Top 5 Screen Detectives
With the release of The Seven Percent Solution on DVD we were inspired to honour five of our favourite super sleuths. Each generation has its hero screen detective, and each loves them even more for their quirks, flaws and complications. MovieMail's Top 5 detective films feature some of the screen's most iconic gumshoes, from the irascible genius of Sherlock Holmes to the anti-heroism of Dirty Harry.
Julian Upton
1. Insp. Harry Callahan (aka) Dirty Harry
Clint Eastwood cemented his uniqueness among action heroes with the taciturn, brutal and not-altogether-endearing Inspector Harry Callaghan, bane of villains and pen-pushing politicians alike. Stretching the concept of heroism, Eastwood's iconic detective was criticised at the time for meting out his own brand of justice, but the public lapped it up, and four sequels duly followed.
2. Detective Philip Marlowe
The Big Sleep. Bogart. Bacall. Raymond Chandler. Howard Hawks. What more do you need? This is the noir template for the plethora of sharp-talking, straight-shooting 'tecs with weaknesses for hard-boiled dames that later tried but usually failed to step into Bogie's shoes. Only Bogart could truly evoke the integrity at the heart of Philip Marlowe's ravaged soul, and only Raymond Chandler could supply lines like these.
3. Albert Finney's Poirot
As Agatha Christie's exacting Belgian detective Hercule Poirot has since been tackled very admirably on screen by Peter Ustinov and David Suchet, its easy to forget just how magnificent Albert Finney's portrayal was. But in Murder on the Orient Express, he still overshadows those later efforts, and this remains one of the most satisfying of all screen adaptations of the prolific Christie's work.
4. Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes
Seventy years on, Basil Rathbone remains the screen's definitive Sherlock Holmes, even in the face of competition from the formidable likes of Jeremy Brett, Peter Cushing and Robert Stephens. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the best of his fourteen Holmes pictures, retaining as it does its Victorian setting (later entries were 'modernised'), decent production values and an excellent nemesis in George Zucco's Professor Moriarty.
5. Columbo 
He may be the aesthetic antithesis to the pristine Poirot, but Peter Falk's shambolic LA lieutenant could give the Belgian a run for his money in the detection stakes any time. Columbo's MO is deceptively chaotic, but if you're the bad guy, he knows as soon as he lays his good eye on you. Falk played the detective in two long series of TV movies (1971-78 and 1989-2003). The seventies series is the best, and all the episodes are available on DVD.
Film Listing
The Big Sleep (Hawks, 1946)
Howard Hawks, 1946
Private eye Philip Marlowe is hired to investigate an extortion mystery, affecting wealthy General Sternwood and his two daughters. Brilliant essential 40s N... More
£7.99 DVD
The Sherlock Holmes Box Set (Rathbone)
Various , 1939-46
The definitive collection of 14 restored Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes films. Features The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, She... More
£32.99 DVD
Murder on the Orient Express
Sidney Lumet, 1974
Aka Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. An all star cast are employed to perfection in this sleek and elegant adaptation of Agatha Christie's cla... More
£5.99 DVD
Dirty Harry Collection
Various , 1971-1988
Five film series featuring Lieutenant Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) - a bad-tempered, right-wing San Francisco policeman, not averse to bending the rules t... More
£30.99 DVD
Dirty Harry (Special Edition)
Don Siegel, 1971
The first in the series of films in which Clint Eastwood, as Lieutenant Harry Callahan, a right wing, bad-tempered San Francisco policeman, not averse to ben... More
£7.99 DVD
Dirty Harry Collection
Various , 1971-1988
Five film series featuring Lieutenant Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) - a bad-tempered, right-wing San Francisco policeman, not averse to bending the rules t... More
£33.99 Blu-ray
The Seven Percent Solution
Herbert Ross, 1976
Dr. Watson tricks Sherlock Holmes into travelling to Vienna in order to place him in the care of Sigmund Freud after his abuse of cocaine starts to spiral ou... More
£5.99 DVD
Dirty Harry (Special Edition)
Don Siegel, 1971
The first in the series of films in which Clint Eastwood, as Lieutenant Harry Callahan, a right wing, bad-tempered San Francisco policeman, not averse to ben... More
£12.49 Blu-ray
