Welcome to the CrimeReads Streaming Guide, where we spotlight a very specific category of crime movies we think you should be watching right now.
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Yeah, so, now is the winter of our discontent, right? Its January, and it’s not as cold as it should be by this time of winter thanks to the seasonal lag caused by global warming, which is terrible. But it will be very cold very soon, and that is also terrible. Plus, this is our third winter spent living through a pandemic, which does not look like it will be ending soon. I’m tired, you’re tired, I’m angry, you’re angry, and look, even Elmo has grown delirious with rage, so here are some nice crime movies set in seaside France for you to watch before we all lose our minds. Bon weekend.
To Catch a Thief (1965)
To Catch a Thief is an extremely randy Hitchcock movie (I would say the randiest), in which former jewel thief Cary Grant is enjoying his retirement on the French Riviera, until he is suspected to be up to his old tricks when some wealthy tourists’ valuables go missing. But vacationer Grace Kelly is more interested in stealing his heart (despite their horrifying age difference), planning her capture of him just as methodically as she plans to help clear his name.
Where to stream: Paramount +, Amazon Prime, Pluto TV (with commercials)
Priceless (2006)
This French comedy starring Audrey Tautou as a hustler is based on Breakfast at Tiffany’s, but it’s set along the Côte d’Azur instead of New York City, which is fine with me, because I wish I were set along the Côte d’Azur instead of New York City. When she mistakes a hotel bartender for a millionaire guest, the two of them wind up digging deep into the gold digger lifestyle as they chase one another.
Where to stream: Amazon Prime, Tubi, Vudu
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
Michael Caine and Steve Martin are two rival con men in a race to see who can swindle American heiress Glenne Headley out of her fortune in this classic comedy set along the French Rivera.
Where to stream: HBO Max, Hulu + HBO
Foreign Intrigue (1956)
This splendid, brightly-colored can-we-even-call-it-noir-now noir stars Robert Mitchem as a journalist who takes money from a millionaire to create false press releases. But when the millionaire dies, suddenly, he is plunged into a world of secrets, blackmail, and Ex-Nazis. Foreign intrigue, indeed!
Where to stream: Paramount +, Amazon Prime, Roku Channel, Philo
Rebecca (1940)
I’m not talking about the insipid remake with Armie Hammer, but the original, Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece. The good people who read CrimeReads do not need me to tell them to watch Rebecca, but I’m underscoring it because watching a scene in which a house burns down might be the very thing you need, lately, idk.
Where to stream: Right here, on YouTube, in HD!
Ronin (1998)
Come for the heist story, stay for the elegant car chases through several French cities. Veritable, this movie might have the best car-chase camerawork in a heist movie, if not the best cinematography, which was completed by legendary DP Robert Fraisse. Directed by John Frankenheimer, and starring Robert De Niro, starring it’s about a group of former special-ops agents who are tasked with stealing a briefcase. But the real trouble is figuring out who among them remains loyal to the rest.
Where to stream: Amazon Prime, Tubi, Pluto TV (with commercials)
And Suddenly It’s Murder! (1960)
This cuckoo Italian classic is about five strangers riding a train to Monte Carlo who are all implicated somehow in the death of a wealthy passenger. If that sounds like a party… it is. Just look at these people!
Where to rent: Amazon Prime
Once Upon a Crime… (1992)
The great Eugene Levy adapted And Suddenly It’s Murder! into Once Upon a Crime… and packed it with a tremendous slate of mostly-American talent: John Candy, Jim Belushi, Cybill Shepherd, Sean Young, George Hamilton, Giancarlo Giannini, Ornella Muti, and (Larry David’s best friend on Curb) the comedian Richard Lewis.
Where to stream: Tubi, whatever that is
The Good Thief (2002)
This very, very underrated movie stars Nick Nolte as an aging, heroin-addicted thief who needs to pull One Last Job. Based on Jean-Pierre Melville’s classic Bob le Flambeur, it’s directed by Neil Jordan and features unbeatable shots of Nice, France at night, all lit up in neon.
Where to stream: Sadly, I don’t think you can, but go to your local library and check out the DVD!
French Kiss (1995)
In this classic rom-com beloved by both my mom’s French best friend *and* the Bostonian Editor-in-Chief of this crime website, Kevin Kline plays a French petit-smuggler and Meg Ryan plays a neurotic American and they cross paths on Meg Ryan’s way to France to track down her cheating fiance Timothy Hutton. Obviously they get on each other’s nerves but also obviously fall in love. As you will with this film.
Where to stream: Yeah, good luck
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Further reading about coastal getaways:
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Try these mysteries that take place on the Riviera
The trips that inspired Patricia Highsmith to Ripley
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If you like movies that take place along the riviera:
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Read Nick Kolakowski on The Good Thief
Read Christina Lane on the adaptation of Rebecca
