Highest-Rated Movies about 'Detective Work', Sort by Popularity

Chinatown (1974), Dr. Mabuse, King of Crime (1922), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939), Law Abiding Citizen (2009), The Nice Guys (2016), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), La isla mínima (2014) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Detective Work movies.

#1. Chinatown (1974)

Storyline: In 1937 Los Angeles, private investigator Jake 'J.J.' Gittes specializes in cheating-spouse cases. His current target is Hollis Mulwray, high-profile chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, whose wife suspects him of infidelity. In following Mulwray, Gittes witnesses some usual business dealings, such as a public meeting for construction of a new dam to create additional water supply for Los Angeles, as fresh water is vital to the growing community during the chronic drought; Mulwray opposes the dam. Eventually Gittes sees Mulwray meeting with an unknown young woman who isn't his wife. Once news of the supposed tryst between Mulwray and this woman hits the media, additional information comes to light that makes Gittes believe that Mulwray is being framed for something and that he himself is being set up. In his investigation of the issue behind Mulwray's framing and his own setup, Gittes is assisted by Mulwray's wife Evelyn, but he thinks she isn't being ...

Plot Keywords: detective, widow, father, sister, private investigator, wife, disturbing ...

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#2. Dr. Mabuse, King of Crime (1922)

Storyline: Dr. Mabuse and his organization of criminals are in the process of completing their latest scheme, a theft of information that will allow Mabuse to make huge profits on the stock exchange. Afterwards, Mabuse disguises himself and attends the Folies Bergères show, where Cara Carozza, the main attraction of the show, passes him information on Mabuse's next intended victim, the young millionaire Edgar Hull. Mabuse then uses psychic manipulation to lure Hull into a card game where he loses heavily. When Police Commissioner von Wenk begins an investigation of this mysterious crime spree, he has little to go on, and he needs to find someone who can help him.—Snow Leopard

Plot Keywords: hypnotist, gambler, police detective, businessman, murderer, dark, intricate ...

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#3. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)

Storyline: A petty thief posing as an actor is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl and a detective who's been training him for his upcoming role...

Plot Keywords: criminal, detective, girlfriend, actor, director, producer, creative ...

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#4. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939)

Storyline: On his uncle's death Sir Henry Baskerville returns from abroad and opens up the ancestral hall on the desolate moors of Devonshire. Holmes uncovers a plot to have Sir Henry murdered by a terrible trained hound.—Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>

Plot Keywords: sherlock holmes, wealthy man, doctor watson, escaped convict, relative, dog, suspenseful ...

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#5. Law Abiding Citizen (2009)

Storyline: Clyde Shelton's family is brutally murdered. The ones responsible are caught. However, because of improper procedure, the D.A., Nick Rice only has circumstantial evidence. So he decides to get one of them to testify against the other. When Shelton learns of this, he is not happy. Ten years later, the one who was convicted is being executed but something goes wrong; his execution goes awry and he suffers. They learn that someone tampered with the machine. And the other one is found dead, killed in a gruesome manner. Rice suspects Shelton, so he has him picked up. At first, Shelton agrees to a plea agreement with Rice but changes his mind. It appears that Shelton is not done, it appears he blames the whole system and is declaring war on it going after everyone involved with his family's case. So Rice has to stop him but Shelton is way ahead of him.

Plot Keywords: vigilante, terrorist, prosecutor, prisoner, prison life, government official, tense ...

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#6. The Nice Guys (2016)

Storyline: Set against the backdrop of 1977 Los Angeles, The Nice Guys opens when single father and licensed PI Holland March (Gosling) is hired to investigate the apparent suicide of famous porn star Misty Mountains. As the trail leads him to track down a girl named Amelia (Qualley), he encounters less licensed and less hands-off private eye Jackson Healey (Russell Crowe) and his brass knuckles, both hired by the young hippie. However, the situation takes a turn for the worse when Amelia vanishes and it becomes apparent that March wasn't the only party interested. As both men are forced to team up, they'll have to take on a world filled with eccentric goons, strippers dressed as mermaids and even a possible government conspiracy.

Plot Keywords: private detective, enforcer, missing person, daughter, assassin, lawyer, cheeky ...

