Highest-Rated Movies about 'Crime Investigation'

M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931), Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920), The Town (2010), Promising Young Woman (2020), Patriots Day (2016), Now You See Me (2013), The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009), Ringu (1998) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Crime Investigation movies.

#1. M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder (1931)

Storyline: In Germany, Hans Beckert is an unknown killer of girls. He whistles Edvard Grieg's 'In The Hall of the Mountain King', from the 'Peer Gynt' Suite I Op. 46 while attracting the little girls for death. The police force pressed by the Minister give its best effort trying unsuccessfully to arrest the serial killer. The organized crime has great losses due to the intense search and siege of the police and decides to chase the murderer, with the support of the beggars association. They catch Hans and briefly judge him.

Plot Keywords: psychopath, serial child killer, tragic villain, crime investigation, organized crime, investigation, letter ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#2. Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (1920)

Storyline: Francis, a young man, recalls in his memory the horrible experiences he and his fiancée Jane recently went through. It is the annual fair in Holstenwall. Francis and his friend Alan visit The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, an exhibit where the mysterious doctor shows the somnambulist Cesare, and awakens him for some moments from his death-like sleep. When Alan asks Cesare about his future, Cesare answers that he will die before dawn. The next morning Alan is found dead. Francis suspects Cesare of being the murderer, and starts spying on him and Dr. Caligari. The following night Cesare is going to stab Jane in her bed, but softens when he sees the beautiful woman, and instead of committing another murder, he abducts her. Jane's father awakens because of the noise, and he and some servants follow the fleeing Cesare. When Cesare cannot outrun his pursuers anymore, he gently places Jane down on the ground, and runs away. Francis and the police investigate the caravan of Dr. Caligari, but the ...

Plot Keywords: expressionism, hypnosis, avant garde, death, flashback within a flashback, flashback, enigma ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#3. The Town (2010)

Storyline: The Charlestown neighborhood of Boston is renowned for churning out a high number of armed robbers, generation after generation. These robbers never leave their Charlestown life on their own volition, the neighborhood where there is an unwritten code to protect that lifestyle. Such robbers include friends Doug MacRay, James Coughlin, Albert 'Gloansy' Magloan and Desmond Elden. Doug and James in particular treat each other like family, as the Coughlins have realistically been as such to Doug since Doug's mother ran off and Doug's father, Stephen MacRay, was sent to prison. James' single mother sister, the drugged out Krista Coughlin, and Doug have a casual sexual relationship. The foursome carry out a mostly successful bank robbery, but due to circumstances take the bank manager, Claire Keesey, hostage for a short period before releasing her physically unharmed. They find out that Claire lives in Charlestown, so they want to ensure that she did not see anything that could incriminate ...

Plot Keywords: bank robbery, criminal gang, money laundering, neo noir, hostage, bank manager, heist ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#4. Promising Young Woman (2020)

Storyline: Pushing thirty, and defined by a hideous crime involving her bosom friend, Nina, emotionally scarred medical school dropout, Cassie, knows firsthand that some wounds never heal. Leading an uneventful existence, still living with her parents, waiting tables at a cheap coffee shop to earn a living, Cassie has found the perfect way to deal with the painful past. Dressed to kill, at night, Cassie frequents the local bars and nightclubs, pretending to be dead-drunk, utterly helpless and vulnerable. And, every week, lethally beautiful Cassie is on the prowl for all sorts of nocturnal predators and other wolves in sheep's clothing, who are unaware that, sometimes, the hunter can become the prey. Then, Ryan, a kindly and caring old classmate who is the bee's knees, enters the picture, and just like that, Cassie wants out. However, everybody knows that breaking bad habits is easier said than done. Could Ryan be the one?—Nick Riganas

Plot Keywords: revenge, female protagonist, rape and revenge, rape, gender in title, hypocrisy, title directed by female ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#5. Patriots Day (2016)

