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Movies like Chinatown

Key Features:
Private investigator, Film noir, Corruption, Conspiracy, Murder mystery, Political intrigue, Moral ambiguity, Deception, Betrayal, Greed, Power, Los Angeles, 1930s, Water scarcity, Family secrets, Femme fatale, Cynical protagonist, Unsolved mystery, Moral decay, Hidden agenda, Incest, Tragedy, Cover-up, Double-crossing
Tone:
serious, cynical, gritty, dramatic
Target Audience:
Film noir enthusiasts, Mystery lovers, Crime drama fans, Classic cinema viewers
Emotional Arc:
Intrigue → Suspicion → Despair

Chinatown

1974-06-20
Chinatown Poster - Find Similar Movies

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.

Genres
Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Cast
Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, Diane Ladd, Roman Polanski, Roy Jenson, Richard Bakalyan, James Hong
Crew
Roman Polanski, Robert Towne
Rating
7.916(4083 votes)
ChinatownChinatown
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The Two Jakes
5.965

Real estate developer Jake Berman hires private investigator and war veteran Jake Gittes for some run-of-the-mill matrimonial work. After Berman shoots his wife's lover, who happens to be his business partner, Gittes is drawn into a web of conspiracy and deceit involving the oil reserves beneath Los Angeles. While investigating, Gittes hears a voice from his past that causes him to revisit a traumatic case in Chinatown.



Marlowe
Marlowe(2023)
5.726

Private detective Philip Marlowe becomes embroiled in an investigation involving a wealthy Californian family after a beautiful blonde hires him to track down her former lover.



Hammett
Hammett(1982)
6.188

Chinatown, San Francisco, 1928. Former private detective Dashiell Hammett, a compulsive drinker with tuberculosis who writes pulp fiction for a living, receives an unexpected visit from an old friend asking for help.



Harper
Harper(1966)
6.6

Harper is a cynical private eye in the best tradition of Bogart. He even has Bogie's Baby hiring him to find her missing husband, getting involved along the way with an assortment of unsavory characters and an illegal-alien smuggling ring.



Marlowe
Marlowe(1969)
5.994

Mysterious Orfamay Quest hires Los Angeles private investigator Philip Marlowe to find her missing brother. Though the job seems simple enough, it leads Marlowe into the underbelly of the city, turning up leads who are murdered with ice picks, exotic dancers, blackmailed television stars and self-preserving gangsters. Soon, Marlowe's life is on the line right along with his case.



The Big Sleep
5.824

Private eye Philip Marlowe investigates a case of blackmail involving the two wild daughters of a rich general, a pornographer and a gangster.



St. Ives
St. Ives(1976)
5.63

A dabbler-in-crime and his assistant hire an ex-police reporter to recover some stolen papers.



The Long Goodbye
7.4

In 1970s Hollywood, Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.



The Late Show
6.2

Over-the-hill gumshoe in Los Angeles seeks to avenge the killing of an old pal, another detective who was involved in a case concerning a murdered broad, stolen stamps, a nickel-plated handgun, a cheating dolly, and a kidnapped pussycat.



L.A. Confidential
7.803

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 Detective
6.4

A private detective is drawn into a complex murder mystery when he is hired to track down a missing young woman.



Detective Chinatown 3

Tang Ren and Qin Feng travel to Japan to investigate the death of a mafia head. As they suspect foul play, they engage in a battle of wits against foreign detectives.



Kill Me Again
6.051

After Faye and her psychotic boyfriend, Vince, successfully rob a mob courier, Faye decides to abscond with the loot. She heads to Reno, where she hires feckless private investigator Jack Andrews to help fake her death. He pulls the scheme off and sets up Faye with a new identity, only to have her skip out on him without paying. Jack follows her to Vegas and learns he's not the only one after her. Vince has discovered that she's still alive.



China Moon
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.



Internal Affairs
6.349

Keen young Raymold Avila joins the Internal Affairs Department of the Los Angeles police. He and partner Amy Wallace are soon looking closely at the activities of cop Dennis Peck whose financial holdings start to suggest something shady. Indeed Peck is involved in any number of dubious or downright criminal activities. He is also devious, a womaniser, and a clever manipulator, and he starts to turn his attention on Avila.



Year of the Dragon
6.8

In New York, racist Capt. Stanley White becomes obsessed with destroying a Chinese-American drug ring run by Joey Tai, an up-and-coming young gangster as ambitious as he is ruthless. While pursuing an unauthorized investigation, White grows increasingly willing to violate police protocol, resorting to progressively violent measures -- even as his concerned wife, Connie, and his superiors beg him to consider the consequences of his actions.



