#16. Farewell, My Lovely (1975)

Storyline: Ex-con Moose (Jack O'Halloran) hires private eye Phillip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) to find his long-lost girlfriend, Velma, a lounge singer. The lounge owner's wife says she's dead, but Marlowe remains skeptical. Meanwhile, Marlowe also goes on a routine ransom exchange for a necklace and gets knocked out and framed for murder. He eventually finds the necklace's owner, blonde bombshell Helen Grayle (Charlotte Rampling) but, more importantly, evidence that the two cases are connected.

Plot Keywords: private investigator, wife, ex-convict, police detective, lounge singer, suspenseful, brooding ...

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#17. Wild at Heart (1990)

Storyline: Lula's psychopathic mother goes crazy at the thought of Lula being with Sailor, who just got free from jail. Ignoring Sailor's probation, they set out for California. However their mother hires a killer to hunt down Sailor. Unaware of this, the two enjoy their journey and themselves being together... until they witness a young woman dying after a car accident - a bad omen.—Tom Zoerner <Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de>

Plot Keywords: convict, girlfriend, mother, private investigator, police officer, hit man, brutal ...

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#18. Love in the Afternoon (1957)

Storyline: In Paris, detective Claude Chavasse is hired to follow a wife suspected of infidelity with the notorious American libertine Frank Flannagan. When the husband learns that his suspicions are accurate, he tells Claude of his plan to kill Flannagan. Claude's daughter Ariane overhears the threat and warns Frank of the coming trouble. She then plays the part of a worldly socialite with a list of conquests as long as Flannagan's. The bemused ladies' man returns to America the next day and Ariane, completely in love, follows his romantic escapades in the news. She sees him again in Paris the following year, and resumes her worldly guise, telling tales of former lovers when they meet at his hotel in the afternoon. Frank, amazed by the mystery girl and surprised to find himself jealous of her past, hires Claude to uncover more information about her. When the detective realizes what has happened, he asks Frank not to break his daughter's heart.

Plot Keywords: private investigator, musician, millionaire, playboy, witty, charming, paris ...

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#19. Night Moves (1975)

Storyline: Private detective and former football player Harry Moseby gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case, as a former Hollywood actress whose only major roles came thanks to being married to a studio mogul wants Moseby to find and return her daughter. Harry travels to Florida to find her, but he begins to see a connection between the runaway girl, the world of Hollywood stuntmen, and a suspicious mechanic when an unsolved murder comes to light.

Plot Keywords: private investigator, runaway, mechanic, pilot, actress, stepfather, uneasy ...

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#20. The Dark Corner (1946)

Storyline: Private investigator Bradford Galt has moved to New York from San Fransisco after serving a jail term on account of his lawyer partner Tony Jardine. When he finds someone is tailing - and possibly trying to kill him, Galt believes Jardine is behind it. As he finds there is rather more to it, he is increasingly glad to have his attractive new secretary Kathleen around, for several reason.—Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

Plot Keywords: private investigator, secretary, art dealer, wife, criminal, ex-convict, suspenseful ...

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#21. The Marriage Circle (1924)

Storyline: Professor Stock and his wife Mizzi are always bickering. Mizzi tries to seduce Dr. Franz Braun, the new husband of her good friend Charlotte. Dr. Braun's colleague, Dr. Mueller, who has had his eye on Charlotte, sees this as his opportunity, even though the Braun's are very happily married. Through a misunderstanding, Charlotte thinks that her husband is interested in Miss Hofer, and asks Mizzi to keep him occupied. Meanwhile Professor Stock becomes suspicious of his wife, and hires a detective to spy on her with the hope of obtaining a divorce.—Will Gilbert

Plot Keywords: professor, wife, husband, best friend, doctor, private investigator, playful ...

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#22. There's Something About Mary (1998)

Storyline: Ted was a geek in high school, who was going to go to the prom with one of the most popular girls in school, Mary. The prom date never happened, because Ted had a very unusual accident. Thirteen years later he realizes he is still in love with Mary, so he hires a private investigator to track her down. That investigator discovers he too may be in love with Mary, so he gives Ted some false information to keep him away from her. But soon Ted finds himself back into Mary's life, as we watch one funny scene after another.

Plot Keywords: geek, private investigator, beautiful woman, elderly person, paraplegic, roommate, hilarious ...