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#7. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)

Storyline: Detroit cop Axel Foley is delighted when he receives a surprise visit from his best friend Mikey Tandino, who lives in California. Not long after Mikey arrives in Detroit, Mikey is killed, right in front of Axel, by a man named Zack. Axel follows Zack to Beverly Hills, California, where Beverly Hills police department Lieutenant Andrew Bogomil assigns Detective Billy Rosewood and Rosewood's partner, Sergeant John Taggart, to keep an eye on Axel. Axel visits his friend Jenny Summers, who works in an art gallery. With Jenny's help, Axel discovers that Zack works for Jenny's boss, Victor Maitland, the man who owns the art gallery. Maitland is a drug kingpin who is using the gallery as a front, and Maitland had Zack kill Mikey after Maitland accused Mikey of stealing some of Maitland's bonds. With the help of Jenny, Billy, and Taggart, Axel does what he can to make sure Maitland and Zack won't kill any more people.

Plot Keywords: cop, friend, lieutenant, businessman, victim, police officer, thrilling ...

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#8. La isla mínima (2014)

Storyline: 1980. In a little town close to Coto of Doñana (Andalusia, south to Spain), two teen girls have disappeared. The father of one of the girls, who have connections with important people in the forces of the law, gets that two police detectives of homicides from Madrid are assigned to the mission to find the girls if they are alive, or find the assassin if they appear died. The detectives are Pedro Suárez and Juan Robles. While that Suárez is a young, taciturn and circumspect agent in a Spain that it tries to find a new identity as democratic country after General Franco's death in 1975, Robles is a veteran, funny and expeditious agent, with a mysterious past as alleged member of Franco's Armed Police dismantled in 1978. Unable to reconcile one with each other, Suárez and Robles find trapped by the hostile environment of a place where the old Franco's methods and customs still alive, and where they two aren't welcome. When the girls appears died, the following investigation move the cops...

Plot Keywords: detective, teen girl, teenager, father, missing girl, murder victim, bleak ...

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#9. 21 Jump Street (2012)

Storyline: In high school, Schmidt (Jonah Hill) was a dork and Jenko (Channing Tatum) was the popular jock. After graduation, both of them joined the police force and ended up as partners riding bicycles in the city park. Since they are young and look like high school students, they are assigned to an undercover unit to infiltrate a drug ring that is supplying high school students synthetic drugs.

Plot Keywords: undercover cop, police detective, high-school student, teacher, drug dealer, police captain, hilarious ...

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#13. Veronica Mars (2014)

Storyline: Former teenage private eye and now an aspiring New York City lawyer, Veronica Mars gets one phone call from ex-boyfriend Logan Echolls and she gets pulled right back into the seedy underbelly of Neptune, California. Logan's pop star girlfriend, Bonnie DeVille, has been murdered and he needs Veronica's help to clear his name. DeVille is a fellow Neptune High alum, and her murder and Veronica's return to Neptune coincide with their 10-year high school reunion. Veronica is face to face with old friends and foes alike and finds it's much harder to leave home a second time.

Plot Keywords: sleuth, ex-boyfriend, police detective, defense attorney, assassin, father, charming ...

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#14. Zulu (2013)

Storyline: As a child, Ali Neuman narrowly escaped being murdered by Inkatha, a militant political party at war with Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. Only he and his mother survived the carnage of those years. But as with many survivors, the psychological scars remain. Today, Ali is chief of the homicide branch of the South African police in Cape Town. One of his staff is Brian Epkeen, a free-wheeling white officer whose family was originally involved in the establishment of apartheid but who works well with Neuman. Together they have to deal with crime that inevitably exists in sprawling areas of un- and under- employed people, crime exacerbated by gangs, both local and from other parts of Africa. Their job gets even more difficult when the corpses of two young women are found. A new evil has been introduced in the city and a new drug has been introduced to its residents, including both murder victims. At the chaotic crossroads where brutality and modernization collide, the echoes of...

Plot Keywords: murderer, murder victim, detective, drug dealer, south african man, bleak, brutal ...

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#15. The Great Lover (1949)

Storyline: The French Surete and private eye Higgins are after a killer who uses innocent young Americans in a crooked gambling racket, and who sets sail on an ocean liner that also carries inept scoutmaster Freddie Hunter and his troop of boys. Freddie, who's been a "boy scout" too long, has designs on gorgeous Duchess Alexandria. The boys, far better organized than Freddie, are determined to save him from himself. But who will save Freddie from being the killer's next victim?—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: murderer, private investigator, con artist, scout, duchess, love interest, campy ...

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