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32-469: Ernest Ralph Tidyman (January 1, 1928 – July 14, 1984) was an American author and screenwriter, best known for his novels featuring the African-American detective John Shaft . His screenplay for The French Connection garnered him an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay , as well as a Golden Globe Award , a Writers Guild of America Award , and an Edgar Award . In 1971, he also co-wrote

64-485: A faster clip than many a higher-budget film, but it's done without a lot of gore — no small feat in a martial arts movie ... Another plus is that the romantic leads, Jennifer O'Neill and Chuck Norris, actually seem to like one another; they're relaxed and at ease before the camera, and their scenes together are a pleasure to watch." Chuck Norris said he was "ten times better in" the film than in his previous film Good Guys Wear Black (1978). Writer Elliot Hayden Parker,

96-531: A first film, but then his services would be retained for a second film. In actuality, the agreement waived Parker’s rights of ownership, but he was not aware of this at the time. Parker alleged that Norris’ second film, released in March 1980 and referred by its working title, Force of One, was “substantially identical” to his original outline. The lawsuit also asked for financial disclosure of both films and sought an injunction against their distribution. The outcome of

128-559: A former editor with the United Airlines magazine Mainliner, filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court against actor Chuck Norris, seeking damages of $ 15 million for the alleged theft of his feature film concept. In March 1977, Parker wrote an article about Norris for his magazine titled “Good Guys Wear Black.” Parker maintained that he entered into an oral agreement with Norris to write

160-441: A house." he said, although financially it was one of his biggest hits. Good Guys Wear Black director Ted Post was originally attached to the film. However, he dropped out before filming started due to production delays. Paul Aaron, who was originally hired to rewrite the script, was brought in as a replacement. Aaron had only directed one previous film, A Different Story , but was a well-established theatre director . This

192-449: A journalist and crime reporter for the next two decades in a number of cities, including a stint as editor of Diners Club magazine, and writing for The New York Times (1960–66), New York Post (1957–60), male magazines and black newspapers. In 1968 he wrote his first novel, Flower Power about hippies. He then decided to write about a black detective, Shaft . He later said about writing Shaft , "Reading black fiction, you see that

224-456: A mostly positive response. Shaft had an enormous impact on the way Black men were portrayed in American film. Prior to Shaft many depictions of Black men showed them as servile, mild-mannered, and in positions of low status such as servants or janitors. The way Richard Roundtree portrayed Shaft created a Black male style that was so distinct and pervasive it became known as “swag”. After Shaft

256-420: A personal stake in the matter, his adopted son Charlie is the son of an addict who died of an overdose . The drug ring is run by Melrose, who uses his chain of sporting goods store to stash and distribute narcotics to dealers. His chief enforcer, Jerry Sparks, is a ruthless fighter and Logan's martial arts rival. Following Sparks on a hunch, Charlie learns Melrose has a mole on the police force, Sgt. Rollins, but

288-400: A screenplay after penning a five-page outline based on his story. The complaint went on to say that Parker discovered that Norris had plans to make a movie using the same title as his article and outline without his participation. The men allegedly met and Parker was paid $ 5,000 to sign an agreement that stipulated Norris would only use the title and the lead character from Parker’s outline for

320-515: A stolen car as he tries to escape with $ 1 million in cocaine. In a final confrontation, Matt defeats Sparks in a hand-to-hand fight and kills him by breaking his neck. His body crumples to the ground as Matt and Mandy embrace. A Force of One was the third film to feature Norris as the star, following Breaker! Breaker! (1977) and Good Guys Wear Black (1978). It was produced and distributed by American Cinema Productions , which had previously produced Good Guys Wear Black. In addition to playing

352-440: Is a corrupt officer in the department. Meanwhile, Rollins asks Mandy to get him a ticket to Matt’s fight with Sparks. Before the fight, Mandy searches Rollins’ apartment and discovers cocaine, but Melrose appears, pointing a gun. Mandy manages to subdue Melrose and arrives at the arena. Matt realizes Sparks is the masked assailant. Rollins is exposed, and arrested after trying to escape with a hostage. Matt and Mandy pursue Sparks in

