The most memorable private eye movies and TV shows set in Los Angeles

Philip Marlowe, the private eye created by Raymond Chandler, is the foremost Los Angeles P.I. in fiction. The best-known of Marlowe’s stories is “The Big Sleep.” Naturally, it became a film. Since it was 1946, it’s also not a surprise that Marlowe was played by Humphrey Bogart. While the movie is quite good, somewhat infamously the plot of “The Big Sleep” is rather convoluted. Notably, another L.A. mystery story featuring an amateur detective, is partially inspired by “The Big Sleep.” That would be the cult classic “The Big Lebowski.”

Be honest: Had you ever considered “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” as L.A. noir? In many ways, it is. Eddie Valiant is a hardboiled P.I. in old-school Los Angeles. It just happens that in Robert Zemeckis’ film, Los Angeles contains Toon Town, where cartoons live and work. That includes Roger Rabbit, a genial, if obnoxious, toon who finds himself in unexpected peril. The premise is clever, but the execution is even better.

For our money, this is the best L.A. private eye film, and also the best Marlowe film. Robert Altman took “The Long Goodbye” and tweaked it some. Critically, he took the action out of the 1940s and set it in contemporary Los Angeles, but with Marlowe keeping his ‘40s sensibilities. He’s surrounded by sundresses and health food, but he’s always in a suit with a cigarette in hand. “Rip Van Marlowe” is a fascinating take on the character, and Elliott Gould is also incredible in the lead role.

We may be “Long Goodbye” partisans, but we acknowledge for many “Chinatown” is the quintessential L.A. private eye story. While the director, though talented, shall remain unnamed, we can shoutout the remarkable cast. Still a burgeoning star, Jack Nicholson shines in the lead role in this story inspired, in part, but the real history of how water was siphoned off for Los Angeles so the city could grow. The story is dark but, hey, it’s “Chinatown.”

There are TV shows later on this list, and “Charlie’s Angels” is adapted from one of those TV shows, but we wanted to shoutout the 2000 movie. Frankly, it’s more fun than the show, and also the middling sequel the film spawned. With a wink and an intentional kitsch factor, “Charlie’s Angels” stars Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as the brilliant, beautiful private investigators who take jobs at the behest of the unseen Charlie. While the film is silly, that’s the point, and it’s a spot-on action-comedy.

“Inherent Vice” is probably the most-adaptable of Thomas Pynchon’s novels, but that doesn’t mean it’s straightforward. Fortunately, Paul Thomas Anderson isn’t interested in straightforward. Set in 1970s Los Angeles, Joaquin Phoenix gives a stellar performance as “Doc” Sportello, a dope-smoking hippie who also happens to work as a private eye. The plot is…not the point. Even if you don’t fully comprehend it, Anderson’s film looks great, and it’s packed with standout performances and funny moments.

A lot of people love Shane Black’s directorial debut “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.” Personally, we’re not fans, but we will stump for “The Nice Guys” with gusto. Like most of Black’s work, it’s pulpy and at times a bit crass, but no matter. It’s funny, but action-packed, and surprisingly affecting. Another period piece, this one features Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling as two private eyes with different sensibilities who have to work together to uncover a conspiracy involving both the porn industry and the auto industry.

We were on the fence about including “Double Indemnity.” Edward G. Robinson plays Barton Keyes, who is an insurance claims adjuster. He’s not a private investigator per se. However, he is not a police officer, as we did not count those. Additionally, many consider “Double Indemnity” the best film noir of all time. As such, we wanted to include it, as it is a Los Angeles set noir story with an investigator who maybe has a boss, but is not a cop on a beat.

This is another 1970s noir movie, but this one is not a period piece. No, “Night Moves” is a “neo-noir” from director Arthur Penn. Gene Hackman stars as Harry Moseby, a former football player turned P.I. As is often the case in stories like this, Moseby is asked to find somebody, and that opens the door to a sordid mystery. While Moseby’s investigation takes him out of L.A. from time to time, specifically to the Florida Keys, it definitely still counts as an L.A. private eye story.

William Goldman is one of the most-acclaimed screenwriters in history. He won Oscars for “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “All the President’s Men,” among others. For his second screenplay, though he adapted Ross Macdonald’s 1949 novel “The Moving Target” into “Harper.” It helped the film that Paul Newman would get cast as Lew Harper. Lauren Bacall, Bogart’s widow, was cast to pay homage to the old noirs that he (and she) starred in. Later, a loose sequel “The Drowning Pool” would see Newman reprise the role.

For our final film, we return to Chandler, and to Marlowe. If anybody deserves multiple mentions, it’s Marlowe. This time around, Robert Mitchum was aptly cast as the hardboiled detective. “Farewell, My Lovely” has its twists and turns, and the film is solid, if not as good as other Marlowe movies. Notably, in 1978 Mitchum would play Marlowe again, this time in another adaptation of “The Big Sleep.”