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#23. The Last Seduction (1994)

Storyline: Bridget Gregory has a lot going for her: she's beautiful, she's intelligent, she's married to a doctor. But all of this isn't enough, as her husband Clay finds out. After she persuaded him to sell medicinal cocaine to some drugdealers, she takes off with the money, almost a million dollars, and goes undercover in a mid-American smalltown. Because Clay has to pay off a loan shark who'll otherwise damage him severely, he keeps sending detectives after her, trying to retrieve the money. When Bridget meets Mike Swale, a naive local who is blinded by her beauty and directness, she devises an elaborate, almost diabolical scheme to get rid of Clay once and for all.

Plot Keywords: femme fatale, doctor, divorcée, drug dealer, private investigator, husband, brutal ...

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#25. Mississippi Mermaid (1969)

Storyline: Louis Mahe is a tobacco planter at Reunion Island. He is waiting for Julie Roussel to marry him. He only knows her by mail. The woman that comes does not like the picture he got, but he marries her anyway. Soon, she flees with Louis' money. She was not the real Julie Roussel but Marion. Louis tries to find her... Another Truffaut's film about passion.—Yepok

Plot Keywords: mail-order bride, wealthy man, con artist, private investigator, wife, winsome, tense ...

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#26. Basquiat (1996)

Storyline: Basquiat tells the story of the meteoric rise of youthful artist Jean Michel Basquiat. Starting out as a street artist, living in Thompkins Square Park in a cardboard box, Basquiat becomes a star and a part of Andy Warhol's art world circle. But success has a price, and Basquiat pays with friendships, love, and eventually, his life.

Plot Keywords: painter, andy warhol, private investigator, art critic, drug addict, brash, gritty ...

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#27. Dead Again (1991)

Storyline: Mike Church is a Los Angeles private detective who specializes in finding missing persons. He takes on the case of a mute woman who is suffering from a total amnesia and doesn't even know her name. She keeps having nightmares involving the murder of a pianist, Margaret, by her husband Roman Strauss in the late 1940s. In an attempt to solve the mystery about her identity and her nightmares, Church accepts the help of an antiquary who arrives to offer his services as a hypnotist. The hypnosis sessions soon begin to reveal some surprises.

Plot Keywords: private investigator, woman, hypnotist, husband, wife, suspenseful, intricate ...

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#28. Zero Effect (1998)

Storyline: Daryl Zero is a private investigator. Along with his assistant, Steve Arlo he solves impossible crimes and puzzles. Though a master investigator, when he is not working, Zero doesn't know what to do with himself. He has no social skills, writes bad music, and drives Arlo crazy. In his latest case, Zero must find out who is blackmailing a rich executive, and when his client won't tell him, why. The only problem with this case is Zero has done something he's never done before: got emotionally involved.

Plot Keywords: private investigator, assistant, client, suspect, girlfriend, femme fatale, quirky ...

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#29. The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

Storyline: Samantha Caine, suburban homemaker, is the ideal mom to her 8 year old daughter Caitlin. She lives in Honesdale, PA, has a job teaching school and makes the best Rice Krispie treats in town. But when she receives a bump on her head, she begins to remember small parts of her previous life as a lethal, top-secret agent. Her old chums in the Chapter are now out to kill her so she enlists the help of a cheap detective named Mitch. As Samantha remembers more and more of her previous life, she becomes deadlier and more resourceful. Both Mitch and Charly proceed to do the killing thing, the bleeding thing and the shooting thing.

Plot Keywords: teacher, single mother, assassin, private investigator, secret agent, doctor, thrilling ...

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#30. From Hell (2001)

Storyline: It is 1888 in London, and the unfortunate poor lead horrifying lives in the city's deadliest slum, Whitechapel. Harassed by gangs and forced to walk the streets for a living, Mary Kelly and her small group of companions trudge on through this daily misery, their only consolation being that things can't get any worse. Yet things somehow do when their friend Ann is kidnapped and they are drawn into a conspiracy with links higher up than they could possibly imagine. The kidnapping is soon followed by the gruesome murder of another woman, Polly, and it becomes apparent that they are being hunted down, one by one. Sinister even by Whitechapel standards, the murder grabs the attention of Inspector Fred Abberline, a brilliant yet troubled man whose police work is often aided by his psychic abilities. Abberline becomes deeply involved with the case, which takes on personal meaning to him when he and Mary begin to fall in love. But as he gets closer to the truth, Whitechapel becomes more and ...

Plot Keywords: jack the ripper, private investigator, prostitute, artist, detective chief inspector, religious fanatic, creepy ...

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