A scene from 1988’s ‘Die Hard’. Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Los Angeles, also known as the “City of Angeles’, has appeared in many classic movies.
From comedies like ‘Swingers‘ and ‘Fletch‘, to heist movies like ‘Den of Thieves‘ or ‘Heat‘, noir films such as ‘Chinatown‘ and ”The Long Goodbye‘, futuristic sci-fi like ‘Blade Runner‘ or ‘They Live‘, and even holiday films such as ‘Die Hard‘ (Yes! ‘Die Hard’ is a Christmas movie!), LA has a long history of being featured in Hollywood movies.
The latest film to be set in Los Angeles is ‘Crime 101‘, which stars Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry, and opens in theaters on February 13th.
Release Date: Feb 13, 2026
Run Time: 2 hr 19 min
Budget: $93,000,000
In honor of the new film and Tinseltown, Moviefone is counting down the top 25 movies of all time that are set in Los Angeles.
Let’s begin!
Related Article: Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry Talk New Crime Thriller ‘Crime 101’
(L to R) Roddy Piper and Keith David in ‘They Live’. Photo: Universal Pictures.
A lone drifter (Roddy Piper) stumbles upon a unique pair of sunglasses that reveal aliens are systematically gaining control of the Earth by masquerading as humans and lulling the public into submission.
“You see them on the street. You watch them on TV. You might even vote for one this fall. You think they’re people just like you. You’re wrong. Dead wrong.”
Release Date: Nov 4, 1988
Run Time: 1 hr 33 min
Budget: $4,000,000
After 6 years together, Mike’s (Jon Favreau) girlfriend leaves him, so he travels to LA to be a star. Six months on, he’s still not doing very well— so a few of his friends try to reconnect him to the social scene and hopefully help him forget his failed relationship.
“Cocktails first. Questions later.”
Release Date: Oct 18, 1996
Run Time: 1 hr 36 min
Budget: $200,000
Blonde Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia (Laura Harring). Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman’s identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project.
“A love story in the city of dreams.”
Release Date: Oct 19, 2001
Run Time: 2 hr 27 min
Budget: $15,000,000
When a Hollywood star (George Clooney) mysteriously disappears in the middle of filming, the studio sends their fixer (Josh Brolin) to get him back.
“Lights. Camera. Abduction.”
Release Date: Feb 5, 2016
Run Time: 1 hr 46 min
Budget: $22,000,000
Andy Stitzer (Steve Carell) has a pleasant life with a nice apartment and a job stamping invoices at an electronics store. But at age 40, there’s one thing Andy hasn’t done, and it’s really bothering his sex-obsessed male co-workers: Andy is still a virgin. Determined to help Andy get laid, the guys make it their mission to de-virginize him. But it all seems hopeless until Andy meets small business owner Trish (Catherine Keener), a single mom.
“Better late than never.”
Release Date: Aug 11, 2005
Run Time: 1 hr 56 min
Budget: $26,000,000
(L to R) Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling in ‘La La Land’. Photo: Lionsgate.
Mia (Emma Stone), an aspiring actress, serves lattes to movie stars in between auditions and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling), a jazz musician, scrapes by playing cocktail party gigs in dingy bars, but as success mounts they are faced with decisions that begin to fray the fragile fabric of their love affair, and the dreams they worked so hard to maintain in each other threaten to rip them apart.
“Here’s to the fools who dream.”
Release Date: Dec 16, 2016
Run Time: 2 hr 9 min
Budget: $30,000,000
Carl Allen (Jim Carrey), a guy whose life is going nowhere, signs up for a self-help program based on one simple covenant: say yes to everything…and anything.
“One word can change everything.”
Release Date: Dec 19, 2008
Run Time: 1 hr 44 min
Budget: $70,000,000
Cab driver Max (Jamie Foxx) picks up a man (Tom Cruise) who offers him $600 to drive him around. But the promise of easy money sours when Max realizes his fare is an assassin.
“It started like any other night.”
Release Date: Aug 6, 2004
Run Time: 2 hr
Budget: $65,000,000
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
“Man has made his match… now it’s his problem.”
Release Date: Jun 25, 1982
Run Time: 1 hr 58 min
Budget: $28,000,000
With the help of a talking freeway billboard, a “wacky weatherman” (Steve Martin) tries to win the heart of an English newspaper reporter (Victoria Tennant), who is struggling to make sense of the strange world of early-90s Los Angeles.
“Something funny is happening in L.A.”
Release Date: Feb 8, 1991
Run Time: 1 hr 35 min
(L to R) Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo in ‘They Live’. Photo: Open Road Films.
When Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina (Rene Russo), a TV-news veteran.
“The city shines brightest at night.”
Release Date: Oct 31, 2014
Run Time: 1 hr 58 min
Budget: $8,500,000
In 1970s Hollywood, Detective Philip Marlowe (Elliot Gould) tries to help a friend who is accused of murdering his wife.
“Nothing says goodbye like a bullet…”
Release Date: Mar 8, 1973
Run Time: 1 hr 52 min
Budget: $1,700,000
On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop (Ethan Hawke) works with a rogue detective (Denzel Washington) who isn’t what he appears.
“The only thing more dangerous than the line being crossed, is the cop who will cross it.”
Release Date: Oct 5, 2001
Run Time: 2 hr 2 min
Budget: $45,000,000
In the middle of the Los Angeles ghetto, drugs, robberies and shootings dominate everyday life. During these times, Furious tries to raise his son Tre (Cuba Gooding Jr.) to be a decent person. Tre’s friends, on the other hand, have little regard for the law and drag the entire neighborhood into a street war…
“Once upon a time in South Central L.A… It ain’t no fairy tale.”