“Wait a second,” you may be saying, “Perry Mason is a defense attorney in Los Angeles, not a private eye.” In the original TV show starring Raymond Burr, that is true. We’re talking about his “origin story,” which played out in the HBO series “Perry Mason.” In this show, Matthew Rhys plays Mason, a veteran of World War I living a wayward life as, yes, a private investigator.

If Marlowe is the face of L.A.’s noir private eyes, Jim Rockford is the face of ‘70s TV private eyes, perhaps full stop. You may think of Thomas Magnum, Hawaii’s foremost P.I., but Tom Selleck worked to make his character more like Rockford. “The Rockford Files” is quintessential ‘70s procedural TV. In addition to being quality television, what made “The Rockford Files” stand out is Rockford. As played by James Garner, Rockford was a guy just trying to get by. His dad frustrated him. He got stiffed on his pay like a third of the time. He lost a fight for every fight he won. Rockford was not a superhero. He was just a dude looking to make a buck while doing the right thing all over Los Angeles.

Where Buffy slew vampires, Angel… solved mysteries. Angel, the vampire with a soul that debuted on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” got a spinoff set in Los Angeles. He worked as a private eye trying to redeem himself and to battle evil, supernatural forces. “Angel” ended up running five seasons and 110 episodes, making it one of the more successful spinoffs in recent memory.

Before Bruce Willis was one of the biggest action stars in the world, he was one half of a duo at the center of a witty, quippy dramedy. Cybill Shepherd’s Maddie is a former model who, when the show begins, is looking to offload some businesses she owns as tax write offs. One of them is City of Angels Detective Agency, run by David, played by Willis. Instead of selling the company, she starts running it with David. They became a classic will-they/won’t-they duo, and after years of being unavailable, “Moonlighting” is now on Hulu.

Here’s a private eye show that has faded from memory (but all the episodes that aired can be found on YouTube if you want to check it out) but is worth shouting out. Maybe it was the wrong network, or the wrong time, but the 1998 P.I. procedural had a lot going for it. The show was created by Mark Frost, of “Twin Peaks” fame, and starred iconic character actor Dennis Farina. The premise is that Buddy Faro, played by Farina, was a celebrity private eye in the 1970s. The kind of guy who hung out with Frank Sinatra. Then, in 1978, Buddy disappeared. In the pilot, down-on-his-luck L.A. P.I. Bob Jones is asked to find Buddy, and he does, and then the two start working together. The comedy comes from the juxtaposition between Buddy and Bob, and also the culture clash of Buddy’s Rat Pack persona and worldview in 1998 Los Angeles.

Before he was James Bond, Pierce Brosnan was Remington Steele. The premise is pretty high-concept, but it worked for five seasons and 94 episodes, so clearly the show had something going for it. Laura Holt is a private investigator who has created a fake boss, Remington Steele, in order to overcome sexism that has kept her, as a woman, from getting P.I. work. Then, suddenly, a suave foreigner shows up and claims to be Remington Steele, and the two begin an uneasy working arrangement together.

“Mannix” deserves a shoutout. Not only did it run for 194 episodes, and not only was it created by the guys who also created “Columbo,” but for a procedural that started in 1967, it was unexpectedly gritty. When the show began, Joe Mannix worked for a big detective agency in Los Angeles and computers and modern technology play an important role in the premise. Lucille Ball, one of the producers, suggested that the tech stuff was not clicking with audiences, so starting with season two Mannix was a classic L.A. P.I., self-employed and on the make. Without that change, would “Mannix” have run for as long as it did?

“Hart to Hart” is kind of the antithesis of “The Rockford Files.” Jonathan and Jennifer Hart are rich Los Angeles socialites who are essentially unpaid private investigators. They look into crimes on a lark, or as a favor. “Hart to Hart” has a lot of the DNA of “The Thin Man” movies in it, and usually aims for breezy and charming. Of course, TV has space for both a “Rockford Files” and “Hart to Hart” in the same genre, and in the same location. That’s the magic of the medium.

We started with an early, genre-defining film, so we will end with an early, genre-defining TV show. “77 Sunset Strip” ran from 1958 until 1964. Given that it was the early days of TV, naturally it ran for six seasons but churned out 206 episodes. The show was focused on two former government agents, Stu Bailey and Jeff Spencer, who have a private investigation office at the titular address. However, the breakthrough character was aspiring P.I. Gerald Kookson, known as “Kookie,” who was a hip character, speaking in slang, extolling rock music, and combing his hair all the time. Kookie was the Fonz before the Fonz.