2019 ‘Shaft’s Richard Roundtree.
Legendary actor and Hollywood icon Richard Roundtree passed away in 2023 after a long battle with cancer at the age of 81.
Best known for playing the iconic character John Shaft in five movies including the original ‘Shaft‘ and the 2000 reboot starring Samuel L. Jackson, Roundtree also appeared in the groundbreaking TV series ‘Roots‘, as well as popular movies like ‘Earthquake‘, ‘Se7en‘, ‘George of the Jungle‘, ‘Brick‘, and ‘Speed Racer‘.
Roundtree’s final film is the action-comedy ‘Thelma,’ which also stars Oscar-nominee June Squibb and opens in theaters on June 21st. Roundtree’s final performance is already earning the late actor some of the best reviews of his long career.
In honor of ‘Thelma’s release, Moviefone is counting down the 20 best movies of Richard Roundtree’s legendary career, including his last.
Let’s begin!
(L to R) Peter Berg, Chris Penn and Chris Kattan in ‘Corky Romano’. Photo: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
Corky Romano (Chris Kattan) is a bumbling, simpleton, veterinarian and the youngest, outcast son of an aging gangster, named Pops Romano (Peter Falk), who calls upon Corky to infiltrate the local FBI and retrieve and destroy evidence being used to incriminate Pops for racketeering charges.
19. ‘Steel‘ (1997)
When a renegade military reject puts new superweapons in dangerous hands, John Henry Irons (Shaquille O’Neal) becomes Steel. Wearing body armor, wielding a fearsome electrohammer and riding a gadget-packed motorcycle, he’s ready to wage war… if he can fix the untimely glitches in his untested gear.
“Heroes don’t come any bigger.”
43
1 hr 37 minAug 15th, 1997
Englishman Robinson Crusoe (Peter O’Toole), stranded alone on an island for years, is overjoyed to find a fellow man, a black islander whom he names Friday (Roundtree). But Crusoe cannot overcome the shackles of his own heritage and upbringing and is incapable of seeing Friday as anything other than a savage who needs Crusoe’s brand of cultural and religious enlightenment. Friday attempts to share his own more generous and unashamed culture, but ultimately realizes that Crusoe can never see him as anything but an inferior being. With that awareness, Friday sets out to turn the tables on Crusoe.
68
1 hr 55 minMar 4th, 1975
Deep in the African jungle, a baby named George (Brendan Fraser), the sole survivor of a plane crash, is raised by gorillas. George grows up to be a buff and lovable klutz who has a rain forest full of animal friends: Tookie, his big-beaked toucan messenger; Ape, a witty talking gorilla; and Shep, a peanut-loving pooch of an elephant. But when poachers mess with George’s pals, the King Of Swing swings into action.
“Watch out!”
56
1 hr 32 minJul 15th, 1997
During the World War II, the prisoners of a German camp in a Greek island are trying to escape. They not only want their freedom, but also seek an ineffable treasure hidden in a monastery at the summit of the island’s mountain.
“The patriot, the professor, the comic and the stripper… were fighting for what they believed in… Getting rich!”
56
2 hr 5 minJun 6th, 1979
15. ‘Shaft‘ (2019)
(L to R) Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree in 2019’s ‘Shaft’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
JJ, aka John Shaft Jr. (Jessie T. Usher), may be a cyber security expert with a degree from MIT, but to uncover the truth behind his best friend’s untimely death, he needs an education only his dad can provide. Absent throughout JJ’s youth, the legendary locked-and-loaded John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) agrees to help his progeny navigate Harlem’s heroin-infested underbelly.
Magically able to hear what men are thinking, a sports agent (Taraji P. Henson) uses her newfound ability to turn the tables on her overbearing male colleagues.
The South African businessman David Swansey (Richard Harris) is delivering illegal German helicopters to Rhodesia That makes the patriot Gideon Marunga (Roundtree) an angry man.
“In every war there are those who kill and those who make a killing”
The South African businessman David Swansey is delivering illegal German helicopters to Rhodesia That makes the patriot Gideon Marunga an angry man Read the Plot
Various interconnected people struggle to survive when an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude hits Los Angeles, California.
