Celebrating 65 Years Of Richard Roundtree Sticking It To The Man

One of my favorite actors turns sixty-five today and I thought I would offer up a little tribute for him.
Since making his starring debut in Gordon Park's SHAFT in 1971, Richard Roundtree has been one of our most reliable, talented and unbelievably cool actors. With well over 100 films and tv appearances in his filmography, the New York born Roundtree has also been one of the most prolific actors of the past three decades.
Although he had a small role in 1970's WHAT DO YOU SAY TO A NAKED LADY, it was as detective John Shaft in 1971 that would mark Roundtree's introduction to film audiences all over the world. It is hard to over-emphasize the importance of SHAFT and Roundtree's performance in the film, and if it indeed has overshadowed the rest of his career then that only shows just how truly iconic it is.
SHAFT could have been just another early seventies cop picture starring any number of popular white male actors but talented photographer and director Gordon Parks had something else in mind. From the legendary sounds of Isaac Hayes score to Parks influential and kinetic directorial style, SHAFT remains a mind-blowing and door kicking down film. Much of the credit for the film's phenomenal success is due to Roundtree himself, who would not only give a a great performance but would provide a much needed positive and strong role model for kids of all colors all over the world. There had certainly been strong African American portrayals on the screen before Richard Roundtree as John Shaft but his success as a leading man, sex symbol and strong dramatic force was a triple play that few actors, black or white, had matched before or since. John Shaft is one of the most important, if often overlooked, characters in American film history.

Roundtree worked constantly throughout the seventies in films ranging from the SHAFT sequels and tv series to the big budget disaster film EARTHQUAKE to the interesting DIAMONDS and the ambitious A GAME FOR VULTURES.
James Fargo's A GAME FOR VULTURES really showed Roundtree attempting to escape the John Shaft persona and it remains one of his great performances even though the film is flawed. The film's failure could have hurt Roundtree but he didn't let it and he continued to work constantly throughout the eighties.
Highlights from Roundtree's second decade as one of our great leading men and character actors include Larry Cohen's awesome Q, the fun Fred Williamson collaborations ONE DOWN, TWO TO GO and THE BIG SCORE and William Lustig's fine MANIAC COP.
Even a cancer scare in 1993 couldn't slow Richard down and he continued to appear in many films and television roles throughout the decade, including a great spot in David Fincher's SEVEN and the underrated Larry Cohen picture ORIGINAL GANGSTAS.
Richard gives a really fantastic performance in ORIGINAL GANGSTAS and the sight of him, Fred Williamson, Pam Grier, Jim Brown and Ron Oneal in the same film still brings a smile to my face. This effective little film is deserving of much more attention than has been granted to it.
This decade began with the news that SHAFT was going to be remade. What could have been disastrous was actually handled very well by director John Singleton. Instead of a straight remake the film was a continuation, with Samuel L. Jackson playing the nephew of the original John Shaft. Richard had been a hero to both Jackson and Singleton and the new SHAFT was a splendid tribute to not only the original film but also to how much the character had meant to kids in the seventies. Roundtree would appear in the film, as would original director Gordon Parks, and essentially steal every scene he was in. His scenes with Jackson in Singleton's very solid film remain some of the best and most effective of his career.
Since the new SHAFT, the Golden Globe nominated Richard Roundtree has continued to work constantly and he remains at sixty five one of the most beautiful and best Actors in American cinema. I wish him a very happy birthday and many more years of success on and off the screen.

My Tarantino Mix-Tape (Track 2): "Your Ass Used to be Beautiful"

One of the most memorable moments in Quentin Tarantino's Jackie Brown occurs right before Samuel L. Jackson’s Ordell Robbie shoots and kills Robert De Niro’s Louis Gara, his lifelong friend and partner in crime. Featuring a chilling close-up Ordell, with his spiritually defeated eyes closed and head bowed in silent concentration, that is among Tarantino’s most effective shots in his canon, the scene is incredibly well-done. Ending with the immortal line, “What the fuck happened to you, man? Shit, your ass used to be beautiful.”, this scene from Jackie Brown again shows Tarantino’s often overlooked talent at using silence and an actor’s face to heighten the tension brought on by his acclaimed dialogue and directorial skills.










