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| 5 | %% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks! |
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| 11 | [[quoteright:254:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/hardboiled1_9881.jpg]] |
| 12 | ->''"I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun."'' |
| 13 | -->-- '''Literature/PhilipMarlowe''', ''Literature/FarewellMyLovely'' |
| 14 | |
| 15 | A tough, cynical guy with a gun and a lot of {{Street Smart}}s, who solves mysteries with [[{{Determinator}} dogged persistence]] rather than astounding insight, the Hardboiled Detective was America's DarkerAndEdgier response to the classic ideal of the GreatDetective. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Anything but {{clueless|detective}}, the hardboiled detective is generally a KnightInSourArmor or even an AntiHero who lives in a world of BlackAndGrayMorality. He's a PrivateDetective or AmateurSleuth -- usually the former. His services are required because the police are [[PoliceAreUseless useless]], [[DirtyCop corrupt]], or [[BadCopIncompetentCop both]], so he'll never be a cop, though he may be a [[RetiredBadass retired]] one, possibly after being [[TokenGoodCop driven out by the corruption]]. Expect him to keep a [[INeedAFreakingDrink bottle of scotch]] and a gun in his desk, which is probably located in an office in the [[TheCityNarrows low rent district]]. Recent depictions typically include the trademark [[BadassLongcoat trenchcoat]] and fedora over a rumpled suit, made popular by Creator/HumphreyBogart. |
| 18 | |
| 19 | Originating in the early part of the 20th century, hardboiled detective stories put an American spin on the detective story. Unlike British mystery stories, which were set in large, elegant country estates filled with servants and relatives, hardboiled fiction is set in a CityNoir, amidst [[NoTellMotel cheap hotels]], bars, racetracks, and gambling dens, echoing the gritty realism of Creator/ErnestHemingway. As well, it has more sensationalist |
| 20 | violence and sex, the latter supplied by a sultry, dangerous FemmeFatale and members of TheOldestProfession. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | While the British detective in a classic mystery is educated, calm, and dispassionate as he makes his deductions, the hardboiled detective learned his trade from working as a cop, and he's likely to be emotionally involved in the case. The endings differ, too; a British mystery story ends with the Sherlock Holmes-type character announcing who the murderer is in an elegant drawing room. A hardboiled story is more likely to end in the hard-boiled detective being in a bloody shoot-out in an AbandonedWarehouse or NoTellMotel. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | The hardboiled style quickly became a major subgenre of MysteryFiction and CrimeFiction. Later, they became strongly associated with stylish, dark FilmNoir. Creator/RaymondChandler is considered the master of the genre, but it was Creator/HumphreyBogart's depiction of detective Sam Spade in the 1941 film ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}}'' (based on a novel by Creator/DashiellHammett) that became the TropeCodifier. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | By the [[TheSixties 1960s]], the hardboiled detective had nearly become a DeadHorseTrope, but continuing interest in FilmNoir kept it from the brink of extinction. Today it is most often seen in parodies and [[FantasticNoir genre crossovers]] (the Hardboiled Detective [[JustForFun/RecycledINSPACE In SPACE!]]), but can still be played straight in Noir revival or homage. The style, language, and fashion of the hard-boiled detective tend to remain solidly anchored in the [[TheThirties 1930s]] and [[TheForties 1940s]], though, no matter where he appears. Expect him to call his gun a "gat", to refer to women as "dames", and their legs as "gams". As such, it is also possible to call him a "Dick" and not be insulting. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | See also: PrivateDetective, AmateurSleuth, FilmNoir and FantasticNoir. Contrast with GreatDetective, KidDetective, and LittleOldLadyInvestigates. PhotoIdentificationDenial may show up fairly often. Compare DefectiveDetective. If the character simply provides first-person narration the way detectives in FilmNoir often do, that's PrivateEyeMonologue. This character type easily falls into the Stale Beer Flavour of SpyFiction. |
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| 30 | ---- |
| 31 | !!Examples: |
| 32 | |
| 33 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 34 | |
| 35 | [[folder:Anime & Manga]] |
| 36 | * ''Anime/TheAnimatrix'': "The Detective's Story" stars a hardboiled detective. |
| 37 | * Gai Kurasawa, a minor character in ''Anime/DarkerThanBlack'' is an affectionate parody of the hardboiled detective. |
| 38 | * ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' has an entire chapter parodying hardboiled detectives. The hardboiled detective in question uses the phrase to describe so many things that nobody knows what it means anymore. |
| 39 | * Samantha Spade from ''[[Manga/StrikeWitches Noble Witches]]'' is a DistaffCounterpart homage to Sam Spade from the American film ''Film/TheMalteseFalcon''. |
| 40 | [[/folder]] |
| 41 | |
| 42 | [[folder:Audio Plays]] |
| 43 | * Decoder Ring Theatre's ''Podcast/BlackJackJustice'' follows the adventures of two hardboiled detectives, occasionally switching between their often-conflicting narratives. |
| 44 | * In the AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho story [[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWho028InvadersFromMars "Invaders From Mars"]], the Eighth Doctor gets mistaken for one of these for a while. This being Eighth Doctor, he enthusiastically takes to the role and starts speaking in Hammet-esque hardboiled lingo, much to the bafflement of everyone around him. |
