Mystery, Inc.

The Detectives: Talk about the 'spirit' of the 1960s - four kids and their talking Great Dane꧟ drive around i🦹n a psychedelic Chevrolet Sportvan unmasking crooks disguised as monsters.

Why They're Cool: Regardless of the specific merits of the live-action Scooby-Doo (2002) and its sequel, be honest - when you were a kid, you want✃ed to join the adventures of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby aboard the Mystery Machine.

Quintessential Quote: "Scooby-dooby-Doo!"

John Klute

The Detective: The eponymous anti-hero of Klute (1971) is a police officer who becomes embroiled in 🥂a murderous conspiracy after he'🌟s hired privately to investigate call girl Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda).

Why They're Cool: Donald Sutherland's shiftiness is well used to portray a 'tec whose surveillance tips over into꧅ stalking.

Quintessential Quote: "The𝓰 next few weeks I wo♛uld like to know where you are all the time."

Daryl Zero

The Detective: Bill Pullman played this reclusive private eye in Zero Effect (199♏8), who has built ♑his mystique by only doing business through lawyer Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller).

Why They're Cool: A nov🌳el blend of Sherlock Holmes and Howard Hughes, Zero insists on nꦓever directly meeting his clients.

Quintessential Quote: "I have mastered the fine ܫart of detachment. And while♊ it comes at some cost, this supreme objectivity is what makes me, I dare say, the greatest observer the world has ever known."

Benjamn Espsito

The Detective: A retired Argentinian federal agent, played by Ricardo Darin in The Secret In Their Eyes (2009), who can't shake off the unfinished business of ꦍa case from the 1970s he never solved to his satisfaction.

Why They're Cool: The best detectives never let go of their i🌺n༺stincts.

Quintessential Quote: Esposito is warned that "if you 🌠keep going over the past, you're g♛oing to end up with a thousand pasts and no future."

Claude Lebel

The Detective: When the French authorities get 𝓀wind of a planned attempt on the life of Charles De Gaulle, they recommend deputy commissioner Lebel (played by future Bond villain Michael Lonsdale) as the best man to stop the assassination.

Why They're Cool: Given how cool Edward Fox's Jackal is, it takes a tenacious detective to prevent The Day Of The Jackal (1973) from taking place.

Quintessential Quote: "I've been given a job to do, so we'll just have to do it𝐆."

John Anderton

The Detective: Tom Cruise's PreCrime cop has it easy in Minority Report (2002), given that the deduction is handed to him on a plate. But what happens when the system is rigged🤪 and he becomes a suspect?

Why They're Cool: A very𝔉 clever spin on the genre, as Anderton suddenly has to dispense with sci-fi gimmick♔s and go old-school by working things out for himself.

Quintessential Quote: "There hasn't been a murder in 6 years. There's nothing wrong with th💞e system, it is perfect."

Karl Lohmann

The Detective: Berlin Inspector played by Otto Wernicke in two otherwise unconnected Fritz Lang thrillers, M (1931) and The Testament Of Doctor Mabuse (1933).

Why They're Cool: Lohmann's shambolic appearance hides a ke🧔en mind a la Columbo, but he's powerless against the rising psychosis of criminals in the pre-Nazi period.

Quintessential Quote: After being shot at yet again, "I'm getting fed up☂ with this!"

Ace Ventura

The Detective: Miami-based pet detective played by Jim Carrey in two movies - t🐠he leader in his fiel♏d, possibly because it's a career few others would even think of.

Why They're Cool: Ace gets by on🃏 sheer fl𓆉amboyance, talking and walking as if he's some kind of animal himself.

Quintessential Quote: "If I'm not back in five m🎀inutes... just wait longer."

Richard Chance

The Detective: Secret Service investigator in To Live And Die in L.A. (1985) who becomes so obsesseඣd with tracking down counterfeiter Rick Masters he's prepared to pu♛ll off his own heist.

Why They're Cool: Career screen cop William Petersen got his first lead role as Chance, showcasing the 'beyond the call of duty' determination that bagged him similar roles in Manhunter and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation .

Quintessential Quote: "Guess what? Un🦋cle Sam don't give a shit about your expenses. You want bread, fuck a baker."

Nicholas Angel

The Detective: Simon Pegg's cop in Hot Fuzz (2007) is so good he is resented by his London colleagues, who farm him out to rural backwater Sandford on 'swan fi꧃nding' duty with action-movie buff Danny Butterman.

Why They're Cool: Angel earns his wings🎶 by realising that a hideous conspiracy has turned Sandford into the country's murder capital.

Quintessential Quote: "I don't remember a time when I didn't want to be a police officer... apart from the summer of 1979 when I 🅠wanted to be Kermit the Frog."