The scene works on a number of levels. As a summation of Jackie Brown, a film centered on once great people past their prime, it is perfect. It is also a wonderful tribute to the spirit of Elmore Leonard’s novels (Jackie Brown is based on his excellent Rum Punch) that are filled with many such moments of brtrayel and disappointment that contain as much emotion as they do shocks and excitement. Finally the scene works as perhaps symbolic for the question so many of us have for De Niro himself, as Jackie Brown is one of the last great movies the man has made (and he hasn’t even come close to his performance as Louis since.)




In a film absolutely filled with heart and sentiment, Jackie Brown has fewer moments that contain as much heart and spirit than this encounter between two of its main characters. Like the film itself, it is wonderfully written, directed and finally acted. I remember the first time I saw this scene that snowy Christmas night and it immediately felt legendary. More than ten years after that night, it has only become more and more resonate.







***On a side note, I must say that I really like this series and feel like it would be perfect for a number of my other favorite directors. So be on the look out for more celebrations of my essential scenes from Tarantino's work as well a number of my other filmmaking favorites in the future.***

Overlooked Classics: Jackie Brown

I have decided to not attempt any major review on JACKIE BROWN for a few reasons. The main reason being that so much as already been written on the film, by writers much more eloquent than I am, that I am not sure of what I could add. I typically try to focus on films that haven’t been written on enough, and that certainly isn’t the case with JACKIE BROWN.
The other two reasons have to do with Tarantino himself. I figure fans of his already have a clear favorite and they are unwavering in their dedication towards it. Secondly, that people who don’t care for his work won’t be swayed by anything I can write…
So instead of a review I am going to offer two things to the table. The first is a simple list of things I believe about the film. Some you might agree with and some you might not. I offer no evidence for any of these, but I believe them all nonetheless and am not likely to change my mind anytime soon.
The second thing I will offer is a personal story about the first time I saw the film, what it meant and what it continues to mean to me. You may or may not want to skip over this, as it is really just my way of paying a personal tribute to a film that has come to mean a lot to me.

First up is the list:

1. The slow pacing that many people have complained about is deliberate, and is among the cleverest things Quentin Tarantino has ever accomplished. The slightly off pacing fits in perfectly thematically with the characters in the film.

2. This film is among the greatest works dealing with that particular time in a person’s life when they have just slipped past their prime. That weird moment when you are not old, but youth is no longer in the cards for you either.

3. This is the last great performance that Robert De Niro gave us, and what Samuel L. Jackson says to him after he shoots him foreshadows what many of his fans would like to say to him today.

4. There have been few characters as truly terrifying as Samuel L. Jackson’s Ordell and Jackson has never been better in a role.

5. The opening shot of Pam Grier is one of the perfectly designed and realized entrances in film history.

6. The first time Robert Forster lays his eyes on Pam Grier is one of the most romantic shots in modern film.

7. Robert Forster is the most underrated film actor alive.

8. It is tragic that more directors weren’t smart enough to give the extremely talented Bridget Fonda more parts of this substance.

9. Bridget Fonda’s line delivery of her thoughts on ambition might be the funniest in any Tarantino film.

10. This is one of the only films made since the seventies that actually looks like it could have been made in that decade.

11. Pam Grier’s “Long Time Woman” is one of the great-lost soul tracks of the seventies.

12. Enough attention hasn’t been paid to the fact that Tarantino used a song from a Jess Franco work during one of the films key moments.

13. Sid Haig’s cameo is the perfect bit part as it is long enough to be substantial but not short enough to be just distracting.

14. The film’s soundtrack is one of the best examples of a score being used as a series of interior monologues ever.

15. The Delfonic’s “Didn’t I Blow Your Mind” is one of the five greatest love songs ever written.

16. Tarantino’s film finally helped give legitimacy to one of the most undervalued, misunderstood and underestimated genres in film history.

