You know the scene. It’s night in the city. A storm has settled in. We find our hero in a second story office, behind a desk stacked high with cases and adorned with a bottle of Scotch. Rain pounds against the window. A shadow looms at the door, then, an urgent, desperate knock. Trouble has come calling. There’s no doubt what kind of picture we’re in for.
Join us as we explore one of the key archetypes of the noir genre, the private eye. Across 20 episodes we'll examine the way the character has changed or not - from Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe to Doc Spinelli and the Dude, plus every shamus in between.
June 22, 2022
Introductory Conversation
June 29, 2022
Private Detective 62 (1933)
The Thin Man (1934)
July 6, 2022
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Big Sleep (1946)
July 13, 2022
The Falcon Takes Over (1942)
Time to Kill (1942)
Murder My Sweet (1944)
The Lady in the Lake (1946)
The Brasher Doubloon (1947)
July 20, 2022
I, The Jury (1953)
Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
My Gun Is Quick (1957)
The Girl Hunters (1963)
July 27, 2022
Private Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell, Bastards! (1963)
Made in USA (1966)
August 3, 2022
Harper (1966)
Marlowe (1969)
August 10, 2022
Shaft (1971)
Trouble Man (1972)
December 7, 2022
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Chinatown (1974)
December 14, 2022
Night Moves (1975)
The Drowning Pool (1975)
December 21, 2022
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
The Big Sleep (1978)
December 28, 2022
The Elephant God (1979)
Yokohama BJ Blues (1981)
January 4, 2023
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)
January 11, 2023
The Two Jakes (1990)
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
January 18, 2023
Zero Effect (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
January 25, 2023
Brick (2005)
The Kid Detective (2020)
February 1, 2023
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
The Nice Guys (2016)
February 8, 2023
Gone Baby Gone (2007)
A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
February 15, 2023
Inherent Vice (2014)
Under the Silver Lake (2018)
February 22, 2023
Wrap-up Conversation