The Poison Rose
4.7

A down-on-his-luck PI is hired by his old flame to investigate a murder. But while the case at first appears routine, it slowly reveals itself to be a complex interwoven web of crimes, suspects and dead bodies.



Angel Heart
7.1

A down-and-out Brooklyn detective is hired to track down a singer on an odyssey that will take him through the desperate streets of Harlem, the smoke-filled jazz clubs of New Orleans, and the swamps of Louisiana and its seedy underworld of voodoo.



The Corruptor
6.1

Danny is a young cop partnered with Nick, a seasoned but ethically tainted veteran. As the two try to stop a gang war in Chinatown, Danny relies on Nick but grows increasingly uncomfortable with the way Nick gets things done.



Detective
Detective(1985)
5.2

Emile Chenal and his wife, Françoise, leaned on boxing manager Jim Fox Warner to cough up the considerable sum of money that he owes them, with both the police and the mob circling the situation. In the same hotel, Inspector Neveu looks into a murder that took place years before, and his storyline overlaps with the arc of the Chenals.



Detective Chinatown 1900

In 1900, a white woman was murdered in Chinatown in San Francisco, and the suspect was a Chinese man. The murder caused social shock, and people demanded the closure of Chinatown.



Where the Sidewalk Ends

A police detective's violent nature keeps him from being a good cop.



American Gigolo
6.2

Julian makes a lucrative living as an escort to older women in the Los Angeles area. He begins a relationship with Michelle, a local politician's wife, without expecting any pay. One of his clients is murdered and Detective Sunday begins pumping him for details on his different clients, something he is reluctant to do considering the nature of his work. Julian begins to suspect he's being framed. Meanwhile Michelle begins to fall in love with him.



The Big Heat
7.7

After the suspicious suicide of a fellow cop, tough homicide detective Dave Bannion takes the law into his own hands when he sets out to smash a vicious crime syndicate.



Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid

Juliet Forrest is convinced that the reported death of her father in a mountain car crash was no accident. Her father was a prominent cheese scientist working on a secret recipe. To prove it was murder, she enlists the services of private eye Rigby Reardon. He finds a slip of paper containing a list of people who are 'The Friends and Enemies of Carlotta'.



Homicide
Homicide(1991)
6.2

A Jewish homicide detective investigates a seemingly minor murder and falls in with a Zionist group as a result.



Underworld U.S.A.
6.9

A bitter young man sets out to get back at the gangsters who murdered his father.



The Black Dahlia
5.6

In 1940s Los Angeles, two former boxers-turned-cops must grapple with corruption, narcissism, stag films and family madness as they pursue the killer of an aspiring young actress.



The Drowning Pool
6.3

Harper is brought to Louisiana to investigate an attempted blackmail scheme. He soon finds out that it involves an old flame of his and her daughter. He eventually finds himself caught in a power struggle between the matriarch of the family and a greedy oil baron, who wants their property. Poor Harper! Things are not as straight-forward as they initially appeared.



Blood Simple
7.251

The owner of a seedy small-town Texas bar discovers that one of his employees is having an affair with his wife. A chaotic chain of misunderstandings, lies and mischief ensues after he devises a plot to have them murdered.



Body Double
6.8

After losing an acting role and his girlfriend, Jake Scully finally catches a break: he gets offered a gig house-sitting in the Hollywood Hills. While peering through the beautiful home's telescope one night, he spies a gorgeous woman dancing in her window. But when he witnesses the girl's murder, it leads Scully through the netherworld of the adult entertainment industry on a search for answers—with porn actress Holly Body as his guide.



Crooked House
6.38

A private investigator helps a former flame solve the murder of her wealthy grandfather, who lived in a sprawling estate surrounded by his idiosyncratic family.



99 River Street
6.8

A former boxer turned taxi driver earns the scorn of his nagging wife and gets mixed up with jewel thieves.



Serpico
Serpico(1973)
7.5

New York cop Frank Serpico blows the whistle on the rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.



Cop
Cop(1988)
6.2

An obsessive, insubordinate homicide cop is convinced a serial killer is loose in the Hollywood area and disobeys orders in order to catch him.



The Nice Guys
7.123

A private eye investigates the apparent suicide of a fading porn star in 1970s Los Angeles and uncovers a conspiracy.



