Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "police-detective-hero"
- Movies or TV
- Genres
- Keywords
- IMDb Rating
- Instant Watch Options
- In Theaters
- Release Year
1. Law & Order (1990– )
TV-14 | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
New York's finest police detectives and prosecutors fight to make the city a safer place. With integrity as the guiding force from investigation to verdict, the teams weigh every perspective in their commitment to finding justice.
Stars: Jerry Orbach, Jesse L. Martin, Dennis Farina, Sam Waterston
Votes: 44,883
2. Columbo (1971–2003)
TV-PG | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Los Angeles homicide detective Lieutenant Columbo uses his humble ways and ingenuous demeanor to winkle out even the most well-concealed of crimes.
Stars: Peter Falk, Mike Lally, John Finnegan, Bruce Kirby
Votes: 42,267
3. Starsky & Hutch (2004)
PG-13 | 101 min | Comedy, Crime
Two streetwise cops bust criminals in their red and white Ford Gran Torino, with the help of a police snitch called "Huggy Bear".
Director: Todd Phillips | Stars: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Snoop Dogg, Vince Vaughn
Votes: 154,751 | Gross: $88.24M
4. Dick Tracy (1990)
PG | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
The comic strip detective finds his life vastly complicated when Breathless Mahoney makes advances towards him while he is trying to battle Big Boy Caprice's united mob.
Director: Warren Beatty | Stars: Warren Beatty, Madonna, Al Pacino, Charlie Korsmo
Votes: 65,880 | Gross: $103.74M
5. The Last Boy Scout (1991)
R | 105 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A private detective's protected female witness is murdered, prompting him and the victim's boyfriend to investigate the crime that leads to a corrupt politician and a crooked football team owner.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Bruce Willis, Damon Wayans, Chelsea Field, Noble Willingham
Votes: 112,408 | Gross: $59.51M
6. Gangster Squad (2013)
R | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
It's 1949 Los Angeles, the city is run by gangsters and a malicious mobster, Mickey Cohen. Determined to end the corruption, John O'Mara assembles a team of cops, ready to take down the ruthless leader and restore peace to the city.
Director: Ruben Fleischer | Stars: Sean Penn, Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone, Giovanni Ribisi
Votes: 223,041 | Gross: $46.00M
7. Nash Bridges (1996–2001)
TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A smart alecky San Francisco, California cop and his get rich quick scheme of a partner keep tabs on crime and take down the bad guys in the Bay Area.
Stars: Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, Jeff Perry
Votes: 8,129
8. Short Time (1990)
PG-13 | 97 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
When a police detective thinks he is dying and learns that his life insurance pays out more if he dies in the line of duty, he tries to make that happen.
Director: Gregg Champion | Stars: Dabney Coleman, Matt Frewer, Teri Garr, Barry Corbin
Votes: 2,692 | Gross: $4.01M
9. Osmosis Jones (2001)
PG | 95 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A policeman white blood cell, with the help of a cold pill, must stop a deadly virus from destroying the human they live in, Frank.
Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Chris Rock, David Hyde Pierce, Brandy Norwood
Votes: 38,865 | Gross: $13.60M
10. The Drowning Pool (1975)
PG | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Harper's a big-city PI, who travels to Louisiana to help an old girlfriend who's worried her husband will find out she's been cheating on him.
Director: Stuart Rosenberg | Stars: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Anthony Franciosa, Murray Hamilton
Votes: 6,262
11. Blue Streak (1999)
PG-13 | 93 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A former convict poses as a cop to retrieve a diamond he stole years ago.
Director: Les Mayfield | Stars: Martin Lawrence, Luke Wilson, Peter Greene, Dave Chappelle
Votes: 88,985 | Gross: $68.52M
12. L.A. Noire (2011 Video Game)
M | Action, Crime, Drama
Cole Phelps, a war hero and rookie cop, moves up the ranks and solves dark cases in 1940s Los Angeles.
Director: Brendan McNamara | Stars: Aaron Staton, Michael McGrady, Adam J. Harrington, Sean McGowan
Votes: 16,689
13. Prescription: Murder (1968 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A psychiatrist uses a patient he is having an affair with to help him kill his wife, but his perfect alibi may come apart at the hands of a seemingly befuddled LAPD lieutenant.