Storyline: On April 15, 2013 Boston, Massachusetts, Police Sgt, Tommy Saunders is pulling security duty on the annual Boston Marathon when the Tsarnaev brothers strike with their homemade bombs in an act of terrorism. In the resulting chaos as the wounded are cared for, Saunders and his comrades join forces with the FBI to get to the bottom of this attack. As the investigation continues, the Tsarnaev brothers realize that the authorities are close to identifying them and attempt to flee the city to continue their fanatical mayhem. To stop them, a police manhunt is performed that would have bloody confrontations and a massive dragnet shutting down the City of Boston to make sure there is no escape from the law.

Plot Keywords: police, terrorist, based on true story, hospital, terrorist attack, terrorism, boston massachusetts ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#6. Now You See Me (2013)

Storyline: Four magicians each answer a mysterious summons to an obscure address with secrets inside. A year later, they are the Four Horsemen, big time stage illusionists who climax their sold-out Las Vegas show with a bank apparently robbed for real. This puts F.B.I. Agents Dylan Rhodes and Interpol Agent Alma Dray on the case to find out how they did it. However, this mystery proves to be difficult to solve, even with the insights of professional illusion exposer Thaddeus Bradley. What follows is a bizarre investigation where nothing is what it seems to be, with illusions, dark secrets, and hidden agendas galore as all involved are reminded of a great truth in this puzzle: the closer you look, the less you see.

Plot Keywords: magician, heist, con artist, bank robbery, flashback, deception, carousel ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#7. The Girl Who Played with Fire (2009)

Storyline: Mikael Blomkvist, publisher of Millennium magazine, has made his living exposing the crooked and corrupt practices of establishment Swedish figures. So when a young journalist approaches him with a meticulously researched thesis about sex trafficking in Sweden and those in high office who abuse underage girls, Blomkvist immediately throws himself into the investigation.

Plot Keywords: journalist, strong female lead, cunnilingus, cemetery, strong female character, woman's bare butt, murder ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#8. Ringu (1998)

Storyline: Reiko Asakawa is researching into a 'Cursed Video' interviewing teenagers about it. When her niece Tomoko dies of 'sudden heart failure' with an unnaturally horrified expression on her face, Reiko investigates. She finds out that some of Tomoko's friends, who had been on a holiday with Tomoko the week before, had died on exactly the same night at the exact same time in the exact same way. Reiko goes to the cabin where the teens had stayed and finds an 'unlabeled' video tape. Reiko watched the tape to discover to her horror it is in fact the 'cursed videotape'. Ex-Husband Ryuji helps Reiko solve the mystery, Reiko makes him a copy for further investigation. Things become more tense when their son Yoichi watches the tape saying Tomoko had told him to. Their discovery takes them to a volcanic island where they discover that the video has a connection to a psychic who died 30 years ago, and her child Sadako...

Plot Keywords: videotape, vhs tape, well, telephone, long hair, ghost, investigation ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#9. L'uccello dalle piume di cristallo (1970)

Storyline: In Italy, the American writer Sam Dalmas witnesses an attempt of murder of the owner of an art gallery, Monica Ranieri, a couple of days before returning home. Inspector Morosini, who is in charge of investigating the three previous murderers of the serial-killer, asks for help to Dalmas and takes his passport. Dalmas decides to stay with his girlfriend Julia and to help the police in the investigation. The killer threatens Dalmas and Julia by phone and the police overhears a strange noise in the tape. Soon the serial killer stalks Julia and Damas. Who might be the killer?

