History
Undoubtedly the most famous of the
amateur detectives to reach the
silver screen was
Sherlock Holmes. He first
appeared in
1903, and has been
portrayed by a multitude of actors.
Other famous sleuths include
Charlie Chan and
Hercule Poirot.
Following
World War II,
film noir came into style
and proved a popular medium for the
professional hired detective, or
private eye.
Humphrey Bogart was
particularly notable for playing
this role, including Sam Spade in
The Maltese Falcon.
The
1960s and
1970s saw a resurgence of
the Police Detective film, which
were styles after the earlier film
noir era. Among the notable mystery
detective films of this period were
In the Heat of the Night
(1967),
Bullitt (1968),
Klute (1971) and
Chinatown (1974). The
1970s and
1980s also saw something
of the return of the serial films,
with the
Dirty Harry and
Lethal Weapon series. In
1971,
The French Connection was
an
Academy Award-winning
mystery film.
In addition to standard mystery
films, some movies have intermixed
with other genres. The comedic
Blake Edwards'
Pink Panther series
starring
Peter Sellars as
Inspector Clouseau mixed
comedy with mystery, while the
medieval era
Brother Cadfael series of
television mysteries appeared as a
form of historical fiction. The
Dick Tracy films had
elements of
science fiction, while
Blade Runner and
Outland were primarily
science fiction action films.