| 45 | * In Creator/TheFiresignTheater's ''AudioPlay/TheFurtherAdventuresOfNickDanger'', from the album, ''How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You're Not Anywhere at All?'', the character Nick Danger, Third Eye is a surrealist take on the trope. |
| 46 | [[/folder]] |
| 47 | |
| 48 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 49 | * From the ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'' universe, Harvey Bullock is usually one of these. As was late 1980s supporting character Joe Potato. |
| 50 | * The title character of the Spanish comic ''ComicBook/{{Blacksad}}'' is a hardboiled detective in the 1950s -- and a cat. |
| 51 | * The titular character from the short lived gamebook/comic hybrid ''Comicbook/DiceMan'', Rick Fortune, was a variation on this trope, being a hard boiled ''psychic'' investigator with a pair of magical dice that could summon a demon amongst other powers. |
| 52 | * Dr. Occult from Franchise/TheDCU is a hardboiled OccultDetective. |
| 53 | * Bigby Wolf from the ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'' series has all the archetypes of a hard boiled detective. In a way, Bigby subverts it; many hard boiled detectives take beatings, but Bigby is the only one who can (and does) retaliate by turning into a wolf and delivering violent beatdowns on his attackers. |
| 54 | * As a cynical emotionally disturbed alcoholic detective ComicBook/JessicaJones, fits this trope. |
| 55 | * Hannibal King from Creator/MarvelComics is a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampiric]] hard-boiled detective. |
| 56 | * ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}'' is an otherworldly version of the noir classic model, a heavy-drinking, chain-smoking, cynical demon with BadassLongcoat who sticks his nose where it doesn't belong, takes a beating, etc. etc. He's often referred to as "The World's Greatest Paranormal Investigator". |
| 57 | * Parodied in the ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd Alternity Special''. Among the various elements of Dredd's world reimagined in different time periods is ''Mean Streets'', putting Mean Machine Angel as a PrivateInvestigator in a FilmNoir setting. His "cases" end up being {{Bar Brawl}}s that he blunders his way into (in the opening panels, he's got the wrong bar) that end up inadvertently disrupting TheMafia's operations. Mean himself is a bit of an UnreliableNarrator with him claiming that doing a particular action (going head on against a judge, going back to his office, etc.) is incredibly foolish, before immediately undertaking said action. He's also implied to be responsible for his DeadPartner being murdered. |
| 58 | * Steve Ditko loved Hardboiled Detectives, and his two (very similar) characters ''ComicBook/MrA'' and ''ComicBook/TheQuestion'' are objectivist takes on the Trope. |
| 59 | * ''ComicBook/MsTree'', created by Max Allan Collins, is a relatively rare female hardboiled detective. |
| 60 | * ''ComicBook/MuktukWolfsbreathHardBoiledShaman'' is based on "the realization that shamans were kind of like detectives". |
| 61 | * The two ''ComicBook/NathanielDusk'' mini-series from Creator/DCComics in the mid 1980s were a loving homage to the genre. |
| 62 | * The nameless protagonist of ''ComicBook/PottersField'' by Creator/MarkWaid is another. |
| 63 | * Jack Point of ''ComicBook/TheSimpingDetective'' puts a twist in this. Jack has all the attributes of a classic hard boiled detective: [[TheCynic Cynical]], [[DeadpanSnarker snarky]], [[TheAlcoholic fond of whiskey]] and [[ReallyGetsAround women]], and wears the standard BadassLongcoat and FedoraOfAsskicking combo. However, he's also [[DeepCoverAgent an undercover judge]] and underneath the coat and hat, dresses like a clown. He gives several reasons for the clown getup, most of which involve concealing a variety of HiddenWeapons cleverly disguised as clown accessories. |
| 64 | * Dwight [=McCarthy=] of the ''ComicBook/SinCity'' series is a quite violent one of these, though he becomes more of a vigilante as the series goes on. |
| 65 | * Slam Bradley is a hardboiled detective who had a regular feature in ''ComicBook/DetectiveComics'' before Franchise/{{Batman}} appeared in its pages, and has been incorporated into the DC Universe since then. |
| 66 | * Leave out the gun and ''ComicBook/TheSpirit'' has it all...two-fistedness, the ability to take it (in SPADES!) and the guy to makes the women swoon. Probably comics signature guy for this trope! |
| 67 | * Nightbeat from ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMarvel'', ''ComicBook/TransformersClassics'', and ''ComicBook/TheTransformersIDW'', is a HumongousMecha homage to the genre, up to and including sporting a [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Image:MarvelUK-230.jpg fedora and trenchcoat]] and [[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/Bird_of_Prey! "Bird of Prey!"]] in particular being almost a retelling of ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}}''. Whether he's an AmateurSleuth, a "consulting detective" for the Autobots, or a PrivateDetective varies depending on the continuity, but he always has the same general hardboiled, noir-ish personality. |
| 68 | * Rorschach from ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' has some elements that seem like a shout-out to the trope, including the trenchcoat and fedora and the PrivateEyeMonologue (which is actually excerpts from his journal). |
