Best movies like Shamus
SHAMUS a pool-shooting, card-playing, broad-chasing, private eye...cross him, and he'll blow your head off!
A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like Shamus Starring Burt Reynolds, Dyan Cannon, John P. Ryan, Joe Santos, and more. If you liked Shamus then you may also like: 12 Men of Christmas, Very Good Girls, The Night They Raided Minsky's, Rent-a-Cop, Jack of Diamonds and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.
New York private eye Shamus McCoy likes girls, drink and gambling, but by the look of his flat business can't be too hot. So an offer of $10,000 to finds some diamonds stolen in a daring raid with a flame-thrower is too good to miss. His investigations soon get pretty complicated and rather too dangerous. At least along the way he does get to meet Alexis.
Shamus
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Very Good Girls
Two New York City girls make a pact to lose their virginity during their first summer out of high school. When they both fall for the same street artist, the friends find their connection tested for the first time.
The Night They Raided Minsky's
Rachel arrives in New York from her Amish community intent on becoming a dancer. Unfortunately Billy Minsky's Burlesque is hardly the place for her Dances From The Bible. But the show's comedian Raymond sees a way of wrong-footing the local do-gooders by announcing the new Paris sensation "Mme Fifi" and putting on Rachel's performance as the place is raided. All too complicated, the more so since her father is scouring the town for her and both Raymond and his straight-man Chick are falling for Rachel.
Rent-a-Cop
A sex worker seeks protection from an ex-cop after a failed drug bust throws their lives into turmoil.
Jack of Diamonds
The protégé of a famous cat burglar reluctantly agrees to join forces with a lesser criminal in the daring heist of several famous jewels from a seemingly impenetrable vault.
The Kid Detective
A once-celebrated kid detective, now 31, continues to solve the same trivial mysteries between hangovers and bouts of self-pity. Until a naive client brings him his first 'adult' case, to find out who brutally murdered her boyfriend.
City Heat
Set in Kansas City in 1933, Eastwood plays a police lieutenant known simply by his last name, Speer. Reynolds plays a former cop turned private eye named Mike Murphy. Both Speer and Murphy served on the force together and were once good friends, but are now bitter enemies. When Murphy's partner is slain they team up again to fight the mob.
The Hot Rock
Dortmunder and his pals plan to steal a huge diamond from a museum. But this turns out to be only the first time they have to steal it...
Twisted
One evening the Collins find their maid Mrs. Murdock at the end of their steps: dead, neck broken. Obviously she had an accident. Consequently they need a new babysitter for an upcoming big party. The sensible Helen meets little Susan Collins at the discount market and likes her, so she offers to do the job. She doesn't know Susan's teenage brother Mark - technically skilled and good in school, but restive and cunning. As soon as the parents have left, he starts psychologically terrorizing Helen and his sister with electronic tricks.
Deceived
The murder of a museum curator places art dealer Jack Saunders under suspicion for selling forged treasures to museums. When Jack suddenly dies in a car crash, his wife Adrienne tries to discover what he did on her own. She finds that she knew little about the man she was married to. The more she learns about her husband's possible illegal activities and double life, the more she places her daughter, and herself, in grave danger.
The Hustler
Fast Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match.
The Long Goodbye
In 1970s Hollywood, Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.
Devil Rider!
A young rebellious girl hooks up with a biker gang. Her father hires a private detective to find her and bring her back. The detective goes undercover as a biker to search for her.
P.J.
Reluctant New York City private eye P.J. Detweiler is hired as a bodyguard to protect Maureen Preble, the mistress of shady millionaire William Orbison. In truth, Orbison plans a deadly intrigue in which P.J. is to play a central part. Meanwhile, complications ensue as P.J. gradually falls in love with Maureen. (Wikipedia)
Super Fly
Priest, a suave top-rung New York City drug dealer, decides that he wants to get out of his dangerous trade. Working with his reluctant friend, Eddie, Priest devises a scheme that will allow him to make a big deal and then retire. When a desperate street dealer informs the police of Priest's activities, Priest is forced into an uncomfortable arrangement with corrupt narcotics officers. Setting his plan in motion, he aims to both leave the business and stick it to the man.