The Postman Always Rings Twice

The sensuous wife of a lunch wagon proprietor and a rootless drifter begin a sordidly steamy affair and conspire to murder her Greek husband.



The Public Eye
6.2

A crime photographer gets involved in a conspiracy.



Crimes of Passion
6.275

Fashion designer Joanna Crane leads a double life. By night she is China Blue, a prostitute who's attracted the attention of a sexually frustrated private detective, and a psychopathic priest in possession of a murderous sex toy.



The Killers
6.9

A hit man and his partner try to find out why their latest victim, a former race-car driver, did not try to get away.



Inherent Vice
6.537

In Los Angeles at the turn of the 1970s, drug-fueled detective Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend.



Mulholland Falls

In 1950s Los Angeles, a special crime squad of the LAPD investigates the murder of a young woman.



The Killing
7.649

Career criminal Johnny Clay recruits a sharpshooter, a crooked police officer, a bartender and a betting teller named George, among others, for one last job before he goes straight and gets married. But when George tells his restless wife about the scheme to steal millions from the racetrack where he works, she hatches a plot of her own.



The Big Knife
6

Movie star Charlie Castle draws the ire of Hollywood producer Stanley Hoff when he refuses to sign a new seven-year contract. Castle is sick of the low quality of the studio's films and wants to start a new life. While his estranged wife supports him in the decision, Castle's talent agent urges him to reconsider. When Castle continues to be uncooperative, Hoff resorts to blackmail in order to get his way.



Q & A
Q & A(1990)
5.8

A young district attorney seeking to prove a case against a corrupt police detective encounters a former lover and her new protector, a crime boss who refuses to help him.



True Confessions
6.1

A cop clashes with his priest brother while investigating the brutal murder of a young prostitute.



Sharky's Machine
6.1

Police officer Tom Sharky gets busted back to working vice, where he happens upon a scandalous conspiracy involving a local politician. Sharky's new 'machine' gathers evidence while Sharky falls in love with a woman he has never met.



The Replacement Killers

Hired assassin John Lee is asked by Chinatown crime boss Terence Wei to murder the young son of policeman Stan Zedkov. Lee has the boy in his sights, but his conscience gets the better of him, and he spares the child's life. Afraid that Wei will take revenge on his family in China, Lee seeks out expert forger Meg Coburn to obtain the passport he needs to get out of the country, but a band of replacement killers is soon on his trail.



The Blue Gardenia
6.5

Upon waking up to the news that the man she’d gone on a date with the previous night has been murdered, a young woman with only a faint memory of the night’s events begins to suspect that she murdered him while attempting to resist his advances.



Tony Rome
Tony Rome(1967)
6.303

Tony Rome, a tough Miami PI living on a houseboat, is hired by a local millionaire to find jewelry stolen from his daughter, and in the process has several encounters with local hoods as well as the Miami Beach PD.



Blood and Wine
5.733

A man who has failed as a father and husband commits a heist to make money for his fledging business, but things become complicated when his wife interferes.



Violent Cop
7.222

A detective breaks all rules of ethical conduct while investigating a colleague’s involvement in drug pushing and Yakuza activities.



On the Waterfront
7.883

A prizefighter-turned-longshoreman with a conscience goes up against labor leaders to expose corruption, extortion, and murder among the union ranks.



The Outside Man
6.17

A French hit man is hired by a crime family to end the life of a rival mobster, but things fall apart when the boss who hired him is killed.



Night Moves
6.682

Private detective and former football player Harry Moseby gets hired on to what seems a standard missing person case - a former Hollywood actress wants Moseby to find and return her daughter. Harry travels to Florida to find her, but he begins to see a connection between the runaway girl, the world of Hollywood stuntmen, and a suspicious mechanic when an unsolved murder comes to light.



Rising Sun
6.1

When a prostitute is found dead in a Los Angeles skyscraper occupied by a large Japanese corporation, detectives John Connor and Web Smith are called in to investigate. Although Connor has previous experience working in Japan, cultural differences make their progress difficult until a security disc showing the murder turns up. Close scrutiny proves the disc has been doctored, and the detectives realize they're dealing with a cover-up as well.



Sunset Boulevard
8.3

A hack screenwriter writes a screenplay for a former silent film star who has faded into Hollywood obscurity.



Killing Them Softly

Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.