Release Date: Jul 12, 1991
Run Time: 1 hr 52 min
Budget: $6,500,000
11. ‘Fletch‘ (1985)
When investigative reporter Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher (Chevy Chase) goes undercover to write a piece on the drug trade at a local beach, he’s approached by wealthy businessman Alan Stanwyk (Tim Matheson), who offers him $50,000 to murder him. With sarcastic wit and a knack for disguises, Fletch sets out to uncover Stanwyk’s story.
“Meet the only guy who changes his identity more often than his underwear.”
Release Date: May 31, 1985
Run Time: 1 hr 38 min
Budget: $8,000,000
(L to R) Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr. in ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.’ Photo: Warner Bros.
A petty thief posing as an actor (Robert Downey Jr.) is brought to Los Angeles for an unlikely audition and finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation along with his high school dream girl (Michelle Monaghan) and a detective (Val Kilmer) who’s been training him for his upcoming role.
“Sex. Murder. Mystery. Welcome to the party.”
Release Date: Nov 11, 2005
Run Time: 1 hr 42 min
Budget: $15,000,000
Three detectives (Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and Kevin Spacey) in the corrupt and brutal L.A. police force of the 1950s use differing methods to uncover a conspiracy behind the shotgun slayings of the patrons at an all-night diner.
“Everything is suspect… Everyone is for sale… And nothing is what it seems.”
Release Date: Sep 19, 1997
Run Time: 2 hr 18 min
Budget: $35,000,000
Jeffrey ‘The Dude’ Lebowski (Jeff Bridges), a Los Angeles slacker who only wants to bowl and drink White Russians, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski (David Huddleston), a wheelchair-bound millionaire, and finds himself dragged into a strange series of events involving nihilists, adult film producers, ferrets, errant toes, and large sums of money.
“Times like these call for a Big Lebowski.”
Release Date: Mar 6, 1998
Run Time: 1 hr 57 min
Budget: $15,000,000
Los Angeles, 1969. TV star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), a struggling actor specializing in westerns, and stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), his best friend, try to survive in a constantly changing movie industry. Dalton is the neighbor of the young and promising actress and model Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie), who has just married the prestigious Polish director Roman Polanski (Rafał Zawierucha).
“In this town, it can all change… Like that.”
Release Date: Jul 26, 2019
Run Time: 2 hr 42 min
Budget: $95,000,000
Fast-talking, quick-thinking Detroit street cop Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) has bent more than a few rules and regs in his time, but when his best friend (James Russo) is murdered, he heads to sunny Beverly Hills to work the case like only he can.
“He’s been chased, thrown through a window and arrested. Eddie Murphy is a Detroit cop on vacation in Beverly Hills.”
Release Date: Dec 5, 1984
Run Time: 1 hr 45 min
Budget: $14,000,000
(L to R) Maurice Compte and Gerard Butler in ‘Den of Thieves’. Photo: STXfilms.
A gritty crime saga which follows the lives of an elite unit of the LA County Sheriff’s Dept. and the state’s most successful bank robbery crew as the outlaws plan a seemingly impossible heist on the Federal Reserve Bank.
“Cops without limits. Thieves without fear.”
Release Date: Jan 19, 2018
Run Time: 2 hr 20 min
Budget: $30,000,000
NYPD cop John McClane’s (Bruce Willis) plan to reconcile with his estranged wife is thrown for a serious loop when, minutes after he arrives at her offices Christmas Party, the entire building is overtaken by a group of terrorists. With little help from the LAPD, wisecracking McClane sets out to single-handedly rescue the hostages and bring the bad guys down.
“40 stories of sheer adventure!”
Release Date: Jul 22, 1988
Run Time: 2 hr 12 min
Budget: $28,000,000
3. ‘Drive‘ (2011)
Driver (Ryan Gosling) is a skilled Hollywood stuntman who moonlights as a getaway driver for criminals. Though he projects an icy exterior, lately he’s been warming up to a pretty neighbor named Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son, Benicio (Kaden Leos). When Irene’s husband (Oscar Isaac) gets out of jail, he enlists Driver’s help in a million-dollar heist. The job goes horribly wrong, and Driver must risk his life to protect Irene and Benicio from the vengeful masterminds behind the robbery.
“There are no clean getaways.”
Release Date: Sep 16, 2011
Run Time: 1 hr 40 min
Budget: $15,000,000
Private eye Jake Gittes (Jack Nicholson) lives off of the murky moral climate of sunbaked, pre-World War II Southern California. Hired by a beautiful socialite (Faye Dunaway) to investigate her husband’s (Darrell Zwerling) 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.
“You get tough. You get tender. You get close to each other. Maybe you even get close to the truth.”
Release Date: Jun 20, 1974
Run Time: 2 hr 10 min
Budget: $6,000,000
1. ‘Heat’ (1995)
(L to R) Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer in 1995’s ‘Heat.’
Obsessive master thief Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) leads a top-notch crew on various daring heists throughout Los Angeles while determined detective Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) pursues him without rest. Each man recognizes and respects the ability and the dedication of the other even though they are aware their cat-and-mouse game may end in violence.
“A Los Angeles crime saga.”
Release Date: Dec 15, 1995
Run Time: 2 hr 50 min
Budget: $60,000,000
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