Neo Noir: Private Detectives.
by seymourblack-1 | created - 30 Oct 2019 | updated - 12 Nov 2021 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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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: 37,218 | Gross: $0.96M
2. Kill Me Again (1989)
R | 94 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A young detective becomes involved with a beautiful woman on the run from the mob and her psychopath boyfriend.
Director: John Dahl | Stars: Val Kilmer, Joanne Whalley, Pat Mulligan, Nick Dimitri
Votes: 5,681 | Gross: $0.28M
3. 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: 95,792 | Gross: $17.19M
4. I, the Jury (1982)
R | 111 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A PI investigates the murder of his one-armed friend, a PI working on a case. Clues lead to a sex clinic. Bodies pile up.
Director: Richard T. Heffron | Stars: Armand Assante, Barbara Carrera, Laurene Landon, Alan King
Votes: 1,819 | Gross: $1.52M
5. 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: 10,868
6. Inherent Vice (2014)
R | 148 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
In 1970, drug-fueled Los Angeles private investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of a former girlfriend.
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston
Votes: 110,692 | Gross: $8.11M
7. 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: 17,701
8. Blood Simple (1984)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies, and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.
Directors: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen | Stars: John Getz, Frances McDormand, Dan Hedaya, M. Emmet Walsh
Votes: 105,203 | Gross: $2.15M
9. 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: 29,611 | Gross: $17.44M
10. 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: 9,605 | Gross: $4.36M
11. Motherless Brooklyn (2019)
R | 144 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In 1950s New York, Lionel, a private detective with Tourette syndrome, sets out to uncover the mystery behind his mentor and only friend Frank's murder. Scouring the jazz clubs and slums of Brooklyn, he soon uncovers a web of secrets.
Director: Edward Norton | Stars: Edward Norton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe
Votes: 62,810
12. 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: 373,122 | Gross: $36.26M
13. The Kid Detective (2020)
R | 100 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A once-celebrated kid detective, now 32, continues to solve the same trivial mysteries between hangovers and bouts of self-pity; until a naive client brings him his first 'adult' case to find out who brutally murdered her boyfriend.
Director: Evan Morgan | Stars: Kaitlyn Chalmers-Rizzato, Adam Brody, Kaleb Horn, Wendy Crewson
Votes: 22,503
14. The Last Boy Scout (1991)
R | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A private detective's protected female witness is murdered, prompting him and the victim's boyfriend to investigate the crime that leads to a corrupt politician and a crooked football team owner.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Chelsea Field, Noble Willingham
Votes: 112,028 | Gross: $59.51M
15. 8MM (1999)
R | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A private investigator is hired to discover if a "snuff film" is authentic or not.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Nicolas Cage, Joaquin Phoenix, James Gandolfini, Peter Stormare
Votes: 142,704 | Gross: $36.66M
16. Gone Baby Gone (2007)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two Boston area detectives investigate a little girl's kidnapping, which ultimately turns into a crisis both professionally and personally.
Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan
Votes: 292,847 | Gross: $20.30M
17. 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
18. 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: 1,381
19. The Yakuza (1974)
R | 112 min | Action, Crime, Drama
American private-eye Harry Kilmer returns to Japan to rescue a friend's kidnapped daughter from the clutches of the Yakuza.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura, Eiji Okada, Herb Edelman
Votes: 10,443
20. 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: 349,728
21. Dead Again (1991)
R | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A woman who has lost her memory is taken in by a Los Angeles orphanage, and a private eye is enlisted to track down her identity, but he soon finds that he might have a past life connection to her that endangers their lives.
Director: Kenneth Branagh | Stars: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Andy Garcia, Lois Hall
Votes: 30,377 | Gross: $38.02M
22. Film Noir (2007)
TV-MA | 97 min | Animation, Crime, Mystery
Private detective Sam Ruben's clever plan falls apart with the onset of amnesia. Everyone is trying to kill him and he doesn't know why. The classic film noir milieu now comes to you in the form of an animated feature.
Directors: Srdja Penezic, Risto Topaloski | Stars: Mark Keller, Bettina Devin, Roger Jackson, Jeff Atik
Votes: 1,653
23. Marlowe (1969)
PG | 96 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A young woman from Kansas hires LA private detective Philip Marlowe to find her missing brother.