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384-475: Is caught by Sparks and killed, his death staged to look like an overdose. Logan is suspicious, because Charlie never used drugs, and vows to avenge his son's death. Mandy advises him to let the police find Charlie’s killer. She encourages him to win his match against Sparks. Mandy and her partner, Moskowitz, search the sporting goods warehouse and encounter Rollins, who assures them that his search turned up nothing. Mandy later tells Lt. Dunne she suspects that there

416-431: Is hired to assist an anti-narcotics police unit, who are being targeted by a killer. The screenplay by Ernest Tidyman was based on a story co-written by martial artist Pat E. Johnson . This was the third film to feature Norris as the star, following Breaker! Breaker! (1977) and Good Guys Wear Black (1978). It was released by American Cinema Releasing on May 18, 1979, and received mixed reviews from critics, but

448-500: The Shaft books, he became one of the few white individuals to win an NAACP Image Award . "I write for money", Tidyman said in a 1980 interview. He got up at six am and wrote for 12 hours a day. Tidyman summed up the three main elements of his craft as: "Drama, usually in the event itself, clarity of the telling, and most importantly, energy: the energy that I am able to infuse into the same words that are available to anybody who knows

480-641: The Ernest Tidyman novels. Richard Roundtree as (Uncle) John Shaft (John Shaft I) Richard Roundtree as John Shaft Sr. (John Shaft I) Samuel L. Jackson as John Shaft (son of John Shaft Sr., retcon, John Shaft II) The television show ran from 1973 to 1974, with Richard Roundtree reprising the role of John Shaft. There were seven 90-minute movies, part of the New CBS Tuesday Night Movies , rotating with Hawkins , which starred James Stewart . The character has had

512-691: The Jews , Tidyman began developing a Shaft daily syndicated newspaper comic strip . He commissioned artist Don Rico , with whom he produced 24 sample strips, but despite the character's popularity in both novels and films he was unable to find a syndicate interested in distributing the Shaft strip, which remains unpublished. The Shaft! comic book was published by Dynamite Entertainment , written by David F. Walker and illustrated by Bilquis Evely, beginning in December 2014. New stories following young John Shaft's earliest adventures were adapted closely from

544-425: The central figure is either super hero or super victim, as in [William] Styron's book . The blacks I knew were smart and sophisticated, and I thought, what about a black hero who thinks of himself as a human being, but who uses his black rage as one of his resources, along with intelligence and courage." His novel Shaft was read by Philip d'Antoni, who hired him to write The French Connection . "We think he has

576-609: The intended audience." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a swift, taut, handsomely photographed thriller... made with more craftmanship than most martial arts movies." Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four and dismissed it "just a poor excuse for a lot of fighting." K.C. Summers of The Washington Post wrote, "It's pretty good. Not only does it move along at

608-443: The language and its structure. If I can tell a story in a way that contains energy – a force – I think it's fairly certain it will be told in an interesting way." Tidyman married five times. He had two sons, Ben (adopted) and Nathaniel, with his third wife Ruth Rayle Tidyman. With his fourth wife, Susan Gould, he fathered two children – Adam and Nicholas. In 1982, he married former Motown soul singer Chris Clark , who had co-written

640-437: The lead role, Chuck Norris was also the film's fight choreographer with his brother, Aaron Norris , was also the stunt coordinator. The screenplay, written by Oscar -winner and Shaft creator Ernest Tidyman , was based on a story co-created by martial artist and Norris' longtime associate Pat E. Johnson . In a 1980 interview, Tidyman considered it his least successful effort as a craftsman. "I only wrote it to buy my mother

672-399: The men who write, on the storytellers, than on anybody else, and it doesn't begin [...] to know how to deal with them rightly." He wrote the screenplay for the 1973 film High Plains Drifter , directed by and starring Clint Eastwood . Tidyman also wrote the sequel to Shaft , Shaft's Big Score , which appeared in theaters in 1972. In 1974, he published Dummy , a non-fiction account of

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704-418: The novel Shaft , which provides a much more detailed backstory for John Shaft than the one seen in the film series. All of the books in the original 1970s series are credited solely to Shaft creator Ernest Tidyman , but from Shaft's Big Score onward Tidyman wrote them with assistance from ghostwriters Robert Turner and Philip Rock. Between the release of the first Shaft film and the novel Shaft Among

