This 1971 feature film, directed by Gordon Parks (1912–), revolutionized the image of African Americans in Hollywood (see entry under 1930s—Film and Theater in volume 2). Shaft was produced inexpensively by MGM (see entry under 1920s— Film and Theater in volume 2). Shaft's star, Richard Roundtree (1942–), was paid only $13,000 to play John Shaft. The gritty private-eye drama proved a huge box-office success and helped create the movie craze known as "blaxploitation" (films in which black characters' lifestyles are often displayed in a fashion that reinforces negative stereotypes).

John Shaft was a private detective hired to locate the kidnapped daughter of an underworld chieftain. With its loner hero, fiendish plot twists, and shady characters, Shaft echoed the golden age of Hollywood detective movies like The Big Sleep and The Maltese Falcon. There was just one twist: For the first time, all the major characters were African Americans. Director Gordon Parks (1912–), a...