| 69 | * ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': PI Micah Rains is a cynical man with a drinking problem who was working out of the back room of a bar when Diana first meet him and frequently gets in brawls. He isn't particually clever, just stubborn and hard working which gets the job done eventually and frequently puts him at odds with the police. |
| 70 | [[/folder]] |
| 71 | |
| 72 | [[folder:Comic Strips]] |
| 73 | * In ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'', Calvin's imaginary alter-ego, Tracer Bullet, is an AffectionateParody of the noir detective. |
| 74 | -->"I keep two magnums in my desk. One's a gun, and I keep it loaded. The other's a bottle, and it keeps ''me'' loaded. I'm Tracer Bullet. I'm a professional snoop." |
| 75 | * ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'' occasionally features Garfield as Sam Spade. Due to his being a cat, however, having people ask "[[StealthPun Spade]][[labelnote:*]]Spayed[[/labelnote]]?" tends to get a "Why do people keep asking me that?" in response. |
| 76 | [[/folder]] |
| 77 | |
| 78 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 79 | * In ''Fanfic/CowboyNoir'', Dia Anderson is a snarky, outlaw hating hardboiled detective who despises Rattlesnake Jake. But she has to begrudgingly work with him in order to find the culprit of his attempted murder. |
| 80 | * In ''Fanfic/MyHuntsmanAcademia'', Sun tries to invoke this image while investigating the White Fang with Izuku, handing him a hot beverage to sell it. The image falls apart when Izuku takes a whiff and realizes it's hot cocoa since Sun can't take coffee's bitterness. |
| 81 | [[/folder]] |
| 82 | |
| 83 | [[folder:Film -- Animation]] |
| 84 | * In ''WesternAnimation/MarsExpress'', Aline is a female example. She is tough, cynical, and even has a drinking problem. |
| 85 | [[/folder]] |
| 86 | |
| 87 | [[folder:Film -- Live-Action]] |
| 88 | * ''Film/TheBigSleep'' features Bogart again as detective Philip Marlowe, probably the second best known example. |
| 89 | * Deckard (Creator/HarrisonFord) from ''Film/BladeRunner'' is more of a deconstruction, being an Antihero with [[DefectiveDetective some serious psychological conflicts]]. |
| 90 | * Brendan Frye of ''Film/{{Brick}}'' is this despite only being in high school. |
| 91 | * Creator/HPLovecraft in ''Film/CastADeadlySpell'' is an OccultDetective who is also a perfect example of a Chandlerian detective. |
| 92 | * Jake Gittes in Creator/RomanPolanski's ''Film/{{Chinatown}}'' is an homage to (and subversion of) the archetype. |
| 93 | * Parodied with hapless detective Rigby Reardon in the Creator/SteveMartin film, ''Film/DeadMenDontWearPlaid'', which features lots of actual footage from classic FilmNoir to add to the atmosphere. |
| 94 | * A lesser known example would be the Bogart film ''Film/DeadReckoning''. He's actually an army man, so it's again more of an AmateurSleuth type, but Bogart had a cool PrivateEyeMonologue, which he didn't have in the more iconic Bogart films. |
| 95 | * Another Creator/HumphreyBogart example is ''Film/TheEnforcer'', where Bogie plays a hardboiled district attorney chasing gangsters. As a lawyer, he's more the AmateurSleuth version in this one. |
| 96 | * The 1971 film ''Film/{{Gumshoe}}'', starring Albert Finney, features a London man who decides to adopt a Sam Spade-like persona to escape his boring life, and quickly becomes embroiled in a plot involving drugs, gun smuggling, and gangsters. |
| 97 | * Tequila Yuen (Chow Yun-fat) in ''Film/HardBoiled'' is Creator/JohnWoo's take on the character. He's even referred to as one by the BigBad during the film's climax. And being a John Woo take on the character, he racks up a significantly higher bodycount than most examples. |
| 98 | * Louis Simo from ''Film/{{Hollywoodland}}'' is a deconstruction loosely based on a real detective, Milo Speriglio. |
| 99 | * ''Film/{{The Maltese Falcon|1941}}'' features Creator/HumphreyBogart as Sam Spade, [[TropeCodifier one of the most iconic]] hardboiled detectives of all time, seeking revenge for the death of his partner and hunting for a [[MacGuffin missing statuette]]. |
| 100 | * Sam Diamond (Peter Falk) in ''Film/MurderByDeath'' is a parody, especially of the Creator/HumphreyBogart versions of the hardboiled detective. |
| 101 | * ''Film/OutOfThePast'' is a classic FilmNoir starring Robert Mitchum as a hardboiled detective trying to escape his past (no spoiler to say [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin he's unsuccessful]]). |
| 102 | * Ed Harris as Ed Du Bois III in ''Film/PainAndGain''. |
| 103 | * In ''Film/Vice2015'', Roy Tedeschi is a rough and tumble sort of fellow, gruffly spoken and solves the Vice case through a combination of gritty determination and his connections with people on the rougher end of town. |
| 104 | * Eddie Valiant, the protagonist of ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', which uses appropriately parodic FilmNoir atmospheric touches. |
| 105 | * Harry Kilmer from ''Film/TheYakuza''. He's cynical, sarcastic, and dressed in a shabby coat, but he's compelled to get involved in the main plot by his sense of duty and honor. |
| 106 | * Hoyle from the surreal and cerebral Noir/SF crossover ''Film/YesterdayWasALie'' is a distaff version, with fedora, trenchcoat and all, trying to find a missing scientist. |
| 107 | [[/folder]] |
| 108 | |
| 109 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 110 | * [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Vincent Rubio in ''Literature/AnonymousRex''. He's a detective -- and a velociraptor! He claims he's not ''really'' hard-boiled, but he acts like he is because that's what the customers expect. He even uses the "[[Creator/HumphreyBogart Bogart]]" persona to pick up female dinos. |