736-470: The potential to be a better than average thriller writer", said director William Friedkin. "He writes people so that an audience can define characters quickly, but then complications begin to set in." Friedkin said he rewrote much of the script "But Tidyman's name will be first" on the credits. Friedkin's rewriting and credit grab annoyed Tidyman, who downplayed the director's contribution. The dual success of Shaft and French Connection made Tidyman one of

768-487: The representation of Black masculinity in American films was dramatically changed. It became the norm to see black men in roles that before would have been filled by white men. A Force of One A Force of One is a 1979 American martial arts action-thriller film directed by Paul Aaron and starring Chuck Norris , with Jennifer O'Neill , Ron O'Neal , Clu Gulager , and martial artist Bill Wallace in his film debut. Norris plays karate champion Matt Logan, who

800-715: The screenplay for Lady Sings the Blues (1972). Tidyman died in 1984 in Westminster Hospital in London, England, due to a perforated ulcer and other complications. John Shaft John Shaft's weapon of choice is a Smith & Wesson Model 36 , Beretta 92FS or an M1911 pistol . Shaft is also a practitioner of several styles of martial arts that includes western Boxing , Wing Chun , Judo , Jujitsu , Shotokan , and Kyokushin Karate. The franchise began with

832-679: The screenplay for the film version of Shaft with John D. F. Black . Tidyman was born in Cleveland, Ohio , the son of Kathryn (Kascsak) and Benjamin Ralph Tidyman, a crime reporter for The Plain Dealer . He was of Hungarian and British descent. He began his career as a copyboy in Cleveland when he was 14, having dropped out of school in grade seven. Tidyman enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1946 serving in public relations . He worked as

864-556: The story of Donald Lang , an accused deaf-mute murderer. It was nominated for an Edgar in the Fact Crime category. He adapted the book into a 1979 TV movie starring LeVar Burton . He co-wrote A Force of One in 1979, one of Chuck Norris 's earlier films. In 1980, he wrote the teleplay for the TV movie Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones , which he also had a hand in producing, which got him an Emmy nomination. For creating

896-432: The top screenwriters in the business. "Tidyman from a standing start suddenly looks like a one man resuscitator for the movie as public entertainment", wrote The Los Angeles Times . Tidyman was one of the few filmmakers to speak up for the much-maligned James T. Aubrey , president of MGM , who financed Shaft . "Nobody ever lied to me at MGM or told me they were going to do something they didn't do", he said. However, he

928-413: Was a financial success, grossing nearly five-times its production budget. While investigating a suspected drug den inside a sporting goods store, two plainclothes police officers are killed by a masked assailant using martial arts techniques. In response, Officer Mandy Rust and Lieutenant Sam Dunne approach full-contact karate champion Matt Logan to train their unit in unarmed combat techniques. Logan has

960-648: Was not happy with the final films, particularly Shaft , and decided to move into producing as well, establishing Ernest Tidyman Productions in 1971. Ernest Tidyman Productions was changed to Ernest Tidyman International, Ltd., in 1971 and back to Ernest Tidyman Productions in 1979. Tidyman also established Shaft Productions in 1972 to handle Shaft 's sequels, Pilgrim Productions to handle Big Bucks , and Family Trouble Productions to produce an unmade film Family Trouble . "You have to hyphenate", he said. "If you've got an idea, you'd better write it, and then you'd better produce it, so you can control it. This town depends more on

992-401: Was the production designer . The film earned box office rentals of $ 9.98 million. The total gross was reported between $ 17 million and $ 23 million, five times the $ 2.5-3.5 million production budget. Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote, "Though plot is far-fetched and production values aren't much superior to tv fare, likable protagonists and strong karate sequences will carry the day with

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1024-750: Was the film debut of martial artist and undefeated professional kickboxer Bill "Superfoot" Wallace . At the time of filming, Wallace was the PKA World Middleweight Kickboxing Champion. Filming was predominantly done in San Diego and Los Angeles , California. Many scenes were shot at San Diego Harbor . The kickboxing scenes were shot at the Grand Olympic Auditorium . The street festival scenes were shot at Chicano Park . Oscar -winner John Barry ( A Clockwork Orange , Star Wars , Superman )

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