Detective Story

Movies Like

Detective Story (1951)

Crime, Drama

If you loved Detective Story, you'll love these similar films. Handpicked based on shared themes, genre, and feel.

Brooklyn's Finest

Brooklyn's Finest

2010 ★ 6.3

Enforcing the law within the notoriously rough Brownsville section of the city and especially within the Van Dyke housing projects is the NYPD's sixty-fifth precinct. Three police officers struggle with the sometimes fine line between right and wrong.

Reptile

Reptile

2023 ★ 6.7

Following the brutal murder of a young real estate agent, a hardened detective attempts to uncover the truth in a case where nothing is as it seems, and by doing so dismantles the illusions in his own life.

Crime of Passion

Crime of Passion

1956 ★ 6.1

Kathy leaves the newspaper business to marry homicide detective Bill, but is frustrated by his lack of ambition and the banality of life in the suburbs. Her drive to advance Bill's career soon takes her down a dangerous path.

Havoc

Havoc

2025 ★ 6.4

When a drug heist swerves lethally out of control, a jaded cop fights his way through a corrupt city's criminal underworld to save a politician's son.

L.A. Confidential

L.A. Confidential

1997 ★ 7.8

Three detectives in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers

1946 ★ 7.1

Three childhood friends, Martha, Walter and Sam, share a terrible secret. Over time, the ambitious Martha and the pusillanimous Walter have married. She is a cold businesswoman; he is the district attorney: a perfect combination to dominate the corrupt city of Iverstown at will. But the unexpected return of Sam, after years of absence, deeply disturbs the life of the odd couple.

China Moon

China Moon

1994 ★ 6.1

Detective Kyle Bodine falls for Rachel Munro who is trapped in a violent marriage. After she shoots her husband, Kyle relucantly agrees to help hide the body, but his partner is showing an unusual flair for finding clues.

Jesse Stone: No Remorse

Jesse Stone: No Remorse

2010 ★ 6.9

Police Chief Jesse Stone, who was suspended by the Paradise, Mass. Town Council, begins moonlighting for his friend, State Homicide Commander Healy, by investigating a series of murders in Boston, leaving Rose and Suitcase to handle a crime spree in Paradise on their own. Jesse pours his energy into his work in an effort to push away his twin demons: booze and women. When his investigation leads to notorious mob boss Gino Fish, Jesse's pursuit becomes hazardous.

Black and Blue

Black and Blue

2019 ★ 6.8

Rookie cop Alicia West, an Army veteran, inadvertently captures the murder of a young drug dealer on her body cam. After realizing that the murder was committed by corrupt cops, she teams up with the one person from her community who is willing to help her as she tries to escape both the criminals out for revenge and the police who are desperate to destroy the incriminating footage.

Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone

2007 ★ 7.3

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.

In Too Deep

In Too Deep

1999 ★ 6.5

Drug lord Dwayne Gittens rules Cincinnati with an iron fist. No wonder he's known as "God" on the streets. Determined to break Gittens' stranglehold on the city is undercover cop Jeffrey Cole. But as Cole takes on an assumed identity to penetrate Gittens' criminal empire, he makes a disturbing discovery -- he kind of likes being a gangster.

Hollywoodland

Hollywoodland

2006 ★ 6.1

When Hollywood superstar George Reeves dies in his home, private detective Louis Simo is hired to investigate his death and gets caught in a web of lies involving a big studio executive's wife. Based on a true story.

Destroyer

Destroyer

2018 ★ 5.9

When Erin Bell was a young cop, she was given an undercover assignment that ended badly and destroyed her life. Years later, she must face her demons in order to make peace with her past.

Taken 3

Taken 3

2014 ★ 6.3

Ex-government operative Bryan Mills finds his life is shattered when he's falsely accused of a murder that hits close to home. As he's pursued by a savvy police inspector, Mills employs his particular set of skills to track the real killer and exact his unique brand of justice.

Crown Vic

Crown Vic

2019 ★ 6.2

One memorable night in the life of veteran patrol officer Ray Mandel and his trainee, ambitious rookie cop Nick Holland in the LAPD's Olympic Division. With two cop killers on the loose and hunting for more targets, Mandel and Holland must contend with a city about to boil over, as well as Jack VanZandt, an unhinged rogue cop out for payback running wild in their patrol zone.

Blindfire

Blindfire

2020 ★ 6.7

A police officer who while responding to a violent hostage call, kills the African American suspect only to later learn of his innocence. Sensing this was a set-up, and facing repercussions, he must track down the person responsible while examining his own accountability and the ingrained racism which brought him to this point.

Changeling

Changeling

2008 ★ 7.6

Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption.

Dark Blue

Dark Blue

2002 ★ 6.3

Set during the Rodney King riots, a robbery homicide investigation triggers a series of events that will cause a corrupt LAPD officer to question his tactics.

McQ

McQ

1974 ★ 6.1

Police Lieutenant Lon McQ investigates the killing of his best friend and uncovers corrupt elements of the police department dealing in confiscated drugs.

Jesse Stone: Sea Change

Jesse Stone: Sea Change

2007 ★ 7.0

Police Chief Jesse Stone's relationship with his ex-wife worsens, and he fears he's relapsing into alcoholism. To get his mind off his problems, Jesse begins working on the unsolved murder of a bank teller shot during a robbery. Also, his investigation of an alleged rape draws him into conflict with the town council — which hopes to preserve Paradise's reputation as an ideal seaside resort.

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