Director: Richard Irving | Stars: Peter Falk, Gene Barry, Katherine Justice, William Windom
Votes: 5,577
14.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Murder in Malibu
(1990)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A successful writer of romance novels who is involved with a young, ambitious womanizer, is found shot to death in her Malibu home.
Director: Walter Grauman | Stars: Peter Falk, Andrew Stevens, Brenda Vaccaro, Floyd Levine
Votes: 1,844
15.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
No Time to Die
(1992)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Columbo attends the wedding of his nephew, who is also with the LAPD. Suddenly it turns out that the bride is missing, possibly kidnapped. Columbo sets up the investigation to figure out what happened.
Director: Alan J. Levi | Stars: Peter Falk, Joanna Going, Thomas Calabro, Dan Butler
Votes: 2,129
16. The Rookie (1990)
R | 120 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A veteran detective is assigned a rookie partner after his previous partner is killed by a car theft gang. He is determined to apprehend those responsible for his friend's death but his new partner isn't really up to the task.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Charlie Sheen, Raul Julia, Sonia Braga
Votes: 29,396 | Gross: $21.63M
17. Tightrope (1984)
R | 114 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
New Orleans single dad and cop Wes Block goes after a serial rapist-killer, but when he gets too close the hunter suddenly becomes the hunted.
Directors: Richard Tuggle, Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Geneviève Bujold, Dan Hedaya, Alison Eastwood
Votes: 19,235 | Gross: $48.14M
18.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Murder with Too Many Notes
(2001)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A Hollywood film composer and conductor murdered a talented musician who has been ghostwriting most of his work in recent years.
Director: Patrick McGoohan | Stars: Peter Falk, Billy Connolly, Richard Riehle, Charles Cioffi
Votes: 1,944
19. Kinjite: Forbidden Subjects (1989)
R | 97 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A brutal Los Angeles police Lt. is determined to bust up an organization that forces underage girls into prostitution.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Charles Bronson, Juan Fernández, Perry Lopez, James Pax
Votes: 3,878 | Gross: $3.42M
20. Ransom for a Dead Man (1971 TV Movie)
Approved | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
After killing her boring husband and disposing of the body, a supposedly brilliant tort attorney fakes his kidnapping and keeps the ransom money. The FBI may be fooled, but not Columbo.
Director: Richard Irving | Stars: Peter Falk, Lee Grant, John Fink, Harold Gould
Votes: 3,756
21.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
A Trace of Murder
(1997)
TV-PG | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A beautiful woman and her forensics expert boyfriend try to frame her very rich husband for murder.
Director: Vincent McEveety | Stars: Peter Falk, David Rasche, Shera Danese, Barry Corbin
Votes: 1,868
22. K-9 (1989)
PG-13 | 101 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
To stop an elusive criminal, a maverick detective enlists the aid of a police dog who's an unusually intelligent smart alec.
Director: Rod Daniel | Stars: Jim Belushi, Mel Harris, Kevin Tighe, Ed O'Neill
Votes: 35,685 | Gross: $43.25M
23. Sharky's Machine (1981)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Tom Sharky is demoted to vice after a bust goes terribly wrong. He and his team stumble across a mob murder tied to prostitution and government.
Director: Burt Reynolds | Stars: Burt Reynolds, Rachel Ward, Vittorio Gassman, Brian Keith
Votes: 6,746 | Gross: $35.61M
24. The Presidio (1988)
R | 97 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
A San Francisco civilian police detective is forced to work on a series of murders with his former enemy commanding officer while dating his daughter.
Director: Peter Hyams | Stars: Sean Connery, Mark Harmon, Meg Ryan, Jack Warden
Votes: 20,022 | Gross: $20.04M
25. The Corruptor (1999)
R | 110 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
With the aid from a New York City policeman, a top immigrant cop tries to stop drug-trafficking and corruption by immigrant Chinese Triads, but things get complicated when the Triads try to bribe the policeman.
