And it was Gordon Parks' 1971 sensation Shaft that would significantly mark the departure of the formulaic detective movie by featuring a black detective hero. Richard Roundtree's illustrious portrayal of Shaft was a seeming derivative of the spy movie milieu that incorporates the James Bond wine,woman,song and more woman archetype. For it is hard to deny the emphasis being placed on the character's unrelenting prowess of that which is carnal and violence. The film would inspire two sequels to follow - Shaft's Big Score in 1972 and 1973's Shaft in Africa.
There were however, still remnants of the traditional private eye-genre one such example was the black detective played by Bill Cosby in 1972's noir paean, Hickey and Boggs, a tale of a salt - and- pepper pair of down and out hawkshaws, directed by Robert Culp who also played the Caucasian partner.
But clearly there was a new sherrif in silver screen town - that cat who never would cop out...when the danger was all about...(dare I say it) Shaft. That's who.