Released:
1972
Rated:
R
Length:
105 mins