Top 10 Los Angeles Based Crime Films

Think about these films and their look and feel, sprawled out and sun baked, with Hollywood peeking out from the corner. And expect to see a little Michael Mann...

Despite those great number of crime films set in the windy city of Chicago, Illinois, it is New York and Los Angeles sharing the heavier load through history. But New York crime dramas, whether they be focused on the police or the criminals or the people in between, feel completely different than Los Angeles crime dramas. And vice versa. The best LA crime films use urban sprawl, glitz, glamour, and the allure of celebrity seeping just below the texture of their films. New York has its own set of rules in the genre but I may favor the LA crime flick over the Manhattan version. Regardless of my favoritism, there are brilliant films in each of the cities' crime genre roots, ones which play on the strengths of the setting. End of Watch, the new LA cop drama starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, hopes to carry on the tradition of powerful crime dramas in the City of Angels. Let's see how it does compared to these greats. Think about these films and their look and feel, sprawled out and sun baked, with Hollywood peeking out from the corner. And expect to see a little Michael Mann...
 
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Self-made film aficionado with a background in creative writing. Proprietor of www.themoviesnob.net. Lover of all things cinema. Follow me at @LCTmoviesnob and enjoy the ride.