Highest-Rated Movies about 'Private Eye'

Vertigo (1958), The Big Lebowski (1998), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Big Sleep (1946), 21 Grams (2003), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), Angel Heart (1987), Mirage (1965) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Private Eye movies.

#1. Vertigo (1958)

Storyline: John "Scottie" Ferguson is a retired San Francisco police detective who suffers from acrophobia, and Madeleine is the lady who leads him to high places. A wealthy shipbuilder who is an acquaintance from college days approaches Scottie and asks him to follow his beautiful wife, Madeleine. He fears she is going insane, maybe even contemplating suicide, as he believes she has been possessed by a dead ancestor who committed suicide. Scottie is skeptical, but agrees to the assignment after he sees the beautiful Madeleine.

Plot Keywords: vertigo, 1950s, acrophobia, mental breakdown, deception, actress playing multiple roles, fear of heights ...

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#2. The Big Lebowski (1998)

Storyline: When "the dude" Lebowski is mistaken for a millionaire Lebowski, two thugs urinate on his rug to coerce him into paying a debt he knows nothing about. While attempting to gain recompense for the ruined rug from his wealthy counterpart, he accepts a one-time job with high pay-off. He enlists the help of his bowling buddy, Walter, a gun-toting Jewish-convert with anger issues. Deception leads to more trouble, and it soon seems that everyone from porn empire tycoons to nihilists want something from The Dude.

Plot Keywords: rug, nihilism, bowling alley, bowling, pornographer, mistaken identity, drug ...

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#3. The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Storyline: Spade and Archer is the name of a San Francisco detective agency. That's for Sam Spade and Miles Archer. The two men are partners, but Sam doesn't like Miles much. A knockout, who goes by the name of Miss Wonderly, walks into their office; and by that night everything's changed. Miles is dead. And so is a man named Floyd Thursby. It seems Miss Wonderly is surrounded by dangerous men. There's Joel Cairo, who uses gardenia-scented calling cards. There's Kasper Gutman, with his enormous girth and feigned civility. Her only hope of protection comes from Sam, who is suspected by the police of one or the other murder. More murders are yet to come, and it will all be because of these dangerous men -- and their lust for a statuette of a bird: the Maltese Falcon.

Plot Keywords: private detective, murder, homosexual subtext, fatal attraction, secretary, greed, private investigator ...

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#4. The Big Sleep (1946)

Storyline: P.I. Philip Marlowe's hired by a wealthy general to find out and stop his daughter, Carmen from being blackmailed over gambling debts, Marlowe finds himself deep within a web of love triangles, blackmail, murder, gambling, and organised crime. With help from Vivian (another of the general's daughters), Marlowe hatches a plot to free the family from this web and trap the real culprit.

Plot Keywords: private eye, bookstore, based on novel, greenhouse, sister sister relationship, brandy, bead curtain ...

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#5. 21 Grams (2003)

Storyline: This is the story of three well-meaning but flawed people: Paul Rivers, an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English émigré; Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife, happily married homemaker with two young daughters, with hiding a secret past; and Jack Jordan, an ex-convict who has found in his Christian faith the strength to live a law-abiding life and raise a family. They will be brought together by a terrible accident that will change their lives. By the final frame, none of them will be the same as they will have learnt harsh truths about love, faith, courage, desire and guilt, and how chance can change our worlds irretrievably, forever.

Plot Keywords: panties, marital separation, nonlinear timeline, female frontal nudity, female nudity, extramarital affair, unfaithfulness ...

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#6. 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: neo noir, black comedy, satire, nightclub, kidnapping, thief, actor ...

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#7. Angel Heart (1987)

Storyline: Harry Angel has a new case, to find a man called Johnny Favourite. Except things aren't quite that simple and Johnny doesn't want to be found. Let's just say that amongst the period detail and beautiful scenery, it all gets really really nasty.

Plot Keywords: flashback, devil worship, bathtub, lust, teenage girl, serial killer, female rear nudity ...

