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Best Detective/Mystery films All Time?


Ozzy

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Really hard to rank them honestly because some of the films are so different.   All are great detective stories and sure not every main character is a detective but all deal with that same vibe.  Best detective I would have to say is Al Pacino, not only in Insomnia but also Heat and is standout in The Inside where he plays a journalist.  But hard to argue with Harrison Ford even though he is not a detective in The Fugitive but in a way is, and have to include that with Tommy Lee Jones not to mention Blade Runner which I always had #1  just on the vibe which is taken from other movies but really kills it with all the darkness, rain and shadows plus the neon lights.  I almost included Glengarry Glen Ross just on the vibe and visual feel of the film itself.    William Petersen is a great detective type in To Live and Die in LA and Manhunter.

 

The Fugitive
Blade Runner
Silence of the Lambs
Se7en
Mississippi Burning

Blood Simple
The Insider (1999)
Dark City
Psycho
The Bourne Identity
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)
No Country for Old Men
Manhunter (1986) 
The Pelican Brief
Insomnia
Heat
Fargo
Prisoners

Wind River
Double Indemnity

The Cell
8MM
Sicario
All the President's Men (1976)
To Live and Die in LA
Animal Kingdom
Devil in a Blue Dress
Videodrome (1983)
Looper
Memento
Gattaca
Lord of Illusions
The Mothman Prophecies
Zodiac
Night Moves  

Edited by Ozzy
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13 minutes ago, seminoles1 said:

Hot Fuzz

I did not include comedies of course, I would say The Other Guys is a much funnier film by the way and The Heat is pretty damn funny as well.

 

9 minutes ago, JohnChimpo said:

LA Confidential should be included, although the novel is much better.

Agreed I might need to include that, might have to watch it again it has been so long.  But to me they need a great villain and not sure they have that, what the villain is themselves and their own agendas?  Super star cast though but I like the lone wolf detectives more, two max but really even that only worked in Se7en.

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12 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Agreed I might need to include that, might have to watch it again it has been so long.  But to me they need a great villain and not sure they have that, what the villain is themselves and their own agendas?  Super star cast though but I like the lone wolf detectives more, two max but really even that only worked in Se7en.

There are three detectives that end up being on the same side, but they are not really “buddies.” Without giving it away, the villain is definitely not themselves, but they do all have warts. I think the villain is great.

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27 minutes ago, JohnChimpo said:

Off the top of my head, Silence of the Lambs is easily my favorite.

That is an all timer, I however might have watched it too much so it loses a bit at times because of that.   I must say Manhunter (1986) not Red Dragon 2002, the original Manhunter based off the Red Dragon book, a few of those scenes honestly are more freaky to me than almost anything in Silence of the Lambs outside of that basement scene.  Manhunter is super scary and a great crime story but obviously the story is it all and is the same writer Thomas Harris.  

 

 

 

I included **** Tracy (1990) as well, very stylized movie but is pretty cool despite being a little cheesy.  Pretty solid and super creative, did not include Sin City but could however to many different little stories going on in that one honestly.  Also included Angel Heart which is pretty cool as well.

 

44 minutes ago, Malfatron said:

Angels with Filthy Souls

I do recall looking that up after watching Home Alone trying to find that movie.  

 

 

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10 minutes ago, Tetsujin said:

The French Connection

That movie I was greatly disappointed by, probably because the underline meaning is pretty nothing.  Gene Hackman is way better in Mississippi Burning, that movie itself is way better than The French Connection.

 

Hackman is better in Night Moves as well even though some parts of that are kind of cheesy.  Not really a detective but Enemy of the State Gene is better in that as well but is a smaller part.  Also better in The Conversation as well even though again that is a detective type film but he is not really a detective just acts like one in the movie.  

 

Guess I should maybe just title it Mystery but that is a pretty wide range.  

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54 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

That is an all timer, I however might have watched it too much so it loses a bit at times because of that.   I must say Manhunter (1986) not Red Dragon 2002, the original Manhunter based off the Red Dragon book, a few of those scenes honestly are more freaky to me than almost anything in Silence of the Lambs outside of that basement scene.  Manhunter is super scary and a great crime story but obviously the story is it all and is the same writer Thomas Harris. 

I finally watched Manhunter recently after watching Silence of the Lambs multiple times and listening to the audio versions of each of the original novels. I liked it a lot. Mann’s style was totally different from Demme’s. I preferred Demme’s overall, but I enjoyed the colors and music that Mann used. 

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3 minutes ago, JohnChimpo said:

I finally watched Manhunter recently after watching Silence of the Lambs multiple times and listening to the audio versions of each of the original novels. I liked it a lot. Mann’s style was totally different from Demme’s. I preferred Demme’s overall, but I enjoyed the colors and music that Mann used. 

Demme's is great, crazy thing is he did Philadelphia (which is awesome) partly because people thought Silence of the Lambs was Anti-gay, or homophobic.   Rachel Getting Married I really like as well.

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17 minutes ago, Ozzy said:

Demme's is great, crazy thing is he did Philadelphia (which is awesome) partly because people thought Silence of the Lambs was Anti-gay, or homophobic.   Rachel Getting Married I really like as well.

I didn’t know that. I should probably watch Philadelphia. Never have.

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