Publication Date: 07-26-2026

Shaft in Africa (1973) review

Dir. John Guillermin

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★½

For the third Shaft installment, director Gordon Parks is replaced with John Guillermin, the English filmmaker behind King Kong (1976) and Death on the Nile (1978). While not expressly stated, the changing of the guard appeared to make John Shaft more of a Black James Bond archetype, with an international plot, increased gadget, and a sharp decrease in the character’s streetwise sensibilities. Thus, Shaft in Africa is a serviceable endeavor, although I must say that save for John Singleton’s film, which would come more-than-25-years after this one, the entire franchise has always been lacking a little something in my eyes.

This time around, the titular private detective (Richard Roundtree) is recruited by a couple of French operatives and tasked with dismantling a human trafficking ring responsible for smuggling African migrants into Europe as slaves. It takes some convincing — including some scotch and a $25,000 check for compensation — but soon enough, Shaft lands in Africa, disguises himself as a slave, and is transported to France where he must investigate the innerworkings of this multi-country operation.

Taking Shaft out of New York City and dropping him in a place like Africa was an idea quirky enough to work. It gives Shaft an opportunity to navigate unfamiliar terrain, be faced with a new set of laws, and locals he cannot easily sway. In tow on this African excursion is a woman named Aleme (Vonetta McGee), who tells Shaft about female genital mutilation in what has to be one of the series’ darkest moments. On the flipside, this sequel boasts one of Shaft’s steamiest sex scenes ever, this one with Yugoslavian sex symbol Neda Arnerić. Their encounter is initially frosty, with Shaft not having any desire to play her game. At least not until he gets the information he needs out of her. Then it’s wham-bam time.

Shaft also learns that a stick is the most lethal force in Africa, and only fitting is it that he’s gifted one that doubles as a gun. Too bad he doesn’t use it that much. Stirling Silliphant’s script really shows its cards as a 007 ripoff insofar that not a lot of urgency exists in the first half of the film. Shaft isn’t given a great deal to do, and the bulk of the first hour involves him having distinguished conversations with a handful of powerful people. It feels off-kilter for a Shaft movie to have this much class and not enough grit.

Shaft in Africa at least builds to a decent climax involving a stolen car, a shootout, and a subterranean prison lined with dynamite. Plucking the detective off the streets of New York City and placing him at the center of organized international crime was a justifiable idea. It’s just a shame the final product wasn’t more entertaining.

My review of Shaft (1971)
My review of Shaft (2000)
My review of Shaft (2019)

Starring: Richard Roundtree, Vonetta McGee, Frank Finlay, Debebe Eshetu, Marne Maitland, and Neda Arnerić. Directed by: John Guillermin.