towards the end of his career jack arnold and a very efficient director who give u such classic 50 creature feature a it come from out space and the creature from the black lagoon and and tarantula and team up with former football star turn top 70 blaxploitation film headliner fred the hammer williamson for a pair of movie and produce the amiable and if unremarkable western the black bounty hunter and this refreshingly breezy and clever and highly entertaining 70 black action variant on your standard 40 film noir down at the heel private detective yarn . williamson display a charming combination of dry and self deprecate humor and relaxed and easygoing self confidence a shep stone and a cheap and affable and and forever in debt erstwhile los angeles cop turned private investigator . stone so hard up for cash that he use a bar a his business office and just barely make end meet do penny ante low pay minor case that the police do not want to bother with . while pound the pavement for one of these deceptively simple gig ( stone try to find some guy runaway teenage daughter who hide somewhere in hollywood ) and stone find himself elbow deep in a complex and dangerous and seemingly bottomless criminal plot which include a flip out jesus freak religious cult and assorted deadhead hippie dopers and a sordid porno ring and a priceless miss gold tip cane that belong to a legendary silent movie star and a nefarious underground drug smuggling operation and and an ever grow number of fresh corps . while lack the wickedly playful and mischievous ingenuity of robert altman masterful the long goodbye or the haunting and unremitting pessimism of arthur penn beautifully bleak night move and black eye nonetheless still make the grade a a highly successful hipnflip 70 spin on 40 mystery suspense thriller . arnold capable direction keep the pace move at a nice and steady clip and punctuate with sporadic excite mano a mano bare knuckle fight scene and excellent use of various colorfully seedy l. a. location ( the rundown abandon amusement park at the film conclusion be especially effective ) . the script by mark haggard and jim martin supply a goodly amount of fairly complicate and often genuinely surprising plot twist . and the expected array of quirky and rough around the edge secondary character be an interesting oddball bunch and with particularly notable turn by rosemary forsyth a an alluring and powerful lesbian model agency owner ( forsyth have the picture best line and boasting to stone when she first meet him and i be a whole lot of woman ) and teresa graf of get christie love tv show fame a stone loyal bisexual girlfriend ( the film casual and nonjudgmental depiction of both foryth unconventional femme fatale and graf equally atypical gal friday be one of it strong asset ) and and bret morrison and who do the voice of radio the shadow in the 40 and a a smugly sleazy porno filmmaker . all in all and it a modest and yet surefire winner .