The 25 Best Detective Movies of All Time
My 25 personal favorite detective movies of all time.
Honorable Mentions:
The Nice Guys (2016)
Gone Girl (2014)
Shutter Island (2010)
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Inside Man (2006)
Training Day (2001)
Primal Fear (1996)
The Untouchables (1987)
Blade Runner (1982)
Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
The French Connection (1971)
Dirty Harry (1971)
In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
High And Low (1963)
Kiss Me, Deadly (1955)
The Big Sleep (1946)
Honorable Mentions:
The Nice Guys (2016)
Gone Girl (2014)
Shutter Island (2010)
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Inside Man (2006)
Training Day (2001)
Primal Fear (1996)
The Untouchables (1987)
Blade Runner (1982)
Murder On The Orient Express (1974)
The French Connection (1971)
Dirty Harry (1971)
In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
High And Low (1963)
Kiss Me, Deadly (1955)
The Big Sleep (1946)
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- 25 titles
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartKim NovakBarbara Bel GeddesA former San Francisco police detective juggles wrestling with his personal demons and becoming obsessed with the hauntingly beautiful woman he has been hired to trail, who may be deeply disturbed.
- DirectorsOtto PremingerRouben MamoulianStarsGene TierneyDana AndrewsClifton WebbA police detective falls in love with the woman whose murder he is investigating.
- DirectorJohn HustonStarsHumphrey BogartMary AstorGladys GeorgeSan 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.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsPeter LorreEllen WidmannInge LandgutWhen the police in a German city are unable to catch a child-murderer, other criminals join in the manhunt.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsRobert MitchumJane GreerKirk DouglasA private eye escapes his past to run a gas station in a small town, but his past catches up with him. Now he must return to the big city world of danger, corruption, double crosses, and duplicitous dames.
- DirectorChristopher NolanStarsGuy PearceCarrie-Anne MossJoe PantolianoLeonard Shelby, an insurance investigator, suffers from anterograde amnesia and uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife, which is the last thing he remembers.
- DirectorsJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsWilliam H. MacyFrances McDormandSteve BuscemiMinnesota car salesman Jerry Lundegaard's inept crime falls apart due to his and his henchmen's bungling and the persistent police work of the quite pregnant Marge Gunderson.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsNaomi WattsLaura HarringJustin TherouxAfter a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.
- DirectorCarol ReedStarsOrson WellesJoseph CottenAlida ValliPulp novelist Holly Martins travels to shadowy, postwar Vienna, only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend, Harry Lime.
- DirectorOrson WellesStarsCharlton HestonOrson WellesJanet LeighA Mexican official and his American wife are targeted in a Texas border town by the crime family he's trying to put behind bars for drug trafficking, as his concern grows over the tactics of the local detective whose cooperation he needs.
- DirectorsJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsJeff BridgesJohn GoodmanJulianne MooreJeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
- DirectorJuan José CampanellaStarsRicardo DarínSoledad VillamilPablo RagoA retired legal counselor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past unresolved homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his superior - both of which still haunt him decades later.
- DirectorRobert ZemeckisStarsBob HoskinsChristopher LloydJoanna CassidyWhen a cartoon rabbit is accused of murder, he enlists the help of a burnt out private investigator to prove his innocence.
- DirectorBuster KeatonStarsBuster KeatonKathryn McGuireJoe KeatonA film projectionist longs to be a detective, and puts his meagre skills to work when he is framed by a rival for stealing his girlfriend's father's pocketwatch.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsMorgan FreemanBrad PittKevin SpaceyTwo detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
- DirectorBong Joon HoStarsSong Kang-hoKim Sang-kyungKim Roe-haIn a small Korean province in 1986, two detectives struggle with the case of multiple young women being found raped and murdered by an unknown culprit.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsDaniel CraigRooney MaraChristopher PlummerJournalist Mikael Blomkvist is aided in his search for a woman who has been missing for 40 years by hacker Lisbeth Salander.
- DirectorRian JohnsonStarsDaniel CraigChris EvansAna de ArmasWhen renowned crime novelist Harlan Thrombey is found dead at his estate just after his 85th birthday, the inquisitive and debonair Detective Benoit Blanc is mysteriously enlisted to investigate.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsGlenn FordGloria GrahameJocelyn BrandoTough cop Dave Bannion takes on a politically powerful crime syndicate.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsJodie FosterAnthony HopkinsScott GlennA young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsJack NicholsonFaye DunawayJohn HustonA private detective hired to expose an adulterer in 1930s Los Angeles finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption, and murder.
- DirectorCurtis HansonStarsKevin SpaceyRussell CroweGuy PearceAs corruption grows in 1950s Los Angeles, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice.
- DirectorDavid FincherStarsJake GyllenhaalRobert Downey Jr.Mark RuffaloBetween 1968 and 1983, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsSean PennTim RobbinsKevin BaconThe tragic murder of a 19-year-old girl reunites three childhood friends still living in Boston--the victim's gangster father, a detective, and the disturbed man they both suspect of killing her.
- DirectorDenis VilleneuveStarsHugh JackmanJake GyllenhaalViola DavisKeller Dover is facing every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is an RV that had been parked on their street.