Hands Across the Table
A manicurist and an engaged loafer, both planning to marry money, meet and fall in love.
Ice Blues
This new installment in the popular and critically-acclaimed Donald Strachey Mystery series finds America’s favorite gay private investigator, Donald Strachey (Chad Allen), taking on the most complicated case of his career. After his long-time partner, Tim (Sebastian Spence), asks him to uncover the source of an anonymous and generous donation to the Albany youth center, he gets caught in a whirlwind of deceit and danger. When the lawyer who presented the donation turns up dead, the hard-boiled Strachey must race against the clock to capture the killer before he strikes again."
Love Happy
The Marx Brothers help young Broadway hopefuls when they get mixed up with gangsters due to a tin of sardines containing Romanoff diamonds.
The Poison Rose
A down-on-his-luck PI is hired by his old flame to investigate a murder. But while the case at first appears routine, it slowly reveals itself to be a complex interwoven web of crimes, suspects and dead bodies.
Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous
When fluffy, bubble gum movie star Megan Valentine suddenly finds herself broke and humiliated in the public eye, she wanders from the wreckage of a car accident and witlessly enlists in the U.S. Army hoping in vain that it will change her life.
So Undercover
When the FBI hires her to go undercover at a college sorority, Molly Morris (Miley Cyrus) must transform herself from a tough, streetwise private investigator to a refined, sophisticated university girl to help protect the daughter of a one-time Mobster. With several suspects on her list, Molly unexpectedly discovers that not everyone is who they appear to be, including herself.
Trixie
Passed over at work and numbed after she witnesses a colleague's murder, security guard Trixie Zurbo takes a relatively easy job at a lakefront casino, working undercover keeping an eye out for pickpockets. Trixie meets an assortment of colorful regulars: Kirk Stans, the casino's lounge act who drinks too much and is a dead-on mimic; Ruby Pearli , a glamorous, young and knowledgeable barfly; and Dex Lang, a raffish ladies' man who pays attention to Trixie in a way that's hard for her to ignore.
The Turning Point
As young dancers, they were best friends and fierce rivals. Deedee left the stage for marriage and motherhood, while Emma would become an international ballet icon. But when Deedee's teenage daughter is invited to join Emma's dance company and begins an affair with a young Russian star, the two women are forced to confront the choices they've made, the resentments they've hidden and the emotional truths they must face at the turning point.
Looking for Kitty
A high school baseball coach and a down-on-his-luck private investigator form a bond as they scour New York City for the coach's wife, who's run away with a second-rate rock star.
Sunburn
During the hot, sweltering summer, Mike, a young American tourist goes looking for his missing friend in an isolated Spanish village. Here, he gets embroiled with an alluring local woman who soon becomes obsessed with him. Forced to escape, Mike soon finds that the horror is far greater than he could have ever imagined.
Rubber Heels
A European royal couple come to New York to sell some of the royal family's crown jewels. A gang of international jewel thieves is planning to steal the gems, so a private detective is assigned to guard them. Unfortunately the private eye turns out to be a bumbling, inept fool--or so everyone thinks.
They Wanted to Marry
Newspaper photographer Jim Tyler sneaks into a society girl's wedding, and the bride's sister decides she prefers him to her upper-crust suitors. She even likes his pigeon, who travels everywhere with him.
The Automatic Hate
When Davis Green's alluring young cousin Alexis appears on his doorstep one night, he discovers that a side of his family has been kept secret from him. Against his father’s wishes, Davis travels to rural, upstate New York to meet his other cousins.
Cry Murder
A young actress has retired from films to marry the son of a prominent and rich politician in New York City. The father objects strongly to the marriage. The actress is being blackmailed by a second-rate artist who has stolen some letters from her that could be misconstrued. During the payoff, she is knocked unconscious, and awakens to find herself involved in a murder and the police have her marked as the number-one suspect.
