The Afterlives of Richard Roundtree

Thoughts on Thelma (2024) and the once in a generation star’s legacy

Friends —as I’m sure you can tell— I’ve been revamping this newsletter. As a paid subscriber exclusive going forward,  I will write a monthly column connecting new films to Black Film Archive. Here’s the first one. Thank you for your support; it continues to mean the world to me.

There is a scene that burns in my mind’s eye when I think of Black cinema’s power. The opening images of a lens surveying the streets of New York City looking for its next fixture. The camera sets its gaze on a man, filled with bravado and suavity, commanding the streets of Time Square after ascending from the underbelly of New York’s subway; the lens dances as it shows us the man is equally a part of the underbelly and above it. Outfitted with a tan leather jacket that is only outmatched by his knowledgeable gaze and stride, we meet John Shaft and are introduced to the transfixing Richard Roundtree as Isaac Hayes’s theme song swells. Through the dizzying and buzzing survey of 1970s New York, we come to understand Shaft, a Black detective, owns the city.¹