Femme Fatale
6.1

A $10-million diamond rip-off, a stolen identity, a new life married to a diplomat. Laure Ash has risked big, won big. But then a tabloid shutterbug snaps her picture in Paris, and suddenly, enemies from Laure's secret past know who and where she is. And they all want their share of the diamond heist. Or her life. Or both.



The Yards
The Yards(2000)
6.2

In the rail yards of Queens, contractors repair and rebuild the city's subway cars. These contracts are lucrative, so graft and corruption are rife. When Leo Handler gets out of prison, he finds his aunt married to Frank Olchin, one of the big contractors; he's battling with a minority-owned firm for contracts.



Zodiac
Zodiac(2007)
7.526

The Zodiac murders cause the lives of Paul Avery, David Toschi and Robert Graysmith to intersect.



The Usual Suspects
8.172

Held in an L.A. interrogation room, Verbal Kint attempts to convince the feds that a mythic crime lord, Keyser Soze, not only exists, but was also responsible for drawing him and his four partners into a multi-million dollar heist that ended with an explosion in San Pedro harbor – leaving few survivors. Verbal lures his interrogators with an incredible story of the crime lord's almost supernatural prowess.



Crime of Passion
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.



Last Looks
5.83

A disgraced ex-cop seeks solace by moving to the woods, but his quiet life comes to an end when a private eye recruits him to investigate the murder of an eccentric TV star's wife.



Touch of Evil
7.761

When a car bomb explodes on the American side of the U.S./Mexico border, Mexican drug enforcement agent Miguel Vargas begins his investigation, along with American police captain Hank Quinlan. When Vargas begins to suspect that Quinlan and his shady partner, Menzies, are planting evidence to frame an innocent man, his investigations into their possible corruption quickly put himself and his new bride, Susie, in jeopardy.



Bullitt
Bullitt(1968)
7.2

Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.



Direct Action
5.018

Frank Gannon, a veteran cop, is being hunted by his fellow police officers after they learned he has betrayed the brotherhood and exposed to the feds wide scale corruption of the LAPD. He has one day left to prove his case and survive.



Hollywood Chainsaw Hookers

Los Angeles private eye Jack Chandler is hired by a worried mother to find her missing runaway daughter, Samantha. As Chandler searches for her whereabouts, he uncovers an evil cult that worships an Egyptian god, whose followers commit human sacrifices with chainsaws to appease their deity. He soon learns that Samantha has revenge in store for the cult leader and his bevy of blood-thirsty, chainsaw-wielding hookers.



The Damned Don't Cry
6.974

Fed up with her small-town marriage, a woman goes after the big time and gets mixed up with the mob.



Hustle
Hustle(1975)
5.592

The body of teenager Gloria Hollinger is found dead on a Los Angeles beach, and Lt. Phil Gaines is in charge of the investigation. Gaines learns that the girl, a stripper and prostitute, committed suicide, but he ignores the connection between her and a powerful mob lawyer, Leo Sellers. Hollinger's father, however, is not satisfied with Gaines's results, and attempts to investigate the case on his own.



Detective Chinatown 2

Driven by the desire for the huge reward, Tang Ren tricked Qin Feng to New York, to attend the World Detective Contest. Later on, behind the crazy competition, Qin and Tang discovered the real hidden facts of this contest.



An Eye for an Eye
5.146

Sean Kane is forced to resign from the San Francisco Police Department's Narcotics Division when he goes berserk after his partner is murdered. He decides to fight alone and follows a trail of drug traffickers into unexpected high places.



Street Kings
6.638

Tom Ludlow is a disillusioned L.A. Police Officer, rarely playing by the rules and haunted by the death of his wife. When evidence implicates him in the execution of a fellow officer, he is forced to go up against the cop culture he's been a part of his entire career, ultimately leading him to question the loyalties of everyone around him.



10 Days of a Bad Man

Battered, broken and bereaved, a private investigator must muscle his way through a tangle of lies to uncover the truth behind a mansion murder.



Woman of Straw
6.2

Anthony Richmond schemes to get the fortune of his tyrannical, wheelchair-using tycoon uncle Charles Richmond by persuading Maria, a nurse he employs, to marry him.



Final Analysis
5.713

A psychiatrist becomes romantically involved with the sister of one of his patients, but the influence of her controlling gangster husband threatens to destroy them both.



The Sting
The Sting(1973)
8

A novice con man teams up with an acknowledged master to avenge the murder of a mutual friend by pulling off the ultimate big con and swindling a fortune from a big-time mobster.