17. The final shots of Robert Forster and Pam Grier in this film are among the most moving in all of modern film.

18. Pam Grier was robbed when she wasn’t nominated for an Academy Award.

19. The true heart and soul of Quentin Tarantino can be found in this film.

20. JACKIE BROWN is the best film Quentin Tarantino has ever made.

MY FAVORITE CHRISTMAS MOVIE:

I first saw JACKIE BROWN on Christmas night in 1997 in Lexington, Kentucky. I was 24 years old and I was frankly at a very low point in my life. I had recently dropped out of college to take care of my sick father, had broken up with my girlfriend of two years and was dealing with some serious problems of an emotional and chemical nature.
Seeing JACKIE BROWN that Christmas night, as a rare light snow fell in Lexington, was a special moment that gave me a rare healthy escape from the things happening in my life. I clicked with the film immediately and it gave me comfort for months after when things really began to hit a real low point for me.
The months leading up to JACKIE BROWN for me were interesting. I had liked RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION but unlike my best friend David (who I saw JACKIE BROWN with) they weren’t two of my favorites. Tarantino didn’t become really one of 'my guys' until JACKIE BROWN, and it is because of this film that I really count him among my favorites. I have loved and admired all of his work so far but JACKIE BROWN is the one that really hits me emotionally.

I remember that Christmas day clearly. The morning was spent with my mom and dad outside of Louisville, and then I had to go and open the video store that I managed in Lexington. Christmas days in video stores are interesting, as the first half is totally dead and the second is slammed. I can still picture the way that empty parking lot looked to my chemically induced glazed stare as the Jack Lemmon picture SAVE THE TIGER playing behind me refelected on the store windows.
I worked until the early evening and while the snow didn’t amount to much of anything it was lovely to watch falling. Shortly before I left work one of my favorite customers came in, a beautiful woman named Elizabeth whom I would always give free films to. I promised I would tell her how the new Tarantino film was but ironically I can’t remember now if I ever did.
I picked my friend David up at his house and we were off. The theater was fairly packed with mostly excited guys my age, and some couples. The hallway to the theater was lined with various poster designs for the film, and I remember stopping and admiring the shot of Bridget Fonda for a couple of minutes.

It is odd the things you remember. I can remember where we sat and that the floors were still sticky from the previous show. I remember there was a girl I knew named Whitney, who resembled Sherilyn Fenn, sitting a few rows up, and I reminding myself to try and speak to her on the way out...although I can’t remember if I did.
Like I said the film and I clicked perfectly. I actually felt like it was screening just for me as the disappointment that most of the audience was feeling was palatable. I responded to the characters, the slow pacing, the photography, the music and the vision it presented of the human spirit just passed its prime.
I had the same reaction the two other times I saw it in a theater. Thinking back on it now, I wish I would have seen it a dozen times but the three were it.
Thinking on the film and listening to its soundtrack helped keep me afloat for months after until I crashed landed completely. It is odd how my best memories are usually small good things that happened during my worst possible periods, but that is the way it has always gone for me.

So it has been ten years since JACKIE BROWN. I am in a much better place now but damn I am not 24 anymore, and the fact that I won’t be 34 anymore in ten years pretty much guarantees that the film will grow even more special to me.
The theater where I saw JACKIE BROWN closed down a few years ago, and I don’t remember having more than a flurry on Christmas day since. I haven’t seen my father, my friend David, Elizabeth or even that girl Whitney who looked like Sherilyn Fenn in years and I don’t expect I ever will again. JACKIE BROWN remains for me though and I find myself gravitating towards it each Christmas. Surprisingly this violent and sun baked essay on regret and disappointment has become my favorite Christmas film.
These days I feel a lot like Max Cherry at the end of this film...standing, frozen...not unhappy but frustrated in his inability to hold onto what is slipping away and lamenting his inability to move forward.