Director: James Foley | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Mark Wahlberg, Ric Young, Paul Ben-Victor
Votes: 19,179 | Gross: $15.16M
26. Masterpiece Mystery (1980– )
TV-PG | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An anthology series featuring various predominately British mystery stories.
Stars: Vincent Price, Alan Cumming, Gene Shalit, Diana Rigg
Votes: 907
27. High Crime (1973)
R | 103 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A righteous police inspector matches wits with a powerful Italian drug ring, all while key suspects and those closest to him begin to die in more-or-less equal measure.
Director: Enzo G. Castellari | Stars: Franco Nero, Fernando Rey, James Whitmore, Delia Boccardo
Votes: 1,118
28.
Columbo (1971–2003)
Episode:
Columbo Goes to the Guillotine
(1989)
Unrated | 98 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An egocentric psychic murders his old mentor, a magician charged to expose him as fraud, by beheading him while he's rehearsing his guillotine trick.
Director: Leo Penn | Stars: Peter Falk, Anthony Andrews, Karen Austin, James Greene
Votes: 2,297
29. When the Bough Breaks (1994)
R | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Police detectives investigate the apparent serial killing of several children after finding severed hands.
Director: Michael Cohn | Stars: Ally Walker, Martin Sheen, Ron Perlman, Tara Subkoff
Votes: 2,049
30. Tony Rome (1967)
Not Rated | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Tough Miami P.I., Tony Rome's hired by a millionaire to find jewelry stolen from his daughter. In the search, he has several encounters with local hoods as well as the Miami's police.
Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Jill St. John, Richard Conte, Gena Rowlands
Votes: 3,245
31. Boiling Point (I) (1993)
R | 92 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A pair of sociopath killers take on the police and the mob in order to make one last big score.
Director: James B. Harris | Stars: Wesley Snipes, Dennis Hopper, Lolita Davidovich, Viggo Mortensen
Votes: 6,587 | Gross: $10.06M
32. The Tough Ones (1976)
R | 95 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A tough, rule-bending cop pursues a maniacal, trigger-happy hunchback, a one-handed bank robber and their cronies in an effort to bring Rome's most powerful crime lord to justice.
Director: Umberto Lenzi | Stars: Maurizio Merli, Arthur Kennedy, Giampiero Albertini, Ivan Rassimov
Votes: 1,717
33. Popeye Doyle (1986 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 97 min | Action, Crime, Drama
NYPD Detective Popeye Doyle investigates the death of a local prostitute which soon leads him and his partner into a web of international intrigue and foreign assassins.
Director: Peter Levin | Stars: Ed O'Neill, Matthew Laurance, James Handy, Candy Clark
Votes: 400
34. The First Deadly Sin (1980)
R | 112 min | Crime, Thriller
A police inspector, nearing retirement, tracks a serial killer who is terrorizing New York.
Director: Brian G. Hutton | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Faye Dunaway, David Dukes, George Coe
Votes: 2,273
35. Renegades (1989)
R | 106 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An undercover cop forms an alliance with a Native American to help him hunt down the criminals who stole an ancient Lakota tribal lance.
Director: Jack Sholder | Stars: Kiefer Sutherland, Lou Diamond Phillips, Jami Gertz, Robert Knepper
Votes: 3,963 | Gross: $7.00M
36. The Shield (2007 Video Game)
M | Action, Crime, Thriller
The Shield: The Game, is set between seasons three and four of the hit TV series, in which tensions remain in the Strike Team after Lem quits the team having burned a large part of the Money Train cash.
Stars: Michael Chiklis, Catherine Dent, Walton Goggins, Kenny Johnson
Votes: 327
37. Streets of Blood (2009 Video)
R | 95 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A police officer's partner has died during Hurricane Katrina, but he later discovers that his partner may have been murdered. An investigation follows, taking the officer and his new partner into the depths of the criminal underworld.
Director: Charles Winkler | Stars: Val Kilmer, 50 Cent, Sharon Stone, Michael Biehn
Votes: 4,090
38. The Organization (1971)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In San Francisco, Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs helps a group of idealistic vigilantes expose a drug ring controlled by powerful businessmen.
