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Category Archives: Yaphet Kotto
Book review: The World of Shaft
You might remember the news last year that New Line pictures had acquired the rights to do yet another film remake featuring the iconic character of John Shaft. If so, you may also remember the ensuring controversy that erupted over plans to make said film a comedy, including an open letter protesting the move by award winning journalist, David F Walker.
I am not sure at what stage the proposal Shaft remake is at, but I totally agree with Walker in his introduction to Steve Aldous’s recently released guide to the character, ‘When author Ernest Tidyman’s book Shaft was first published in 1971, and director Gordon Parks’ cinematic adaption followed a year later, a new era of representation began in American pop culture.’
The World of Shaft attempts to chronicle the cultural phenomena that is the ex-juvenile delinquent, Vietnam Vet, New York private eye known as Shaft. From the character’s origins via the pen of white ex-newspaperman Tidyman to the, in my opinion, rather average 2000 cinematic remake, this is an exhaustive examination of every aspect of the character and his various manifestations.
Shaft emerged from a combination of Tidyman’s desperation to make it as a writer and, as he put it in an interview, his “awareness of both social and literary situations in a changing city.… Read more
Posted in 70s American crime films, Blaxsploitation, Book Reviews, Pulp fiction, Pulp fiction in the 70s and 80s, Yaphet Kotto
Tagged David F Walker, Ernest Tidyman, Flower Power, Gordon Parks, John Shaft, Richard Roundtree, Shaft (1971), Shaft in Africa (1973), Shaft's Big Score (1972), Steve Aldous, The French Connection (1971), The World of Shaft, Yaphet Kotto
The heist always goes wrong, part 2: reader picks and other favourite heist movies
My recent post The heist always goes wrong – ten of the best heist movies ever made, generated some great reader feedback. The best thing about the response was that it pointed me in the direction of a number heist films I hadn’t seen or that I need to revisit.
Based on your comments and the thoughts I’ve had on the subject since the original post, here are follow up list of other films that could be included in a best of heist films list (and my shameless editorialising regarding what I think about the merits of not of them).
Straight Time (1978)
A huge thanks to West Australian crime writer David Whish Wilson for alerting me to Straight Time, which I’d seen previously but forgotten. Dustin Hoffman plays a career criminal just out of prison, trying to stay on the right side of his ball breaking parole officer, masterfully played by one of my screen heroes, M. Emmet Walsh, and avoid the temptation of re-offending.
Straight Time is based on the book No Best So Fierce, by real life con Edward Bunker (who has a small role in the film). Everything about this film works, the script, the down at heel late seventies feel, the cast, which includes Theresa Russell, Gary Busey, Kathy Bates and Harry Dean Stanton.… Read more
Posted in 60s American crime films, 70s American crime films, Donald Westlake aka Richard Stark, Fernando Di Leo, Film Noir, Heist films, James Woods, Jim Thompson, M Emmet Walsh, Robert Ryan, Sterling Hayden, Steve McQueen, Yaphet Kotto
Tagged Ali McGraw, Ben Johnson, Best Seller (1987), Blue Collar (1978), Clint Eastwood, Coleen Grey, Don Rickles, Donald Sutherland, Dustin Hoffman, Elisha Cook Jr, Elke Sommer, Faye Dunaway, Fernando Di Leo, Gary Busey, Gary Lockwood, Gavin MacLeod, Harry Dean Stanton, Harvey Keitel, heist films, Jack Palance, Jules Dassin, Karen Black, Kelly’s Heroes (1970), Lee J Cobb, Milano Calibre 9 (1972), oe Don Baker, Paul Schrader, Plunder Road (1957), Richard Pryor, Rififi (1955), Robert Ryan, Sam Peckinpah, Set It Off (1996), Slim Pickens, Sterling Hayden, Steve McQueen, Straight Time (1978), Telly Savalas, The Anderson Tapes (1971), The Getaway (1972), The Killing (1956), The Outfit (1973), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), Theresa Russell, They Came to Rob Las Vegas (1968), Timothy Carey, Vince Edwards, Yaphet Kotto
The heist always goes wrong, part 1: ten of the best heist movies ever made
I love the genius and intricacy of their plots and the variations they come in, whether it be the all star team assembled for a job or the desperate ex-cons trying for one last score.
But most of all I love them because of the golden rule of all good heist films – for whatever reason, the heist always goes wrong.
What do you need for a good heist?
You need a plan for actual heist itself, the getaway, and moving, storing and fencing whatever it is you’ve stolen. The more complicated the plan, the more likely it is that something will go wrong.
You need a crew of people; one man or woman alone cannot do a heist. This introduces the human element and all the problems that come with it, the greed, suspicions, jealousies and uncertainties.
I’ve been thinking for a while now about what my top ten-heist films would be and the following list, in no particular order, is it.
The robbery itself is almost immaterial to how I rate a good heist film. What I like is the context and atmosphere in which the heist takes place and inevitable problems that arise after it’s been pulled off. And the darker and more broken things get, the better the film is in my book.… Read more
Posted in 60s American crime films, 70s American crime films, 80s American crime films, Angie Dickinson, Charles Durning, Donald Westlake aka Richard Stark, Ernest Borgnine, Film Noir, Gene Hackman, Heist films, James Caan, Jim Brown, Peter Boyle, Robert Mitchum, Stanley Baker, Sterling Hayden, Sydney Lumet, Yaphet Kotto
Tagged A Cop (1972), Across 110th Street (1972), Al Pacino, Alain Delon, Angie Dickinson, Anthony Quinn, Armoured Car Robbery (1950), Basil Dearden, Catherine Deneuve, Charles Durning, Crime Wave (1954), Criss Cross (1949), Diahann Carroll, Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Don Siegel, Donald Westlake aka Richard Stark, Ernest Borgnine, Gene Hackman, Heat (1995), heist films, Jack Klugman, James Booth, James Caan, James Whitmore, Jim Brown, Joanna Pettel, John Cazale, Joseph Loosey, Money Movers (1979), Peter Boyle, Peter Yates, Richard Jordan, Richard Stark, Robbery (1967), Robert De Niro, Robert Mitchum, Robert Prosky, Ronald Reagan, Sexy Beast (2000), Stanley Baker, Sterling Hayden, Sydney Lumet, The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The Bank job (2008), The Criminal (1960), The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), The Killers (1964), The League of Gentlemen (1960), The Red Circle (1970), Tuesday Weld, Warren Oates, Yaphet Kotto