| 111 | * ''Literature/BostonBlackie'' is an ex-con who spent time in jail for safecracking, and became a detective after doing his time. He's tougher than any crook and knows the underworld well. Started in 1914 as a series of novels, before moving on to Movies, Radio, and Television. |
| 112 | * Rosie Lavine from Creator/MelisaMichaels' ''Cold Iron'' and ''Sister to the Rain'' is a Chandleresque hardboiled detective recycled in UrbanFantasy. (Though she prefers gin to scotch.) |
| 113 | * ''Literature/ConstanceVerityDestroysTheUniverse'': Among many of the unusual people living in Connie's apartment complex is Azalea Slate, a hardboiled PI who's accumulated a lot of enemies in the criminal underworld. |
| 114 | * Sam Vimes of the City Watch from ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' was originally intended to be a deconstruction of this, though he eventually evolved into a reconstruction and one of the most fleshed out characters in the entire series. |
| 115 | * Harry Dresden from ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is part this, part Literature/SherlockHolmes (showing surprising deductive skills on occasion, to nigh SherlockScan levels), part [[Literature/LordOfTheRings Gandalf]]. With emphasis on the world weariness by around book 3. The snark continues unabated. |
| 116 | * In the ''Literature/EddieLaCrosse'' series, the protagonist is a HardboiledDetective in a SwordAndSorcery and/or LowFantasy world, being deliberately comparable to characters like Literature/PhilipMarlowe and [[Literature/TheMalteseFalcon Sam Spade]]. That said, the degree to which individual books fit the hardboiled sub-genre can vary a bit. |
| 117 | * Detective Miller in ''Literature/TheExpanse'' might be in space a couple hundred years in the future, but he dresses the part and drinks as much as one expects of the archetype. |
| 118 | * Lazlo Woodbine, from the "Far-Fetched Fiction" of Creator/RobertRankin, is a blatant parody. He insists on using the first person, getting knocked unconscious at his first appearance and can only appear in four scenes (his office, a bar, an alleyway and a rooftop). Considering the outlandish nature of his books, often involving things such as [[TimeTravel time-traveling]] Elvis doing battle with {{Eldritch Abomination}}s out to unmake existence, this makes things awkward. |
| 119 | * ''Literature/GarrettPI'' is the Hardboiled Detective recycled in a StandardFantasySetting. |
| 120 | * Conrad Metcalf, the protagonist of Creator/JonathanLethem's ''Literature/GunWithOccasionalMusic'' is a hard-boiled detective in a world that doesn't really have a use for them anymore. |
| 121 | * When Michael Connelly's ''Literature/HarryBosch'' isn't in the employ of the LAPD, he usually has plenty of overtones of this. |
| 122 | * Mina Davis of ''Literature/HungoverAndHandcuffed'' and ''Literature/AssholeYakuzaBoyfriend'' is something of a DistaffCounterpart for Spade and Marlowe. |
| 123 | * ''Literature/JoGar'' is a Filipino version of this in the stories written by Raoul Whitfield. Since Whitfield is a contemporary of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett, Jo Gar even operates in the same time era, except halfway around the world—1930s Manila, then under U.S. colonial rule. |
| 124 | * Patrick Kenzie from the ''Literature/KenzieAndGennaroSeries'' is an updated version set in Boston; a sort of homage to the classics, with all the style, but without many of the stereotypes found in parodies. |
| 125 | * ''Literature/KinseyMillhone'' from Sue Grafton's ''Alphabet Mysteries'' is another example of a female hard-boiled detective. |
| 126 | * Ross Macdonald's ''Literature/LewArcher'' is a postwar update. |
| 127 | * The ''Literature/MarcusDidiusFalco'' series starts out as the hardboiled detective recycled in AncientRome (though he mellows as the series goes on). Living centuries before Noir was invented makes him amusingly GenreBlind. |
| 128 | * ''Literature/MickOberon'' embodies this trope, except that the bottle in his desk is milk, and he carries a wand in his holster instead of a gun. |
| 129 | * Mickey Spillane's ''Literature/MikeHammer'' was an early, over-the-top, ultraviolent, KnightTemplar example who is often credited with helping turn the genre into a parody of itself. |
| 130 | * Neal Gordon in ''Literature/MoonCopsOnTheMoon'' is definitely one of these. In addition to the series parodying {{Cyberpunk}} this is what the series parodies most with Neal coming off as a 1970s (or Eighties) private detective transplanted to the distant future. He regularly ignores the rules, is surrounded by corruption, wears a hat and trench coat, and is a Deadpan Snarker. |
| 131 | * Nohar Rajastan, from the ''Literature/MoreauSeries'' takes the trope into the BioPunk 21st Century, being an anthropomorphic tiger. |
| 132 | * Idriel Ramirez of the sci-fi noir ''Literature/NerveZero'' seems like he has to shoot his way through his homeworld to find his old flame. |
| 133 | * In the science fiction novel ''Literature/TheNightMayor'', Tom Tunney is an author of historical detective stories featuring Richie Quick, a hardboiled private eye who lands somewhere between Philip Marlowe and Mike Hammer. He's called on to impersonate his own character in a virtual reality realm based on old FilmNoir movies. (The realm has its own native hardboiled detective, said to be an amalgamation of Bogart's trope-defining film characters, but he doesn't appear in the story, having already fallen victim to the problem Tunney is being sent in to fix.) |
| 134 | * Calisle Hsing in ''Literature/NightsideCity'' by LawrenceWattEvans' is a Hardboiled Detective, with all the typical attributes of the genre - even through the scene in a faraway planet of a future interstellar civilization , and with first-person narrator being a woman detective. |