Gone Baby Gone
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.



Reservoir Dogs
8.118

A botched robbery indicates a police informant, and the pressure mounts in the aftermath at a warehouse. Crime begets violence as the survivors -- veteran Mr. White, newcomer Mr. Orange, psychopathic parolee Mr. Blonde, bickering weasel Mr. Pink and Nice Guy Eddie -- unravel.



Hollywoodland
6.081

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.



Chinese Coffee
6.659

When Harry Levine, an aging, unsuccessful Greenwich Village writer, is fired from his job as restaurant doorman, he calls on friend and mentor Jake, ostensibly to collect a long-standing debt.



Detective Chinatown
6.791

After being rejected from the police college, a mannerly man travels to Bangkok where he and an energetic distant relative must solve a murder case.



The Asphalt Jungle
7.488

Recently paroled from prison, legendary burglar "Doc" Riedenschneider, with funding from Alonzo Emmerich, a crooked lawyer, gathers a small group of veteran criminals together in the Midwest for a big jewel heist.



Shanghai
Shanghai(2010)
6.1

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.



Dylan Dog: Dead of Night

Supernatural private eye, Dylan Dog, seeks out the monsters of the Louisiana bayou in his signature red shirt, black jacket and blue jeans.



Magnum Force
7.1

"Dirty" Harry Callahan is a San Francisco Police Inspector on the trail of a group of rogue cops who have taken justice into their own hands. When shady characters are murdered one after another in grisly fashion, only Dirty Harry can stop them.



Revolver
Revolver(2005)
6.3

Hotshot gambler Jake Green is long on bravado and seriously short of common sense. Rarely is he allowed in any casino because he's a bona fide winner and, in fact, has taken so much money over the years that he's the sole client of his accountant elder brother, Billy. Invited to a private game, Jake is in fear of losing his life.



Snake Eyes
6.2

All bets are off when shady homicide cop Rick Santoro witnesses a murder during a boxing match. It's up to him and lifelong friend, Naval intelligence agent Kevin Dunne, to uncover the conspiracy behind the killing. At every turn, Santoro makes increasingly shocking discoveries that even he can't turn a blind eye to.



Twilight
Twilight(1998)
6.096

A retired detective accepts a simple task, unaware that it will tear open old, forgotten, but deadly wounds.



Elevator to the Gallows

A self-assured businessman murders his employer, husband of his mistress, which unintentionally provokes an ill-fated chain of events.



Fatal Instinct
5.441

Ned Ravine is a police officer and lawyer who occasionally defends the delinquents he arrests. He crosses paths with seductive Lola Cain during an assignment and promptly begins an affair with her. Meanwhile, Ned's wife, Lana, is deep in an affair of her own. Lana and her lover are planning to murder Ned in an elaborate fashion so they can collect on his triple indemnity life insurance policy.



Shanghai Triad
6.74

Shanghai, China, 1930. When young Shuisheng arrives from the countryside, his uncle Liushu puts him at the service of Bijou, the mistress of Laoda, supreme boss of the Tang Triad, constantly threatened by his enemies, both those he knows and those lurking in the shadows.



Nightmare Alley
7

An ambitious carnival man with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychologist who is even more dangerous than he is.



Eastern Promises
7.3

A Russian teenager living in London dies during childbirth but leaves clues in her diary that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.



Rear Window
8.3

A wheelchair-bound photographer spies on his neighbors from his apartment window and becomes convinced one of them has committed murder.



The Day of the Locust

Hollywood, 1930s. Tod Hackett, a young painter who tries to make his way as an art director in the lurid world of film industry, gets infatuated with his neighbor Faye Greener, an aspiring actress who prefers the life that Homer Simpson, a lone accountant, can offer her.



F.I.S.T.
F.I.S.T.(1978)
6.526

Johnny Kovak joins the Teamsters trade-union in a local chapter in the 1930s and works his way up in the organization. As he climbs higher and higher his methods become more ruthless and finally senator Madison starts a campaign to find the truth about the alleged connections with the Mob.



Miller's Crossing
7.45

Set in 1929, a political boss and his advisor have a parting of the ways when they both fall for the same woman.



Force of Evil
6.5

Lawyer Joe Morse wants to consolidate all the small-time numbers racket operators into one big powerful operation. But his elder brother Leo is one of these small-time operators who wants to stay that way, preferring not to deal with the gangsters who dominate the big-time.

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