The Best Private Investigator Movies
by neverwintercitizen | created - 02 Jan 2017 | updated - 22 Apr 2023 | Public- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. The Long Goodbye (1973)
R | 112 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Private investigator Philip Marlowe helps a friend out of a jam, but in doing so gets implicated in his wife's murder.
Director: Robert Altman | Stars: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell
Votes: 37,229 | Gross: $0.96M
2. Night Moves (1975)
R | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Los Angeles private investigator Harry Moseby is hired by a client to find her runaway teenage daughter. Moseby tracks the daughter down, only to stumble upon something much more intriguing and sinister.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Edward Binns, Harris Yulin
Votes: 17,706
3. The Big Sleep (1946)
Passed | 114 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a wealthy family. Before the complex case is over, he's seen murder, blackmail and what might be love.
Director: Howard Hawks | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgely, Martha Vickers
Votes: 90,505 | Gross: $6.54M
4. Chinatown (1974)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez
Votes: 349,745
5. The Conversation (1974)
PG | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest
Votes: 121,818 | Gross: $4.42M
6. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
Passed | 100 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Mystery
San Francisco private detective Sam Spade takes on a case that involves him with three eccentric criminals, a gorgeous liar and their quest for a priceless statuette, with the stakes rising after his partner is murdered.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre
Votes: 166,543 | Gross: $2.11M
7. Klute (1971)
R | 114 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A small-town detective searching for a missing man has only one lead: a connection with a New York prostitute.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi, Roy Scheider
Votes: 29,614 | Gross: $17.44M
8. Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
R | 95 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by paroled convict Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend Velma, former seedy nightclub dancer.
Director: Dick Richards | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Sylvia Miles
Votes: 9,606 | Gross: $4.36M
9. Angel Heart (1987)
X | 113 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A private investigator is hired by a man who calls himself Louis Cyphre to track down a singer named Johnny Favorite. But the investigation takes an unexpected and somber turn.
Director: Alan Parker | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling
Votes: 95,794 | Gross: $17.19M
10. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
R | 103 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
After being mistaken for an actor, a New York thief is sent to Hollywood to train under a private eye for a potential movie role, but the duo are thrown together with a struggling actress into a murder mystery.
Director: Shane Black | Stars: Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan, Corbin Bernsen
Votes: 237,358 | Gross: $4.24M
11. The Nice Guys (2016)
R | 116 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
In 1970s Los Angeles, a mismatched pair of private eyes investigate a missing girl and the mysterious death of a porn star.
Director: Shane Black | Stars: Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling, Angourie Rice, Matt Bomer
Votes: 373,175 | Gross: $36.26M
12. Death on the Nile (1978)
PG | 140 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
As Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Can Poirot identify the killer before the ship reaches the end of its journey?
Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Peter Ustinov, Mia Farrow, Simon MacCorkindale, Jane Birkin
Votes: 39,822
13. Evil Under the Sun (1982)
PG | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Trying to find how a millionaire wound up with a phony diamond brings Hercule Poirot to an exclusive island resort frequented by the rich and famous. When a murder is committed, everyone has an alibi.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Peter Ustinov, James Mason, Maggie Smith, Colin Blakely
Votes: 20,176 | Gross: $6.11M
14. The Dry (2020)
R | 117 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Aaron Falk returns to his drought-stricken hometown to attend a tragic funeral. But his return opens a decades-old wound - the unsolved death of a teenage girl.
Director: Robert Connolly | Stars: Eric Bana, Genevieve O'Reilly, Keir O'Donnell, John Polson
Votes: 32,751
15. Vengeance (II) (2022)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Music, Mystery
A writer from New York City attempts to solve the murder of a girl he hooked up with and travels down south to investigate the circumstances of her death and discover what happened to her.
Director: B.J. Novak | Stars: B.J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook, Lio Tipton, Ashton Kutcher
Votes: 37,002
16. Knives Out (2019)
PG-13 | 130 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A detective investigates the death of the patriarch of an eccentric, combative family.
Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis
Votes: 773,466 | Gross: $165.36M
17. Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A Black war hero is hired to find a mysterious woman, and gets mixed up in a murderous political scandal in 1948 Los Angeles.
Director: Carl Franklin | Stars: Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals, Don Cheadle
Votes: 24,192 | Gross: $16.03M
18. Zero Effect (1998)
R | 116 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
The world's greatest detective Daryl Zero aided by his associate Steve Arlo investigates a complex and mysterious case of blackmail and missing keys for shady tycoon Gregory Stark who is less than forthcoming about what is really happening!
Director: Jake Kasdan | Stars: Bill Pullman, Ben Stiller, Ryan O'Neal, Kim Dickens
Votes: 15,335 | Gross: $2.09M
19. Harper (1966)
Not Rated | 121 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Cool private investigator Lew Harper is hired by a wealthy California matron to locate her kidnapped husband.
Director: Jack Smight | Stars: Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill
Votes: 10,869
20. The Drowning Pool (1975)
PG | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Harper's a big-city PI, who travels to Louisiana to help an old girlfriend who's worried her husband will find out she's been cheating on him.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton
Votes: 6,186
21. Fletch (1985)
PG | 98 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
While working undercover wisecracking newspaper reporter Irwin "Fletch" Fletcher is offered a large sum by a millionaire with a terminal disease to kill him. Intrigued, Fletch decides to unearth the full story behind the offer.
Director: Michael Ritchie | Stars: Chevy Chase, Joe Don Baker, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Richard Libertini
Votes: 57,872 | Gross: $50.61M
22. Fletch Lives (1989)
PG | 95 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
After receiving an inheritance in Louisiana, Los Angeles reporter Irwin Fletcher heads to the Belle Isle plantation where he gets himself into hilarious trouble.
Director: Michael Ritchie | Stars: Chevy Chase, Hal Holbrook, Julianne Phillips, R. Lee Ermey
Votes: 23,247 | Gross: $35.15M
23. Blow Out (1981)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz
Votes: 63,235 | Gross: $13.75M
24. Small Town Crime (2017)
R | 91 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
An alcoholic ex cop finds a woman on the roadside, left for dead. He offers to find the killer pro bono as P.I. Her granddad hires him. Things get nasty.
Directors: Eshom Nelms, Ian Nelms | Stars: John Hawkes, Anthony Anderson, Octavia Spencer, Robert Forster
Votes: 12,475
25. Manhattan Night (2016)
R | 113 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A reporter becomes involved with a mysterious woman while investigating her late husband's death.
Director: Brian DeCubellis | Stars: Adrien Brody, Yvonne Strahovski, Campbell Scott, Jennifer Beals
Votes: 13,762
26. Twilight (1998)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A retired detective accepts a simple task, unaware that it will tear open old, forgotten, but deadly wounds.
Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Gene Hackman, Reese Witherspoon
Votes: 14,156 | Gross: $15.03M
27. Hickey & Boggs (1972)
PG | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Bill Cosby and Robert Culp ("I Spy") are united again as private eyes in this Walter Hill-scripted "film noir." Searching for a missing girl, they find themselves involved with vicious criminals and precipitating a string of deaths.
Director: Robert Culp | Stars: Bill Cosby, Robert Culp, Ta-Ronce Allen, Rosalind Cash
Votes: 1,382
28. Broken City (2013)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In a city rife with injustice, ex-cop Billy Taggart seeks redemption and revenge after being double-crossed by its most powerful figure: Mayor Nicholas Hostetler.
Director: Allen Hughes | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jeffrey Wright
Votes: 83,361 | Gross: $19.70M
Tell Your Friends