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#8. Mirage (1965)

Storyline: Walking down twenty-seven flights of stairs after the power goes out in the New York City office building he is in, David Stillwell emerges outside on the ground level to find that a man he didn't know either jumped or was pushed out a window to his death. That man was Charles Calvin, the head of Unidyne, a humanitarian organization that works toward world peace. David notices other unusual goings-on. What he considers his normal routine that others he knows should recognize, don't. People that he doesn't know seem to know him, such as the beautiful young woman with who he walked down the stairs but who ran off when they got to the bottom. And things that he thought he saw or thought he knew end up not being the case, such as the multiple sub-basement levels he thought were in that office building which don't seem to exist in the clear light of day. When he finally thinks about it, he believes he has some form of amnesia. As an example, he knows that he works as a cost accountant, but he has no idea what a cost accountant is or does. He soon learns that some people are following him and are after something that he has, he not knowing what it is, and that they will shoot to kill if they don't get it. Conversely, the young woman, who he learns is named Shela and was once a love of his, is trying to convince him to cooperate with the people after him if only to save his life. Every direction David turns for official assistance, he comes up not trusting anyone, with the exception of a novice private detective he hires named Ted Caselle. Shela and the people after David all refer to "the major" as the person at the top who wants what David has. David may have to look deep into his troubled psyche to come out of his amnesia to learn who the major is, what he wants, whether David is willing to give it up if he indeed does have it, and that the death of Charles Calvin had some part to play. But David may be dead before he can even make an informed decision to cooperate or not.—Huggo

Plot Keywords: amnesia, key, punched in the face, violence, hit on the head, fight, punched in the stomach ...

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#9. History Is Made at Night (1937)

Storyline: The obsessive and jealous shipowner Bruce Vail does not accept the divorce his wife Irene Vail achieved in London, and he hires his driver Michael Browsky to forge adultery with Irene in Paris to make the decree null. However, she is rescued by the headwaiter Paul Dumond, who punches Michael and locks Bruce and his private eyes in a locker, and they spend a wonderful night together in the restaurant Chateau Bleu, where Paul and his best friend Chef Cesare work, and they fall in love for each other. Meanwhile, Bruce kills Michael and blackmails Irene, blaming Paul and forcing her to return with him to New York. But Paul does not give up on Irene, and moves to New York with Cesare trying to find her love.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Keywords: frame up, detective, waiter, paris france, kidnapping, chef, iceberg ...

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#10. Klute (1971)

Storyline: Six months after the disappearance of Tuscarora, PA businessman Tom Gruneman, his boss, Peter Cable, and his wife, Holly Gruneman, hire Tom's friend, private detective John Klute to find out what happened to Tom, as the police have been unable to do so, and despite John having no expertise in missing persons cases. The only lead is a typewritten obscene letter Tom purportedly wrote to Manhattan actress/model/call girl Bree Daniel, who admits to having received such letters from someone, and since having received several mysterious telephone calls as well. The suggestion/belief is that Tom was one of Bree's past johns, although she has no recollection of him when shown his photograph. Bree's tricking is both a compulsion and a financial need. In their initial encounters, John and Bree do whatever they can to exert their psychological dominance over the other, especially as Bree initially refused to even speak to him. Despite their less than friendly start, they embark on a personal ...

Plot Keywords: private detective, woman undressing, neo noir, private investigator, undressing, prostitute, call girl ...

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#11. Romance on the High Seas (1948)

Storyline: Socialite Elvira Kent suspects her husband of fooling around with other women. When he announces he can't join her on their scheduled ocean voyage, she hires a nightclub singer, Georgia Garrett, to pose as her on the cruise. Elvira stays at a hotel near home so she can spy on her husband. She's unaware, however, that her husband has hired a detective, Peter Virgil, to keep an eye on her at sea. Of course, Peter doesn't realize that Georgia is not Mrs. Kent...—Daniel Bubbeo <dbubbeo@cmp.com>

Plot Keywords: singer, mistaken identity, husband wife relationship, uncle niece relationship, havana cuba, impersonation, cruise ship ...

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#12. 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 detective, neo noir, whodunit, los angeles california, number in title, letter, loyalty ...

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#13. 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: hypnosis, reincarnation, private detective, hypnotism, scissors, amnesia, private eye ...

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#15. Young Sherlock Holmes (1985)

Storyline: Sherlock Holmes (Nicholas Rowe) and John Watson (Alan Cox) meet as boys in an English Boarding school. Holmes is known for his deductive ability even as a youth, amazing his classmates with his abilities. When they discover a plot to murder a series of British business men by an Egyptian cult, they move to stop it.

Plot Keywords: cult film, grief, scare, fear, fright, clue, friend ...

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