Lullaby of Broadway
Pretty Melinda Howard has been abroad singing with a musical troupe. She decides to return home to surprise her mother whom she thinks is a successful Broadway star with a mansion in Manhattan. She doesn't know that her mother is actually a burnt-out cabaret singer with a love for whiskey. When she arrives at the mansion, she is taken in by the two servants who are friends of her mother's. The house actually belongs to Adolph Hubbell, a kind-hearted Broadway producer who also gets drawn into the charade. Hubbell takes a shine to Melinda and agrees to star her in his next show. Melinda also finds romance with a handsome hoofer who's also in the show. All is going well for Melinda except that she wants to see her mother who keeps putting off their reunion.
Where's Marlowe?
After making a disastrous 3-hour documentary on New York City's water supply, two young filmmakers focus on the goings-on of life in the LA offices of Boone and Murphy, private investigators. Cheating husbands and missing dogs fail to bring in the big bucks, however, and after sleeping with the wife of one of their clients Murphy leaves. To stop Boone from having to close down the business, the filmmakers must resort to a more hands-on approach in the investigations to ensure the completion of their movie.
Private Eyes
After being punched in the nose, Sach finds out that he has the ability to read minds. Slip and the gang start up a detective agency try to cash in on Sach's new powers.
The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
After two attempts to kidnap a little girl Mike Hammer is hired to protect her.
Don Juan Quilligan
When a an overly romantic barge captain marries two women, each reminding him of his mother, he finds himself resorting to prison to escape them.
More Than Murder
Private eye Mike Hammer tries to clear his friend, Captain Chambers, who has been framed for cocaine possession.
The Late Show
Over-the-hill gumshoe in Los Angeles seeks to avenge the killing of an old pal, another detective who had gotten himself involved in a case concerning a murdered broad, stolen stamps, a nickel-plated handgun, a cheating dolly, and a kidnapped pussycat.
Whirlygirl
After a run in with a hot exotic dancer one wintry night straight-laced prep school student James will find himself on the ride of his life. Risking his future he follows this mysterious woman to New York City - ditching school dodging cops and partying at hot nightclubs along the way.
P.I. Private Investigations
A young architect finds himself being stalked by a gang of criminals who believe he knows something that could expose their activities.
Chick Carter, Detective
Detective Chick Carter (Lyle Talbot)finds himself on his most exciting case when Sherry Martin (Julie Gibson), a singer at the Century Club, reports the robbery of the famous Blue Diamond, owned by Joe Carney (Charles King), the owner of the nightclub.
Counterfeit Lady
Phyllis Fowler claims to be just a "simple little country girl" trying to get by in the wicked big-city, and she takes a big getting-by step when she pulls a scam that gains her a $17,000 diamond from an exclusive jewelry store. Soon, a private-detective, who has a dupe gem matching the stolen one, the police, and two gangster buddies of the jeweler are all racing each other to get the diamond back from Phyllis. The country-girl provides them all with a wild chase.
I, Mobster
The rise and fall of gang lord Joe Sante. A crime boss appears before a Senate subcommittee. A flashbacks tell his story.
Confidence Girl
After successfully swindling thousands of dollars from hapless victims, conflicted con artist Mary (Hillary Brooke) decides to go straight, but her greedy boyfriend and partner, Roger (Tom Conway), convinces her to pull off one final scam before they get married. Written and directed by Andrew L. Stone, this classic crime film finds the police struggling to keep up with the deceptive duo's exceedingly complicated schemes.
Glass Chin
After going down in the fifth round, boxer Bud Gordon bowed out of the limelight. Now residing in a fixer-upper apartment in New Jersey with his girlfriend, Bud longs for his former Manhattan glory. In an effort to get back in the game, he makes a deal with a crooked restaurateur. But quick schemes rarely bring easy pay-offs and as the consequences of his business negotiations unfold, Bud has to make a choice between his integrity and his aspirations.
12 Men of Christmas
A high-powered New York publicist finds herself in Montana promoting a charity calendar after being betrayed by her boss and fiancé. Unfortunately, matters of the heart are just as complicated in the wilds as they are in the big city.