“When the big one finally hits L.A.”
61
2 hr 3 minNov 15th, 1974
Innocent people are brutally killed on the streets of New York by a uniformed police officer. A young cop, Jack Forrest (Bruce Campbell), finds himself marked as the chief suspect after his wife is murdered.
Richard Roundtree in ‘Shaft’s Big Score!’. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
John Shaft (Roundtree) is back as the lady-loved black detective cop on the search for the murderer of a client.
(L to R) Burt Reynolds and Clint Eastwood in ‘City Heat’. Photo: Warner Bros.
Set in Kansas City in 1933, Clint Eastwood plays a police lieutenant known simply by his last name, Speer. Burt Reynolds plays a former cop turned private eye named Mike Murphy. Both Speer and Murphy served on the force together and were once good friends, but are now bitter enemies. When Murphy’s partner is slain they team up again to fight the mob.
“When a hotshot cop and a wise-guy detective get together… the heat is on!”
55
1 hr 33 minDec 5th, 1984
(L to R) Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda star in director Paul Weitz’s ‘Moving On.’
Two old friends (Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin) reconnect at their friend’s funeral, and decide to exact revenge on the widower who wronged all three of them decades earlier.
(Right) Richard Roundtree in ‘Shaft in Africa’. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Detective John Shaft (Roundtree) travels incognito to Ethiopia then France to bust a human trafficking ring
“Shaft is stickin itall the way”
60
1 hr 52 minJun 14th, 1973
(L to R) Christina Ricci, Susan Sarandon, John Goodman, Kick Gurry and Emile Hirsch in ‘Speed Racer’. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Speed Racer (Emile Hirsch) is a young and brilliant racing driver. When corruption in the racing leagues costs his brother his life, Speed must team up with the police and the mysterious Racer X (Matthew Fox) to bring an end to the corruption and criminal activities.
“A world built for speed.”
63
2 hr 15 minMay 3rd, 2008
5. ‘Shaft‘ (2000)
(L to R) Samuel L. Jackson and Jeffrey Wright in 2000’s ‘Shaft’. Photo: Paramount Pictures.
New York police detective John Shaft (Samuel L. Jackson) arrests Walter Wade Jr. (Christian Bale) for a racially motivated slaying. But the only eyewitness disappears, and Wade jumps bail for Switzerland. Two years later Wade returns to face trial, confident his money and influence will get him acquitted — especially since he’s paid a drug kingpin (Jeffrey Wright) to kill the witness.
4. ‘Brick‘ (2005)
(Left) Joseph Gordon-Levitt in ‘Brick’. Photo: Focus Features.
After a phone call from his ex-girlfriend (Emilie de Ravin), teenage loner Brendan Frye (Joseph Godron-Levitt) learns that her dead body was found. Vowing to solve her murder himself, he must infiltrate high-school cliques that he previously avoided. His search for the truth brings him before some of the school’s roughest characters.
3. ‘Se7en‘ (1995)
(L to R) Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in ‘Se7en’. Photo: New Line Cinema.
Two homicide detectives are on a desperate hunt for a serial killer whose crimes are based on the “seven deadly sins” in this dark and haunting film that takes viewers from the tortured remains of one victim to the next. The seasoned Det. Sommerset (Morgan Freeman) researches each sin in an effort to get inside the killer’s mind, while his novice partner, Mills (Brad Pitt), scoffs at his efforts to unravel the case.
(L to R) Richard Roundtree and June Squibb in ‘Thelma’, a Magnolia Pictures release. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Deceived by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, a 90-year-old woman (June Squibb) sets out on a quest to reclaim what was taken from her.
“Revenge has never been sweeter.”
Deceived by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, a 90-year-old woman sets out on a quest to reclaim what was taken from her. Read the Plot
1. ‘Shaft‘ (1971)
Richard Roundtree in 1971’s ‘Shaft’. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Cool black private eye John Shaft (Roundtree) is hired by a crime lord to find and retrieve his kidnapped daughter.
“The mob wanted Harlem back. They got Shaft…up to here.”
65
1 hr 40 minJun 25th, 1971