As the late, great Isaac Hayes sang during the film's opening credits:
"Who is the cat, who won't cop out,
When there's danger all about,
Shaft, right on, John Shaft!"
We can dig it.
And we can also dig that Grammy winning
Theme from Shaft actually has a connection to a DS star, namely Marie Wallace. While she was portraying India Delaney on
Somerset, the character of Chuck Whittingham (portrayed by Edward Winter) decided that she had to be disposed of because she was going to ruin his career. So, he went to her house, turned up the radio really loudly as it just so happened to be playing
Theme from Shaft, and hit India over the head with a candlestick. The hysterical thing is that turn of events was a way to write Marie out of the show while she on vacation and within the show Chuck put India's body behind the couch in her living room, where it remained undiscovered for the entire time Marie was on vacation in real life. The audience would often get glimpses of India's legs behind the couch but, of course, no one else who entered the room ever saw her legs until such time that Marie came back and resumed portraying India. Typical soap suspense.
My favorite moment that I remember as if it happened just yesterday and not over 50 years ago is that when India confronted Chuck with what she'd done, she said to him, "I haven't just pulled the rug out from under you, I've pulled the wall-to-wall carpeting, darling."