When it comes to staging crime thrillers, the stories almost always take place in New York, New Jersey, Chicago or Las Vegas. Think about it. A significant portion of heist and gangster films involve the mafia as central or ancillary characters, making those places are practically automatic. Even when there isn’t a gangster component, you’ve got the writer/director that wants to make his mark in the film noir genre. For that you need lots of dark, gritty scenery, nasty weather and a lots of overweight cigar-chomping tough guys as extras. All of which the East Coast has in droves.
The last place you’d want to set your crime thriller would be a sunny, happy place with lots of tanned, fit models and cool ocean breezes. Like the City of Angels.
Unless you’re up for a challenge. In that case, you’d shoot most of your film at night, and in the summer, when it’s hot. You’d replace the mafia with crooked cops and the tough guys with drugged-up starlets. And voila – you’ve got yourself an L.A. noir film.
Here’s our top crime thrillers set in L.A.:
- Mulholland Drive (2001)
- Point Blank (1967)
- Saboteur (1942)
- Double Indemnity (1944)
- Die Hard (1988)
- Heat (1995)
- Collateral (2003)
- L.A. Confidential (1997)
- Chinatown (1974)