12 Classic Noir Movies to Stream Right Now

Revel in these black-and-white classics from the 1940s and ’50s

Chris Nashawaty,

Updated February 17, 2026

AARP

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Published November 17, 2020

/ Updated February 17, 2026

Cecil Kellaway, John Garfield and Lana Turner in a scene from The Postman Always Rings Twice

Cecil Kellaway, John Garfield and Lana Turner in the 1946 noir classic, "The Postman Always Rings Twice."

Courtesy Everett Collection

It looks like everything black and white is new again. In the highly anticipated new Prime Video series Spider-Noir, Nicolas Cage, 62, plays a hard-boiled detective in 1930s New York grappling with his spidery superhero past.

Spider-Noir harks back to classic film noir movies largely made in the ’40s and ’50s. These moody tales, at times featuring pistol-packing detectives being led into temptation by fiery femme fatales, are a blast from the cinematic past and some of the best movie-watching on TV to be found. They’re full of danger, desperation and double crosses — not to mention legendary tough-guy patter.

What are you waiting for? Grab the popcorn for an old-fashioned movie night with these 12 essential noir movies that you can stream at home right now.

Le Samouraï (1967)

Film noir was largely a Hollywood phenomenon, but the French (who christened the genre with its catchy name) knew how to spin dark underworld tales too. Take director Jean-Pierre Melville’s late-in-the-cycle thriller about a solitary Parisian contract killer (Alain Delon) who pulls off a hit in a nightclub but makes the mistake of executing his job in front of an eyewitness. Caught in a vise between a dogged police inspector and a woman who may or may not be willing to cover for him, Delon’s trench-coat-and-fedora antihero gives the film a dash of Left Bank cool.

Watch it: Le Samouraï

Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

Pound for pound, this Times Square classic features more memorable lines of crackling dialogue than any film in the genre. Tony Curtis brilliantly evokes the boundless ambition and sweaty desperation of Sidney Falco, a New York press agent who’ll stop at nothing to get his clients mentioned in print by the make-or-break gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster), even if he has to sell his soul in the process. Both actors were never better than they are here, and New York City after dark has never looked quite this sinister and corrupt.

Watch it: Sweet Smell of Success

Mildred Pierce (1945)

Joan Crawford proves that she’s not a woman to be trifled with in this brilliantly tense noir with a bold feminist twist. After divorcing her no-good husband, Crawford’s Mildred rebuilds her life in the restaurant business from the bottom up — all in the name of making a better life for her no-good, spoiled-brat daughter (Ann Blyth, 97). Directed by Casablanca’s Michael Curtiz, this heartbreaking melodrama earned Crawford her first and only Oscar.

Watch it: Mildred Pierce

Laura (1944)

The ethereal Gene Tierney and the underappreciated Dana Andrews head up this haunting mystery about a police detective who falls in love with the woman whose murder he’s investigating. Directed by Otto Preminger, Laura is part whodunit, part romance and part twisted tale of obsession à la Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Also, Vincent Price swings by to add some of his trademark creepiness. Dark and dreamlike, this noir will cast a spell that you won’t be able to shake for days.

Watch it: Laura

Detour (1945)

Clocking in at a lean-and-mean 66 minutes, director Edgar G. Ulmer’s noir spins a doom-drenched yarn about a New York nightclub pianist (Tom Neal) who hitchhikes his way across the country to see his girlfriend in Los Angeles. Needless to say, things go pear-shaped along the way — especially after the man who picks him up dies and our protagonist assumes his identity (never a good idea!). If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s Ann Savage’s Vera, a dangerous woman who’s on to his scheme and toys with a plan for blackmail. Detour is the perfect noir to put on when you’re a bit tight on time.

Watch it: Detour

Pickup on South Street (1953)

If you want a bit of Cold War intrigue with your film noir, may we suggest Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street? Starring the always-welcome Richard Widmark (who, in a just world, would have been an even bigger star) as the two-bit hustler Skip McCoy, Pickup turns a simple twist of bad luck into a death sentence after Skip picks the pocket of a young woman on her way to drop off a top-secret roll of microfilm to a Communist spy. Widmark gives the movie a blast of clammy desperation and nervous energy that will keep you on the edge of your seat. He’s terrific.

