Best movies like The Big Goodbye

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Big Goodbye . If you liked The Big Goodbye then you may also like: The Two Jakes, 8 Million Ways to Die, Ordeal by Innocence, Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir, Jodorowsky's Dune 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.

The non-fiction book tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 1974 film noir classic starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway. From Roman Polanski’s directing and Robert Towne’s Oscar-winning script to the twist ending that shook filmgoers to their core, Chinatown joined the long list of films to make their mark during the 1970s. Looming over the story of the classic movie is the imminent eclipse of the ’70s filmmaker-friendly studios as they gave way to the corporate Hollywood we know today.

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The Two Jakes

This sequel to the classic Chinatown finds private detective Jake Gittes still haunted by the events of the first film. Hired by a man to investigate his wife's infidelities, Jake once again finds himself involved in a complicated plot involving murder, oil, and even some ghosts from his past.

8 Million Ways to Die

Scudder is a detective with the Sheriff's Department who is forced to shoot a violent suspect during a narcotics raid. The ensuing psychological aftermath of this shooting worsens his drinking problem and this alcoholism causes him to lose his job, as well as his marriage.

Ordeal by Innocence

Dr. Arthur Calgary visits the Argyle family to return an address book lost some time ago by Jack Argyle, only to find out that Jack has been executed for the murder of his mother. Calgary can prove that Jack was innocent. In spite of opposition from a hostile family, he is determined to solve the crime.

Roman Polanski: A Film Memoir

An interview with film director Roman Polanski conducted during his period of house arrest, discussing his life and work.

Jodorowsky's Dune

Shot in France, England, Switzerland and the United States, this documentary covers director Alejandro Jodorowsky (El Topo, Holy Mountain, Santa Sangre) and his 1974 Quixotic attempt to adapt the seminal sci-fi novel Dune into a feature film. After spending 2 years and millions of dollars, the massive undertaking eventually fell apart, but the artists Jodorowsky assembled for the legendary project continued to work together. This group of artists, or his “warriors” as Jodorowsky named them, went on to define modern sci-fi cinema with such films as Alien, Blade Runner, Star Wars and Total Recall.

The Kid Stays in the Picture

Documentary about legendary Paramount producer Robert Evans, based on his famous 1994 autobiography.

Chinatown

Private eye Jake Gittes lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite to investigate her husband's extra-marital affair, Gittes is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits, uncovering a web of personal and political scandals that come crashing together.

Dance of the Vampires

A noted professor and his dim-witted apprentice fall prey to their inquiring vampires, while on the trail of the ominous damsel in distress.

Cul-de-sac

A wounded criminal and his dying partner take refuge at an old beachfront fortress. The owner of the fortress and his young wife, initially unwilling hosts, quickly experience their relationship with the criminal shift in a humorous and bizarre fashion.

The Player

A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?

The Last Tycoon

Monroe Stahr, a successful movie producer, pursues a beautiful and elusive young woman — all the while working himself to death.

The Long Goodbye

In 1970s Hollywood, Detective Philip Marlowe tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.

Eyes of Laura Mars

A famous fashion photographer develops a disturbing ability to see through the eyes of a serial killer.

Frantic

The wife of an American doctor suddenly vanishes in Paris and, to find her, he navigates a puzzling web of language, locale, laissez-faire cops, triplicate-form filling bureaucrats and a defiant, mysterious waif who knows more than she tells.

The Legend of Lylah Clare

A dictatorial film director hires an unknown actress to play the lead role in a planned movie biography of a late, great Hollywood star.

The Haunting of Sharon Tate

Pregnant with director Roman Polanski's child and awaiting his return from Europe, 26-year-old Hollywood actress Sharon Tate becomes plagued by visions of her imminent death.

The Iced Bullet

A "scientific detective" story about the attempted murder of a wealthy New Yorker in his mountain lodge is framed with a satire of Hollywood as the writer of the story comically tries to get the script read and accepted by a studio.

In a Lonely Place

An aspiring actress begins to suspect that her temperamental and mentally impaired boyfriend is a murderer.