Director: Don Medford | Stars: Sidney Poitier, Barbara McNair, Gerald S. O'Loughlin, Sheree North
Votes: 2,175 | Gross: $1.50M
39. Velvet Smooth (1976)
R | 93 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The female head of a detective agency is hired by a crime lord to figure out who's taking his action.
Director: Michael Fink | Stars: Johnnie Hill, Owen Watson, Emerson Boozer, René Van Clief
Votes: 346
40. True Crime: New York City (2005 Video Game)
M | Action, Crime, Mystery
Street cop Marcus Reed, a former gangster, tries to uncover who is behind the murder of his friend and mentor, Lt. Terrance Higgins.
Stars: Avery Kidd Waddell, Laurence Fishburne, Mickey Rourke, Christopher Walken
Votes: 1,053
41. The Last of the Finest (1990)
R | 106 min | Action, Crime, Drama
4 LA cops are fighting the war on drugs. Corrupt superiors manage to break up their team when one of them gets killed. The 3 quit LAPD and continue investigating.
Director: John Mackenzie | Stars: Brian Dennehy, Joe Pantoliano, Jeff Fahey, Bill Paxton
Votes: 1,654 | Gross: $1.53M
42. The Heroin Busters (1977)
Not Rated | 94 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An Italian policeman goes undercover to break up an international heroin smuggling ring, and butts heads with a hot-tempered Interpol agent assigned to the same task.
Director: Enzo G. Castellari | Stars: Fabio Testi, David Hemmings, Sherry Buchanan, Wolfango Soldati
Votes: 950
43. Crackerjack (1994)
R | 96 min | Action, Thriller
A cop on vacation at a mountain resort comes to the rescue when the resort is taken over by violent criminals.
Director: Michael Mazo | Stars: Thomas Ian Griffith, Nastassja Kinski, Christopher Plummer, George Touliatos
Votes: 875
44. Gen-Y Cops (2000)
R | 120 min | Action, Sci-Fi
After a lethal American attack robot, RS1, is unleashed onto the mean streets of Hong Kong, Asia's funkiest crime-fighting team finds themselves on the wrong side of then law.
Director: Benny Chan | Stars: Mark Hicks, Paul Rudd, Edison Chen, Stephen Fung
Votes: 1,062
45. Bare Witness (2002 Video)
R | 88 min | Thriller
Professional killer Gav Reed commits a grave mistake allowing himself to be videotaped (as she always does, for a documentary she hopes to sell to Hollywood about the real nocturnal 'eldest... See full summary »
Director: Kelley Cauthen | Stars: Catalina Larranaga, Angie Everhart, Mark Sivertsen, Robert McRay
Votes: 632
46. C.I.D. (1956)
Not Rated | 146 min | Action, Crime, Musical
A newspaper editor gets murdered when he was about to expose the underworld links of a rich person. So, a C.I.D inspector gets assigned to investigate the murder case.
Director: Raj Khosla | Stars: Dev Anand, Shakila, Johnny Walker, K.N. Singh
Votes: 826
47. Cribb (1980–1981)
90 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The Victorian era cases of Detective Sergeant Cribb of Scotland Yard's newly formed Criminal Investigation Department.
Stars: Alan Dobie, William Simons, David Waller, Alfie Curtis
Votes: 162
48. The Great Detective (1979– )
60 min | Crime, Mystery
Canadian TV series filmed in part in Ontario. The series is based on the first government appointed provincial detective Alistair Cameron, set during the late Victorian era. He is assisted ... See full summary »
Stars: Douglas Campbell, Sandy Webster, Kay Hawtrey, James Duggan
Votes: 50
49. One Man Force (1989)
R | 92 min | Action, Crime, Drama
In this action packed film, an L. A. cop speeds off to get revenge upon the dirty drug-dealing dogs who killed his partner.
Director: Dale Trevillion | Stars: John Matuszak, Ronny Cox, Charles Napier, Sharon Farrell
Votes: 256
50. Identity Crisis (1989)
R | 90 min | Comedy
A rapper finds himself possessed by the soul of a dead fashion designer; frequently switching personalities.
Director: Melvin Van Peebles | Stars: Mario Van Peebles, Glenn Athaide, Rick Aviles, Richard Bassett
Votes: 1,160