| 135 | * Creator/NeilGaiman wrote some short stories featuring [[Film/TheWolfMan1941 Lawrence Talbot, the Wolfman]], as a hardboiled private investigator. "Only the End of the World Again" is one. |
| 136 | * Creator/RaymondChandler's Literature/PhilipMarlowe, protagonist of ''Literature/TheBigSleep'', ''Literature/FarewellMyLovely'', and other novels, is an iconic and much-copied example. Even the introduction to Marlowe in recent prints sums this trope up pretty well: |
| 137 | -->''I'm a licensed private investigator and have been a while. I'm a lone wolf, unmarried, getting middle aged, and not rich. I've been in jail more than once and don't do divorce business. I like liquor and women and chess and a few other things. The cops don't like me too well, but I know a couple I get along with. I'm a native son, born in Santa Rosa, both parents dead, no brothers and sisters, and when I get knocked off in a dark alley sometime, if it happens, as it could to anyone in my business, nobody will feel the bottom has dropped out his or her life.'' |
| 138 | * Nick Feldman's ''Literature/PutTheSepiaOn'' stars an unnamed detective who owes the lion's share of his personality to Spade and Chandler, though he's a bit more self-loathing and less effective. |
| 139 | * Creator/DashiellHammett has several, most notably, Sam Spade in ''Literature/TheMalteseFalcon'', as well as the recurring, nameless character called Literature/TheContinentalOp, as seen in ''Literature/RedHarvest''. |
| 140 | * Robert B. Parker's ''Literature/{{Spenser}}'', especially when he was first created, was about as close to a classic version of this trope as you could get while still living in modern times. |
| 141 | * Creator/RexStout: |
| 142 | ** Archie Goodwin, in the ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' series, played with the trope. Created during the trope's peak years, Goodwin had many of the classic elements, but he worked for Wolfe, the fat, home-bound GreatDetective. Archie did all the footwork and fighting and had a pretty good line in sarcastic snark, but tended to avoid the cynicism and world-weariness of the true hardboiled detective. As an illustration, while the typical Hardboiled Detective knocks back hard liquor like it's going out of style, Archie's more likely to unwind with a tall glass of milk. |
| 143 | ** Stout had another, much smaller and less popular series starring Tecumseh Fox, who was much more the straight hard-boiled type. |
| 144 | * In the introduction of ''Literature/TalesOfTheBlackWidowers'', Creator/IsaacAsimov [[DiscussedTrope contrasts this]] type of MysteryFiction with ''Franchise/HerculePoirot'', which is his favourite type of mystery. |
| 145 | * Carroll John Daly's "Three Gun" Terry Mack is possibly the UrExample of this trope, predating Hammett's Continental Op by several months. Daly's Race Williams is also an example. |
| 146 | * ''Literature/TravisMcGee'': Though not a private investigator(he self-describes himself as a "salvage consultant"), Travis is a detective as dogged, streetsmart, and heavy-drinking as the best of them. |
| 147 | * Clyde Umney, in Creator/StephenKing's metaleptic novella "Umney's Last Case." |
| 148 | * Glen Novak, the "hero" of ''Literature/UndeadOnArrival'' is a violent thug who solves his own murder by beating everyone in sight until he finds the right one. |
| 149 | * Sara Paretsky's ''Literature/VIWarshawski'' is a distaff version of the (usually) male hardboiled detective. |
| 150 | * Eddie Valiant from ''Literature/WhoCensoredRogerRabbit'' is an homage. |
| 151 | [[/folder]] |
| 152 | |
| 153 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 154 | * The main cast from the supernatural neo-noir series ''Series/{{Angel}}'' act as a general deconstruction of the trope, although play some parts to a T. |
| 155 | * Michael Garibaldi of ''Series/BabylonFive'' has flashes of this from time to time. Picked up, bizarrely enough, by G'Kar of all people. |
| 156 | * Parodied in the Creator/PBSKids' show, ''Series/BetweenTheLions'', which had a recurring skit featuring "Sam Spud, [[{{Pun}} parboiled potato]] detective". |
| 157 | * In ''Series/BrooklynNineNine'', one of Jake's idols was one of these- a Hard-Boiled Cop from the 1970s whose memoir was his favourite book ever. Then Jake met him, only to discover that the guy was [[BrokenPedestal as corrupt, racist, sexist and homophobic as one would expect for the time period]]. |
| 158 | * In the noir-esque South African Sci-Fi thriller, ''Series/CharlieJade'', Charlie is an homage to the older Chandler/Hammett style of hardboiled detective. He even sports the classic trenchcoat (though no fedora), and uses the PrivateEyeMonologue. |
| 159 | * ''Series/TheElectricCompany1971'''s [[PunnyName Fargo North, Decoder]] was as hard boiled as a kid's show could show. |
| 160 | * In a StorybookEpisode of ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', Walter casts Olivia as this. |
| 161 | * ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': The title character is a crass, hard-drinking, and cynical private investigator who is very good at her job. |
| 162 | * ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'' uses this concept as its main motif. |
| 163 | ** Protagonist Shotaro Hidari very much wants to be hard-boiled but is too emotional, leading his friends to dub him "half-boiled"; eventually he realizes that [[TheHeart this is a strength]]. Each two-episode StoryArc [[BookEnds begins and ends]] with him doing a PrivateEyeMonologue, and the second half starts with [[StringTheory a corkboard diagram showing the character relationships]]. |
| 164 | ** His [[MentorOccupationalHazard late mentor]] Sokichi "Boss" Narumi, on the other hand, had [[EnsembleDarkhorse much more]] [[MemeticBadass success]] modeling himself on the Chandler-esque ideal of manliness. Chandler is name-dropped in TheMovie, and Sokichi named the young man who would become Shotaro's partner after Literature/PhilipMarlowe. |