Director: Paul Bogart | Stars: James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O'Connor, Rita Moreno
Votes: 4,016
24. 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: 237,350 | Gross: $4.24M
25. 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: 6,187
26. 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: 24,187 | Gross: $16.03M
27. Lady in Cement (1968)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
During an ocean dive, Miami gumshoe Tony Rome (Frank Sinatra) finds a woman's body with her feet encased in a concrete block and sets out to solve the murder case.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Raquel Welch, Richard Conte, Martin Gabel
Votes: 2,824
28. City of Tiny Lights (2016)
Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In the teeming, multicultural metropolis of modern-day London, a seemingly straightforward missing-person case launches a down-at-heel private eye into a dangerous world of religious fanaticism and political intrigue.
Director: Pete Travis | Stars: Riz Ahmed, Billie Piper, James Krishna Floyd, Cush Jumbo
Votes: 2,494
29. Too Late (I) (2015)
Not Rated | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Explores the tangled relationship between a troubled private investigator and the missing woman he's hired to help find.
Director: Dennis Hauck | Stars: Dichen Lachman, Natalie Zea, Jeff Fahey, John Hawkes
Votes: 3,909 | Gross: $0.06M
30. Under Suspicion (1991)
R | 99 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Disgraced detective Tony fakes evidence in divorce cases, implicates wife in Stasio affair. Stasio and wife shot dead in hotel. Tony's ex-partner Frank investigates, suspects inheritance-seeking mistress Angeline and inconsistent Tony.
Director: Simon Moore | Stars: Liam Neeson, Laura San Giacomo, Kenneth Cranham, Maggie O'Neill
Votes: 5,067 | Gross: $0.22M
31. The Big Bang (2010)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
A private detective is hired to find a missing stripper. A simple job turns complicated when everyone he questions ends up dead.
Director: Tony Krantz | Stars: Antonio Banderas, Thomas Kretschmann, William Fichtner, Sienna Guillory
Votes: 7,390
32. The Two Jakes (1990)
R | 137 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The sequel to Chinatown (1974) finds J.J. "Jake" Gittes investigating adultery and murder, and the money that comes from oil.
Director: Jack Nicholson | Stars: Jack Nicholson, Harvey Keitel, Meg Tilly, Madeleine Stowe
Votes: 15,492 | Gross: $10.01M
33. Hollywoodland (2006)
R | 126 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
A detective examines the mysterious death of George Reeves, the star of the television series Adventures of Superman (1952).
Director: Allen Coulter | Stars: Adrien Brody, Ben Affleck, Diane Lane, Bob Hoskins
Votes: 35,949 | Gross: $14.42M
34. Gumshoe (1971)
GP | 86 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Inspired by his love for Dashiell Hammett novels, nightclub comedian Eddie Ginley puts an ad in the paper as a private eye. The case he gets turns out to be a strange setup and as he digs to the bottom of it his life starts falling apart.
Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Albert Finney, Billie Whitelaw, Frank Finlay, Janice Rule
Votes: 1,794 | Gross: $0.14M
35. The Late Show (1977)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
A grumpy semi-retired private investigator partners with a quirky female client to catch the people who murdered his partner.
Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Art Carney, Lily Tomlin, Bill Macy, Eugene Roche
Votes: 3,305
36. El crack (1981)
M | 131 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Private detective Germán Areta gets a terminally ill client who wishes to see his long lost, runaway daughter before he dies. But when Areta starts looking into case, it leads him to the ... See full summary »
Director: José Luis Garci | Stars: Alfredo Landa, María Casanova, Manuel Tejada, Miguel Rellán
Votes: 1,892
37. City Heat (1984)
PG | 97 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Slick Private Investigator Mike Murphy (Burt Reynolds) and tough Police Lieutenant Speer (Clint Eastwood), once partners, now bitter enemies, reluctantly team up to investigate a murder.
Director: Richard Benjamin | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds, Jane Alexander, Madeline Kahn
Votes: 10,804 | Gross: $38.35M
38. The Big Empty (1997)
Not Rated | 96 min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery
A woman hires P.I. Lloyd Meadows to investigate her husband, a respectable social worker. What seemed to be a simple case of adultery turns into an ugly mess fast.
Director: Jack Perez | Stars: James McManus, Ellen Goldwasser, Pablo Bryant, H.M. Wynant
Votes: 146
39. Where's Marlowe? (1998)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Mystery, Thriller
After making a 3-hour fiasco about New York City's water supply, a two-man film crew decides to take it up a notch by documenting life in the private investigator offices of "Boone and Murphy".
Director: Daniel Pyne | Stars: Miguel Ferrer, John Livingston, Yasiin Bey, John Slattery
Votes: 568 | Gross: $0.01M
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