Watch it: Pickup on South Street

The Maltese Falcon (1941)

John Huston’s adaptation of Dashiell Hammett’s classic pulp mystery, about a jewel-encrusted statue of a bird and the double-crossing men and women who will kill to get their hands on it, is usually considered the first (and arguably best) example of noir. Humphrey Bogart, in his first major good-guy star turn, plays Sam Spade, a cynical, jaded San Francisco private eye who gets sucked into hunting for the priceless knickknack. Mary Astor, Peter Lorre and a scene-stealing Sydney Greenstreet round out the extraordinary cast of liars, cheats and hustlers trying to trip up our gruff hero.

Watch it: The Maltese Falcon

Double Indemnity (1944)

In one of the great against-type performances of the ’40s, the normally milquetoast Fred MacMurray plays Walter Neff, an insurance salesman who gladly goes crooked when he falls for the sultry wife of a poor sap who’s just taken out a very large life insurance policy. A platinum-blond Barbara Stanwyck shoots off white-hot sparks as Neff’s obsession and accomplice. And Edward G. Robinson is aces as Neff’s boss, who lets friendship blind him to what’s going on (until it’s too late). Directed by Billy Wilder, Double Indemnity is a seamy, sordid thriller that crackles with deadly erotic heat.

Watch it: Double Indemnity

The Big Sleep (1946)

Don’t bother trying to follow every feint and detour in this masterpiece’s overly twisty storyline. Even Raymond Chandler, who wrote the novel, couldn’t keep it all straight. Instead, just sit back and luxuriate in the romantic chemistry between Bogie and Bacall. There’s also a heck of a detective yarn here too. Bogart is Philip Marlowe, an L.A. private eye hired by a patriarch whose daughters (Lauren Bacall and Martha Vickers) are caught up with some pretty dicey characters. While trying to make sense of it all (good luck with that!), Marlowe proves to be as tough with his knuckles as he is with his tart tongue. For more top-notch Bogie noir, check out 1947’s Dark Passage and 1950’s In a Lonely Place.

Watch it: The Big Sleep

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)

From the first moment that John Garfield sees Lana Turner in her racy white shorts, it’s all but cinched that he will end up helping her kill her oafish husband. It’s no coincidence that the film opens with a shot of a sign that says “Man Wanted.” If that sounds a bit like Double Indemnity, that’s because the Postman novel was written by the same twisted mind, hard-boiled crime author James M. Cain. Garfield is perfect as a drifter who falls into a black widow’s web, and Turner never had as deadly a sting. Lust, murder, betrayal — this one has all the ingredients you want. Skip the lifeless 1981 remake with Jack Nicholson, 88, and Jessica Lange, 76.

Watch it: The Postman Always Rings Twice

Out of the Past (1947)

If any leading man was ever made for the noir era, it was Robert Mitchum. With his sleepy, half-mast eyes and semi-resigned macho swagger, he oozes a low-key energy that gives off the unmistakable scent of doom. Mitchum plays the owner of a small-town gas station who used to have some sketchy pals back in New York. He thinks he’s left that world behind, but he gets pulled back in when he’s forced to do a favor for a crime boss (Kirk Douglas) that involves babysitting a very deadly dame (the darkly radiant Jane Greer) for whom he falls hard. Needless to say, it doesn’t end well for him. Directed by Jacques Tourneur, who really knew what he was doing with light and shadow.

Watch it: Out of the Past

Sunset Boulevard (1950)

Gloria Swanson gives a master class in the heebie-jeebies as Norma Desmond, the aging and long-faded silent film star who enlists a down-on-his-luck screenwriter (William Holden) as her reluctant lover and the author of her delusional comeback. Directed with perverse black humor by Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard is one of the most twisted takes on fame and Tinseltown ever made. Which is only part of the reason why it’s so great. A few of the others include a backyard burial for a chimp, a story narrated by a dead man floating in a swimming pool, and the sight of a has-been star walking down a long flight of stairs, ready for her close-up at last.

Watch it: Sunset Boulevard

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Chris Nashawaty, former film critic for Entertainment Weekly, is the author of Caddyshack: The Making of a Hollywood Cinderella Story and a contributor to Esquire, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.