| 165 | ** Ryu Terui, although a police detective rather than a private eye, comes rather closer to the trope than Shotaro, with comparison explicitly drawn to his being the kind of person Shotaro aspires to be. However, all that goes out the window in his RoaringRampageOfRevenge quest to find the man who murdered his family. Thankfully, interacting with Shotaro and Philip helps Ryu level out, eventually leading him to marry Sokichi's daughter Akiko. |
| 166 | * ''Series/MagnumPI'' has the [[PrivateEyeMonologue voice over]] and cynicism, but wears loud Hawaiian shirts instead of a trenchcoat. |
| 167 | * ''Series/{{Mannix}}'' was pretty old-school hardboiled for a late-'60s/early-'70s TV detective. |
| 168 | * The 1980s TV adaption of ''Literature/MikeHammer'' is [[IndecisiveParody either a straight example or a parody]], depending on who you ask. |
| 169 | * France's ''Series/NestorBurma'' (Creator/GuyMarchand). The eponymous detective can be quite cynical and hard-drinking, has [[PrivateEyeMonologue monologues filled with metaphors]], plays {{Jazz}} instruments, wears a brown fedora, and is quite TheCasanova. |
| 170 | * ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': |
| 171 | ** In "Postage Due", Miss Brooks plays the hard boiled detective as she searches for the missing postman. |
| 172 | ** "Clay City English Teacher" has Mr. Boynton consciously imitates Sam Spade in an attempt to lure Miss Brooks away from the eponymous teacher. |
| 173 | * ''Series/PeterGunn'' made from 1958-60, was a Hardboiled Detective with a [[TheFifties 50s]] Jazz cool to him. |
| 174 | * In ''Series/QuantumLeap'', Sam Beckett leaped into one of these in the episode "Play It Again, Seymour". |
| 175 | * ''Series/RichardDiamondPrivateDetective'' |
| 176 | * ''Series/SpenserForHire'' was a rarity; a Hardboiled Detective with an even harder-boiled partner. |
| 177 | * In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', Dixon Hill is a hardboiled detective holodeck character that Captain Picard is fond of playing. |
| 178 | * ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' has a game called "Narrate", where Colin Mocherie and Ryan Styles act out a scene as if they are both hard-boiled detectives in a film noir. Every few lines of the scene, one of them will break into a narration of his inner thoughts, like in a film noir detective novel or movie. Bluesy jazz music plays in the background. See an example [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZqBXKsEA7M here]]. |
| 179 | [[/folder]] |
| 180 | |
| 181 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 182 | * Music/JohnZorn's ConceptAlbum ''Music/{{Spillane}}'' is built around the ''Literature/MikeHammer'' HardBoiledDetective novels by Creator/MickeySpillane. |
| 183 | [[/folder]] |
| 184 | |
| 185 | [[folder:Pinball]] |
| 186 | * Nick Spade from ''Pinball/WhoDunnit1995'' is a detective in [[TheGreatDepression 1934]] who's tasked with investigating a series of murders in Tony's Palace. He wears a fedora and trenchcoat, has a penchant for one-liners, and ends up getting into various scrapes during his investigation. |
| 187 | [[/folder]] |
| 188 | |
| 189 | [[folder:Podcasts]] |
| 190 | * Varyingly PlayedForDrama and {{Deconstructed}} by Juno Steel of ''Podcast/ThePenumbraPodcast''. His typically hard-boiled mannerisms - depressive tendencies, cynicism, perpetual defense mode, loneliness, a DarkAndTroubledPast - are seen less as genre conventions and more as signs he needs professional help. |
| 191 | * Podcast ''Podcast/RexRivetterPrivateEye'' also qualifies. Part homage/part tongue-in-cheek send up of the old radio shows, he utters lines like "If I get out of this alive, remind me to have a talk with the voice in my head", and "I may not be able to bring light to man, but I can take away some of the darkness" in his PrivateEyeMonologue. He has a sarcastic wit, and ability to take and dish out a punch or two. |
| 192 | [[/folder]] |
| 193 | |
| 194 | [[folder:Pro Wrestling]] |
| 195 | * The wrestler [[Wrestling/MagnumTOKYO Alan Kuroki]] from Wrestling/FightingOperaHUSTLE, with his appropiate fedora and suit. This isn't merely a case of WrestlingDoesntPay, HUSTLE is rather famous(infamous?) among pro wrestling fans for having an ongoing narrative beyond grudges and title belts(hence "fighting opera"). |
| 196 | [[/folder]] |
| 197 | |
| 198 | [[folder:Radio]] |
| 199 | * In the ''Radio/CabinPressure'' episode ''Uskerty'', Arthur and Douglas are drinking in an airport bar, and Arthur tries to channel this trope. |
| 200 | -->'''Arthur:''' Hey you guy. The dames, eh? Yeah the dames. Stupid dames. Do you have any luck with the horses? No, the horses are all idiots. You know between the dames and the horses sometimes I don't even know why I put my hat on. That's how we talk in bars, isn't it?\ |
| 201 | '''Douglas:''' No, Arthur. That's not how anyone talks... anywhere. |
| 202 | * On ''Radio/APrairieHomeCompanion'', the character of Guy Noir is a parodic example. |
| 203 | * MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfRadio had dozens of hardboiled detective series, including |
| 204 | ** Sam Spade |
| 205 | ** Phillip Marlowe |
| 206 | ** Pat Novak, for Hire |
| 207 | ** Jeff Regan |
| 208 | ** Harry Lime |
| 209 | ** Box 13 |
| 210 | ** ''Radio/YoursTrulyJohnnyDollar'' |
| 211 | ** Richard Diamond |
| 212 | ** Bold Venture |
| 213 | ** Big Town |
| 214 | ** Michael Shayne |
| 215 | ** Nightbeat |
| 216 | ** That Hammer Guy |
| 217 | ** Rogue's Gallery |
| 218 | ** The Falcon |
| 219 | [[/folder]] |
| 220 | |
| 221 | [[folder:Tabletop Games]] |