Plot Keywords: serial killer, twist ending, stabbed to death, giallo, italy, stabbed in the back, girlfriend ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#10. He Walked by Night (1948)

Storyline: In post WW II, Los Angeles, a cop's killed in the middle of the night. With no leads, the chief of police assigns Sgts. Jones and Brennan to investigate and apprehend the killer. They target low-level criminals, such as Paul Reeves, hoping he'll lead them to bigger fish, specially, the one who shot and killed the cop.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Keywords: motorcycle cop, suspect, camera, witness, microscope, shootout, police station ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#11. The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968)

Storyline: Lovers Marianne and Jean-Paul spend their vacation in a villa near St.-Tropez. The main feature of the villa is a swimming pool, stage for most of the action. After a visit Marianne invites former lover Harry and his teenage daughter Penelope to stay. Tension between the grown-ups rises especially when Jean-Paul seduces Penelope. The consequences are deadly.—Peter Zunneberg <p.zunneberg@tip.nl>

Plot Keywords: sunbathing, female nudity, pushed into water, sports car, drunkenness, death by drowning, summer vacation ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#12. 23 Paces to Baker Street (1956)

Storyline: Famed American playwright Phillip Hannon is in London making revisions to his play currently running in the West End. He is doing this mundane work rather than write a new play since he has retreated from life following the recent and permanent loss of his sight. That retreat from life includes breaking off his engagement to his former secretary, Jean Lennox, who still loves him. One evening at his local pub, he overhears a conversation between a man and a woman that he knows involves criminal activity, what he surmises to be the kidnapping plot of a child in exactly one week's time. The local police patronizingly dismiss his report as the overactive imagination of a blind writer. With Jean and his faithful manservant Bob Matthews by his side - the former with some reluctance on Phil's part - Phil goes on a search to uncover the plot using what little pieces of information he has at hand, which includes the man's name being Evans, the woman, who is involved under duress, working as a nanny for a family whose head is formally a lady, that lady having attended a concert that evening, the family living along a certain bus route, and the nanny herself wearing an expensive perfume well beyond her means. His physical disability is an obvious disadvantage. But what may be working to Phil's advantage is his keen sense of dialogue and its subtext in deciphering the conversation, using his other senses which people with sight take for granted, and people, including the criminals, underestimating him because he's blind.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: crime investigation, london england, employment agency, tape recording, american in the uk, murder, overheard conversation ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#13. Rider on the Rain (1970)

Storyline: A beautiful young woman in the South of France is raped by a mysterious masked assailant. She shoots him dead soon afterwards and dumps his corpse in the sea. Soon an American investigator turns up who seems to know what she has done.—Jonathon Dabell <barnabyrudge@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: rapist, rape victim, rape, stockings, mini skirt, skinhead, american abroad ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#14. Cop Land (1997)

Storyline: Sometime in the 1970's, police officers from New York City wanted a safe haven to live, away from the dangers of the streets of New York City, this is when they established a "Cop Land" in the small New Jersey town of Garrison. Freddy Heflin who was always admired by the New York cops wanted to become one, but because he was deaf in one ear this prevents him from achieving his goal, but has become sheriff of Garrison. Recently there have been a dark omen surrounding the NYPD, and Freddy is now investigating on this case, then Internal Affairs officer Mo Tilden is also on the case and asks Freddy for help, but Freddy could not. Now Freddy suspects that a New York City cop named Ray Donlan might be one of the many cops who is corrupted by the mob and other criminals. Now, Freddy must find a cop who is nicknamed "Superboy" who can testify against Donlan and protect him, before Donlan finds Superboy and kills him.

Plot Keywords: corruption, internal affairs, falling off a roof, faked death, dirty cop, corrupt cop, justice ...

Movie Details Click Here!

#15. The List of Adrian Messenger (1963)

Storyline: Messenger asks a friend to check into a list of names before leaving on a trip. When his plane is blown out of the sky, the matter becomes more serious. As his friend checks into the list, each seems to have died in mysterious circumstances. As he goes down the list, the deaths become more recent and a race to find the remaining survivors and what put each of them on this list ensues.—John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>

Plot Keywords: fox hunt, multiple murder, crime investigation, disguise, british, character name in title, based on novel ...

Movie Details Click Here!