The Phantom of Hollywood

The internationally famous Worldwide Studios has hit hard times and is forced to sell its backlot to Hollywood property developers. The trouble is someone keeps killing off the site surveyors. The studio chiefs then learn of the legend of a masked man who lives on the lot and is sworn to protect it from harm

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures

With commentary from Hollywood stars, outtakes from his movies and footage from his youth, this documentary looks at Stanley Kubrick's life and films. Director Jan Harlan, Kubrick's brother-in-law and sometime collaborator, interviews heavyweights like Jack Nicholson, Woody Allen and Sydney Pollack, who explain the influence of Kubrick classics like "Dr. Strangelove" and "2001: A Space Odyssey," and how he absorbed visual clues from disposable culture such as television commercials.

Studio 54

Studio 54 was the epicenter of 70s hedonism - a place that not only redefined the nightclub, but also came to symbolize an entire era. Its co-owners, Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell, two friends from Brooklyn, seemed to come out of nowhere to suddenly preside over a new kind of New York society. Now, 39 years after the velvet rope was first slung across the club's hallowed threshold, a feature documentary tells the real story behind the greatest club of all time.

Hollywood Story

A producer takes over a small film studio and - sensing that it'll be a good movie- begins investigating an old murder of a silent film director shot in his office years ago. He finds that his life is threatened as he digs deeper into the mystery.

Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired

Examines the public scandal and private tragedy which led to legendary director Roman Polanski's sudden flight from the United States.

The George Raft Story

The 1961 film biography of the nightclub dancer-turned-movie star George Raft.

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist the modern filmed version of Charles Dickens bestseller, a Roman Polanski adaptation. The classic Dickens tale, where an orphan meets a pickpocket on the streets of London. From there, he joins a household of boys who are trained to steal for their master.

Mulholland Dr.

Initially, "Mulholland Dr." was to mark David Lynch's return to television. It is a retooling of a script originally shot as a 94-minute pilot for a TV series (co-written with TV screenwriter Joyce Eliason) for the channel ABC, which had approved the script, but chose not even to air the pilot once it was done in 1999, despite Lynch's labours to cut the project to their liking. It was left in limbo until 18 month later French company Studio Canal Plus (also producer of 'The Straight Story') agreed to pay ABC $7 million for the pilot, and budget a few million more to turn the pilot into a two-hour, 27-minute movie. The cost of the film doubled to $14 million as sets had to be reconstructed and actors recalled.

Star Dust

When Hollywood film studios reject her because she's too young, an Arkansas woman sets out to build a career as an actress on her own.

Sue

A biopic about legendary Hollywood talent agent Sue Mengers. Mengers broke the glass ceiling as the female agent who crashed the Hollywood boys club of agenting with her brandishing an outsized personality to go with her client list which included Barbra Streisand, Cher, Brian De Palma, Faye Dunaway, etc.

Tasmanian Devil: The Fast and Furious Life of Errol Flynn

The story of Tasmanian-born actor Errol Flynn whose short & flamboyant life, full of scandals, adventures, loves and excess was largely played out in front of the camera - either making movies or filling the newsreels and gossip magazines. Tragically he was dead from the effects of drugs and alcohol by the time he was only 50 & the myths live on. But there is another side of Flynn that is less well known - his ambitions to be a serious writer and newspaper correspondent, his documentary films and his interest in the Spanish Civil War and Castro's Cuba

Love Hollywood Style

Four intertwining stories filled with fantasy, over the top comedy and drama set in the entertainment industry on Valentine's day

It Conquered Hollywood! The Story of American International Pictures

A 60-minute salute to American International Pictures. Entertainment lawyer Samuel Z. Arkoff founded AIP (then called American Releasing Corporation) on a $3000 loan in 1954 with his partner, James H. Nicholson, a former West Coast exhibitor and distributor. The company made its mark by targeting teenagers with quickly produced films that exploited subjects mainstream films were reluctant to tackle.

After the Fall

Adaptation of Arthur Miller's semi-autobiographical play about Quentin, a Jewish intellectual from New York who must reexamine his life and his troubled relationship with Holga.

Sly

His love of film began as an escape from a rocky childhood. From underdog to Hollywood legend, Sylvester Stallone tells his story in this documentary.

Making Montgomery Clift

Classic film star and queer icon Montgomery Clift’s legacy has long been a story of tragedy and self-destruction. But when his nephew dives into the family archives, a much more complicated picture emerges.

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