| 222 | * Joe Diamond in ''TabletopGame/ArkhamHorror''. He was even given this assignment by a [[FilmNoir classic]] [[FemmeFatale dame]]. |
| 223 | * A ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' scenario included "Artie Gumshoe - Tough Private Investigator" as a pregenerated character, packing a .45 Automatic and with an illustration showing him with a cigarette wearing a fedora and trench coat, inviting him to be played like this trope. |
| 224 | * ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpulp}}'' is an in-development RPG about detectives fighting crime in a [[TheBigRottenApple New York like]] MegaCity where TheNightNeverEnds. The central character class of the game is meant to be this. |
| 225 | * Although ''TabletopGame/RocketAge'' acknowledges that regular [[PrivateDetective PIs]] exist, the writers state outright that if you are playing as a member of the Wolfgang & Long Detective Agency you should essentially be playing as Humphrey Bogart. |
| 226 | * One of the first and third edition pregen characters in ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' is one of these. Trenchcoat and fedora, too. And a .38 revolver. Just ignore the fact that he's an ork... or embrace it, actually. |
| 227 | * ''TabletopGame/UrbanJungle'' has the "Hardboiled" type and "Detective" career, among other classic noir characters. |
| 228 | [[/folder]] |
| 229 | |
| 230 | [[folder:Toys]] |
| 231 | * ''ComicBook/BeastWarsUprising'': The story "Trigger Warnings" revolves around Wolfgang, a jaded Maxcop who is secretly a Predacon agent, getting into a crime noir story, complete with FemmeFatale. He's jaded because he's (despite the spy thing) one of the few honest cops on the force, on the CrapsackWorld that is Cybertron. |
| 232 | [[/folder]] |
| 233 | |
| 234 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 235 | * Booker [=DeWitt=], the protagonist of ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', is a hardboiled ex-Pinkerton PI sent on OneLastJob to clear the debts of his gambling addiction. Unlike most hardboiled detectives, however, his milieu is the bright, shiny, blue-skied floating city of Columbia (although you barely have to scratch the surface before realising how screwed up that place is, and that's before finding out about [[TownWithADarkSecret its real secrets]]...). |
| 236 | * ''VideoGame/DonaldInMauiMallard'' portrays WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck as a "medium-boiled" tropical detective-ninja based on [[Series/MagnumPI Thomas Magnum]]. The game goes for a DarkerAndEdgier yet [[BlackComedy comical]] feel and Maui's prose in the game's manual and cutscenes befit the genre. |
| 237 | * Lewton in ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'' both embodies and parodies this trope, due to the Disc's TheoryOfNarrativeCausality; he doesn't know why being a private investigator means he has to wear a trenchcoat and fedora, but he's quite sure it does. |
| 238 | * Sebastian Castellanos from ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin''. He has lost a daughter, is estranged from his wife, has a drinking problem, works too hard, and has an unkempt, haggard appearance. |
| 239 | * Nick Valentine of ''VideoGame/Fallout4'', despite living in post-apocalyptic Boston circa 2287, has this whole archetype down pat. [[spoiler:[[NinjaPirateZombieRobot On top of being a zombie robot]]. It's not just RuleOfCool: Nick's personality and memories are based on those of a pre-war police officer.]] |
| 240 | * Scott Shelby from the game ''VideoGame/HeavyRain'' is an aging, asthmatic retired-cop-turned-PI who's on the edge of hardboiled. (Softboiled?) |
| 241 | * Manny Pardo from ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber'' is a detective working for the Miami Police. The first time you play as him? He goes to a shopping mall who's under siege by criminals, takes a shotgun from the trunk and slaughters them all. |
| 242 | * Incredibly prevalent in the aptly name ''VideoGame/LANoire'', with the character of [[TheBigGuy Rusty Gollaway]] topping the set as the hardest boiled. |
| 243 | * ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'' borrows just as much from Hardboiled Detective fiction and FilmNoir as it does the HeroicBloodshed genre. In the [[VideoGame/MaxPayne1 first]] [[VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne two]] games, he's an actual police officer as opposed to a private detective, going on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge. [[VideoGame/MaxPayne3 The third game]] plays the spirit of the trope a bit straighter, however. Max is no longer a police officer and works as private security, and spends most of the game trying to rescue a DamselInDistress and overcoming [[TheAlcoholic his alcoholism]]. Though, the setting switches ([[{{Flashback}} mostly]]) from gritty and dark New York to bright and vibrant São Paulo. |
| 244 | * ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' |
| 245 | ** ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' invokes this with a sidequest featuring [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Looker]] (who notably wears a long trenchcoat), having you tag along with him in a series of film noir-esque cases. He even describes himself as "hard-boiled." Parodied as Looker isn't all that talented at acting dark or gritty, as hard as he tries. [[spoiler:Also subverted in that he isn't ''actually'' a private detective, he's just playing the role to hide his true status as an International Police member.]] |
| 246 | ** The eponymous ''VideoGame/DetectivePikachu''. Apart from wearing a Sherlock Holmes-esque deerstalker cap and being well.. [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter a Pikachu]], he behaves like a kid-friendly version of a stereotypical hard-boiled detective. |
