Private detective Lew Harper (Paul Newman) is hired by rich invalid Mrs. Sampson (Lauren Bacall) to find her degenerate and neurotic husband who disappeared a day ago. Helping, or hindering, his investigation is Sampsonâs spoiled daughter Miranda (Pamela Tiffin), the family pilot (Robert Wagner), and Sampson’s lawyer (Arthur Hill). The trail passes by an aging
Rage in Heaven (1941)
Philip Monrell (Robert Montgomery) is the charming son of a wealthy steel family and good friends with the good natured playboy Ward Andrews (George Sanders). Well, thatâs how it appears. Actually Philip is a paranoid psychopath who is jealous of Ward and recently escaped from an insane asylum. The pair visits Philipâs sickly mother who
Out of the Past (1947)
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Private detective Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) is hired by dim-witted, hulking, ex-con Moose (Mike Mazurki) to find âhis Velma.â Heâs also hired for a one night body guard job that ends up with his client dead, the killing somehow connected to a stolen jade necklace belonging to the Grayle family: ingĂ©nue daughter Ann (Anne Shirley),
Dead Reckoning (1947)
Capt. Rip Murdock (Humphrey Bogart) and his buddy Sgt Johnny Drake (William Prince) are headed to Washington DC to receive a pair of medals when Johnny jumps a different train to avoid the publicity. Rip follows and quickly discovers Johnny had enlisted under a false name as he was on the run from a murderer
Donât Bother to Knock (1952)
Jed Towers (Richard Widmark) is an angry, crude man, dumped by Lynn, his hotel singer girlfriend (Anne Bancroft). Nell Forbes (Marilyn Monroe) is the troubledâvery troubledâniece of Eddie, the elevator operator (Elisha Cook Jr.). Eddie arranges for Nell to babysit a wealthy couple’s daughter at the hotel as they attend a banquet downstairs. Jed hits
The Killers (1946)
A pair of killers (Charles McGraw, William Conrad) show up in a small town diner with plans to kill the Swede (Burt Lancaster). Things are delayed as they terrorize the three people there, but eventually they get their man, who does not resist. Jim Reardon (Edmond OâBrien), an insurance investigator, takes the case because the
Basic Instinct (1992)
Nick, a troubled policeman (Michael Douglas), becomes the mental and physical plaything of rich, educated, bisexual partier, Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), a suspect in an ice pick murder. His simple partner (George Dzundza) and ex-lover, psychologist Dr. Beth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn), try to help him, but he falls deeper and deeper into addiction and Catherine’s
The Big Sleep (1978)
In London, General Sternwood (James Stewart) hires American expatriate detective Philip Marlowe (Robert Mitchum) to deal with blackmail threats. However, what he really wants is for Marlowe to uncover what happened to his missing son-in-law. Marlowe finds that both the blackmail and the disappearance are tied up with Sternwood’s wild daughters, Charlotte (Sarah Miles) and Camilla (Candy
Bitter Moon (1992)
Stuffy, British couple Fiona and Nigel Dobson (Kristin Scott Thomas, Hugh Grant) take a cruise to India in an attempt to bring some magic to their overly comfortable marriage. On board they meet sexy, French, femme fatale, Mimi (Emmanuelle Seigner), and her obnoxious, crippled, American husband, Oscar (Peter Coyote), who pick Nigel to hear the
Blood Simple (1984)
Double Indemnity (1973)
Insurance salesman Walter Neff (Richard Crenna) is seduced by housewife Phyllis Dietrickson (Samantha Eggar) into killing her husband. Walter falsifies an accident policy for the husband that has a double indemnity clause: it pays double if the insured dies in a train accident. Their one foreseeable problem is Barton Keyes (Lee J. Cobb), a crack insurance investigator