Actors Roy Scheider and Gene Hackman portray a good-cop, bad-cop investigative duo that follows a heroin ring to its origins in France. In the classic automobile race in "The French Connection," Gene Hackman's character, a police investigator, speeds through crowded New York City streets. As he pursues a train in the sky, he races past the red lights at above 90 mph.

Concerningly, little of this was faked. William Friedkin (from "The Exorcist") never had the streets shut down for the stunt. The 15-minute clip was filmed with no authoritative permissions and a payment of $40,000 to a transportation official. Friedkin just encouraged a stuntman to do the stunt and photographed the whole sequence over his shoulder.

In recent years, "The French Connection" has gained notoriety as among the most hazardous instances of guerilla filming in the history of Hollywood. The Oscar-winning film's sometimes unsteady handheld camerawork lends it a deliberately harsh, documentary-like quality. It is indeed one of the best detective movies of all time.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Year of Release: 1971

Stars: Roy Scheider, Gene Hackman

Most fans are still busy online even until now, pondering over "The Big Sleep's" complicated and perplexing story aspects. It is a tribute to the enduring appeal of filmmaker Howard Hawks' 1946 movie, adapted from Raymond Chandler's hard-boiled detective book. Hawks was infamously so baffled by the narrative throughout the film production that he even phoned the author for assistance, but the author Chandler himself was just as baffled!

Phillip Marlowe, portrayed by Humphrey Bogart, is recruited to assist a young lady with her gambling debt. In noir, however, nothing is ever the same as how it appears, and he is quickly entangled in a web of criminal activity, from blackmail attempts to murder.

"The Big Sleep" is indeed a true intellectual test in which the spectator must do all the investigative work! Bogey's infamous quick-wittedness is part of what has made him a tough lead through the rapid revelation of names and locations as the mystery intensifies. Bogart's outstanding co-star is, obviously, Lauren Bacall, whom he wed only a few months after the production wrapped.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 97%

Year of Release: 1946

Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall

Director Christopher Nolan is the mastermind behind the great 2002 psychological thriller "Insomnia."

Will Dormer, portrayed by Al Pacino, is an experienced police investigator with a checkered background, who is sent to an isolated Alaskan hamlet to aid local authorities in the investigation of the death of a young girl. When a spooky novelist (portrayed by Robin Williams) becomes the lead suspect, the police officer and the author all tussle for narrative control.

In many respects, Nolan's previous picture, "Memento," is a cynical tale that concludes with the conclusion that all you have seen is a perpetual culture of violence and degradation. Meanwhile, in "Insomnia," the filmmaker adheres to typical Hollywood narrative principles in which a hero's tragic sacrifice signifies a restoration of the moral order. Perhaps this transition occurred since both Nolan and his siblings didn't write the original source material. Still, "Insomnia" had the cheerful yet still solemn tone that Nolan would revisit later in his Batman movie "The Dark Knight".

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 92%

Year of Release: 2002

Stars: Al Pacino, Robin Williams

In The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (American version), the protagonist Mikael Blomkvist (played by Daniel Craig) is given the opportunity to restore his reputation as a reporter, when he is recruited by rich Swedish entrepreneur Henrik Vanger (by Christopher Plummer) to investigate the 40-year-old death of Vanger's granddaughter, Harriet. Vanger feels that a person from his family murdered Harriet. Lisbeth Salander (by Rooney Mara) eventually joins Mikael Blomkvist on his perilous hunt for the truth. Lisbeth is an eccentric but clever investigator whose fragile confidence is difficult to earn.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (American version) does a much better job of filling in narrative spaces, explaining events, and providing context - in contrast to the Swedish version, which assumes that audiences would understand what is going on and devotes less time to explanations. The outcome is more unified and lengthier, although diehard fans will be upset by deviations from the source material made for the purpose of brevity.

Harriet herself also appears considerably sooner in the film, and putting her in London rather than Australia at the conclusion paves the way for a neatly wrapped-up explanation - without the need for her to recount what she's been doing for the last three decades. Blomkvist conducting an interview with a masked Harriet about herself is also a lovely touch.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 86%

Year of Release: 2011

Stars: Daniel Craig, Rooney Mara

"Brick," Rian Johnson's 2005 first movie, is a noir that encompasses a group of high school students who all seem to figure out how to play their stereotyped roles. These adolescents imitate Humphrey Bogart by speaking in laconic, pithy spurts that never reveal too much of the narrative. The stylized idea seems incongruous - coming from the mouths of the children - and is an interesting approach to emphasize the detective genre's enduring cliches.

Brendan Frye, portrayed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is an upperclassman attempting to determine who murdered his fiancée (by Emilie de Ravin). He is an affectionate spoof of noir anti-hero investigators, but lacks the trademark bad boy swagger. As he spars with one hesitant witness after another, he has mastered his witticisms. But at the end of the day, he is also an awkward adolescent with a timid tendency to tuck his hand deeper and deeper into his pockets.

This obviously low-budget film will look clumsy and curiously dated if you do not get Johnson's humor about the self-seriousness of adolescent life. Thankfully, most audiences did, and that's why "Brick" is lauded as one of the best detective movies of all time.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 80%

Year of Release: 2005

Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Emilie de Ravin