| 247 | * ''VideoGame/RandalsMonday'': Kramer, who is incredibly sharp and does not stand for stupidity or snark. |
| 248 | * Big Band, from ''VideoGame/{{Skullgirls}}'', is a hardboiled {{Cyborg}} detective [[MusicalAssassin outfitted with a suite of brass instrument-themed weapons]]. |
| 249 | * Richmond from ''VideoGame/SuikodenII'' is an homage to the classic noir version. |
| 250 | * Tex Murphy from the ''VideoGame/TexMurphy''/''Mean Streets'' series of noir/thriller video games is an AffectionateParody of the genre. |
| 251 | [[/folder]] |
| 252 | |
| 253 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 254 | * In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' Tyrell Badd's appearance and demeanor are intended to evoke the hardboiled detective image. He has a bullethole-riddled trenchcoat, PermaStubble, a gruff and cynical attitude, and his color scheme is DeliberatelyMonochrome. However, he works for the actual police [[spoiler: when he's not moonlighting as a PhantomThief.]] |
| 255 | * ''VisualNovel/JakeHunter'' 's titular character is the spitting image of this trope. He left the police to become a private eye (while still having friends in Aspicio's police force, such as his best friend Scott Kingsley, Samantha Martin and Detective Luis) he lives on scotch and cigarettes, can take a beating as well as dish one out. He isn't good at comforting people or kids, but he has a soft spot yet full of regret at the same time. |
| 256 | [[/folder]] |
| 257 | |
| 258 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 259 | * ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' parodies this with the Detective Block "storyline" in EGS:NP, a sendup of noir detective films where the detective is an unintelligible writer's block. |
| 260 | * Parodied in ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'', where the main characters think they are this, and occasionally do things like practice their hardboiled monologues or are drawn in {{Chiaroscuro}}. From the reader's perspective, they act more like unspeakably, unspeakably silly EasternRPG characters. |
| 261 | * ''Webcomic/TheTalbotChronicles'' depicted [[Film/TheWolfMan1941 Lawrence Talbot, the Wolf Man]], as a hardboiled private eye, complete with trenchcoat, fedora, and PrivateEyeMonologue. |
| 262 | [[/folder]] |
| 263 | |
| 264 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 265 | * Detective Bogart in ''Roleplay/DinoAttackRPG''. |
| 266 | * Jamal Kaye in ''Ghosts in Quicksilver'' is a subversion; she's cranky, bad at socialization and a genius with a smoking problem, but she's also seventeen and it shows in her stressed-out moments. |
| 267 | [[/folder]] |
| 268 | |
| 269 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 270 | * Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'' episode "This Pun for Hire". |
| 271 | * The eighth season of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' [[AdventuresInComaland takes place in Sterling Archer's head while his body has been rendered comatose]] after the injuries he suffered at the end of the prior season. In this dream Archer casts himself as hardboiled late 40s PrivateDetective. True to the trope (and largely true to the actual Archer), Archer's character is somewhat street smart, highly determined, and a dangerous fighter but not exactly a great detective; he spends most of the season being jerked around by different criminal factions, an undercover fed, and a wannabe FemmeFatale. Also true to many such stories the whole thing doesn't end particularly well for anyone; the man who killed Archer's partner dies and at the end Archer isn't ''currently'' under the thumb of or on the hit list of the various crime bosses (at least as far as we know), but in virtually every other way it's a DownerEnding for everyone involved, and Archer promptly slips into a new coma dream. |
| 272 | * Cornfed on ''WesternAnimation/{{Duckman}}'' is usually a parody of the humorless mid-century PoliceProcedural detective, but on occasion he slips into HardBoiledDetective mode instead. Never is this more blatant than in the show's NoirEpisode "Noir Gang", where he's given a PrivateEyeMonologue and explicitly describes the episode's FemmeFatale as a "dame" -- "and I never say 'dame' unless creatively obligated by a film noir parody". |
| 273 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' in ''Where's Wanda''; Timmy wishes to become such a detective after the disappearance of Wanda, and ends up spoofing Sam Spade and Rick Blaine. |
| 274 | * ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'': |
| 275 | ** Daffy Duck tries to be this in ''The Super Snooper'' as he tries to whip up evidence that a voluptuous femme fatale committed a murder at the Axhandle Estate. All Daffy is doing is getting the female (as a duck herself) aroused. |
| 276 | ** Daffy again in ''Boston Quackie'' a parody of the ''Literature/BostonBlackie'' books, movies, and radio shows. |
| 277 | * Parodied in "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS5E16RarityInvestigates Rarity Investigates!]]", an episode of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''. The episode sees Rainbow Dash accused of a crime and Rarity gets to the bottom of it the old fashioned way: looking for clues, interrogations and muted trumpet music/lighting. |
| 278 | * ''WesternAnimation/RubyRocketPrivateDetective''. Ruby. |
| 279 | * Private Detective Shamus H. Goldcrow from ''WesternAnimation/TheTwistedTalesOfFelixTheCat'' is a parody of the archetype. |
| 280 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'', Hank gets a fedora and affects a classic hardboiled detective personality whenever he's wearing it. It gets him laid for the first time. |
| 281 | [[/folder]] |
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