List of films based on crime books

This is a list of films that are based on books about crime. Films are listed according to the decade in which the depicted crime occurred, rather than by the film's date of release.

This page includes "crimes" where the "criminal" was later exonerated. This page includes suicides or other deaths which have been deemed to be suspicious by some and have therefore become the subject of conspiracy theories.

Frequently filmed: A Morbid Taste for Bones and sequels

 * * TV movie

Anne Boleyn adultery and treason
1536

Salem witch trials
1692–1693

Frequently filmed: The Crucible

 * ♠ The Witches of Salem has an adapted screenplay by Jean-Paul Sartre.

Affair of the Diamond Necklace
1785

Joseph Süß Oppenheimer case
1737

Australia
For bushrangers, see List of films based on westerns.

Brazil
For cangaceiros, see List of films based on westerns.

Canada
For Mounties, see List of films based on westerns.

Dreyfus Affair
See List of films based on war books — peace.

Joseph Vacher case
1894–1897

Frequently filmed: The Winter Queen and sequels

 * * TV miniseries

Cato Street Conspiracy
February 1820

Burke and Hare case
1827–1828

Great Gold Robbery of 1855
15 May 1855

Whitechapel murders
1888–1891 (Jack the Ripper)

United States
For outlaws and lawmen, see List of films based on westerns.

Frequently filmed: "The Tell-Tale Heart"

 * α Animated film

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
14 April 1865

See List of films based on war books — 1775–1898.

See also Assassinations in fiction.

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
24 February 1868

Lizzie Borden case
4 August 1892

Chester Gillette case
11 July 1906

Twice filmed: An American Tragedy
The novel was the subject of an unproduced 1930 screenplay by Sergei Eisenstein.

Henri Désiré Landru case
1914–1918

Doctor Crippen case
after 31 January 1910

Peter Kürten case
1929

Bobby Franks murder
21 May 1924 (Leopold and Loeb)

Death of Thomas Ince
19 November 1924

Scopes Monkey Trial
1925

Al Capone era
1925–1931

St. Valentine's Day Massacre
14 February 1929

Ruth Snyder case
20 March 1927

Papin Sisters case
2 February 1933

Sada Abe case
18 May 1936

Scottsboro Boys case
23 April 1931

Lindbergh kidnapping
1 March 1932

William D. Lundy murder
[informative page deleted over copyright violations]

9 December 1932

Sir Harry Oakes murder
7 July 1943

Edwin Alonzo Boyd era
1949–1952 (Boyd Gang)
 * * TV movie

Doctor Petiot case
before 31 October 1944

Portella della Ginestra massacre
1 May 1947

Frequently filmed: The Adventures of Pinocchio

 * ♠ A young innocent is deceived by swindlers and sold into slavery.
 * α Animated film

Happy Valley murder
1941

Sleepy Lagoon murder
2 August 1942

Black Dahlia murder
c. 15 January 1947

Stone of Scone theft
25 December 1950 (Christmas Day robbery of a church)

Ruth Ellis case
1955

Great Brink's Robbery
17 January 1950

Coleman Peterson case
31 July 1952

Ed Gein case
1957

Suicide of George Reeves
16 June 1959

Clutter Family murders
15 November 1959

San Fernando bank robbery
1965
 * ♣ The robbery took place in Argentina; the pursuit ended in Uruguay.

France

 * ♠ The film was remade for television in 2005 as Joseph.

Frequently filmed: Roseanna and sequels

 * Δ The film adaptation changes the setting from Stockholm to San Francisco.

Profumo affair
1963

San Fernando bank robbery getaway
1965
 * ♣ The robbery took place in Argentina; the pursuit ended in Uruguay.

Clarence Earl Gideon case
3 June 1961

Ian James Campbell murder
9 March 1963

Boston Strangler case
1962–1964

Assassination of John F. Kennedy
22 November 1963

Bulletin ... film currently in development: Reclaiming History

 * ♣ Lane is credited as screenwriter, rather than as author.
 * ♦ Bugliosi's preparation for the televised "trial" of deceased defendant Oswald became the book Reclaiming History.
 * ♠ The authors are credited as technical advisors on JFK.
 * ♥ Prouty's book has an introduction by Oliver Stone.
 * * TV special
 * ** TV miniseries
 * δ Documentary
 * † Dramatized documentary

See also Assassinations in fiction.

Kitty Genovese murder
13 March 1964

Sylvia Likens murder
26 October 1965

Richard Speck case
13 July 1966

Tate–LaBianca murders
1969 (Manson Family)

Helen Betty Osborne murder
13 November 1971
 * * TV movie

Jonestown Massacre
18 November 1978

Norrmalmstorg bank robbery
23–28 August 1973 (Stockholm syndrome)

Baker Street bank robbery
11 September 1971

What if ...

 * ♠ The earliest editions of the novel did not contain a glossary, or any indication that the slang was based on Russian.

New England
"Catamount" is an infrequently used term for a cougar, but here refers to the fictitious town.
 * ♠ The film, shot in Bennington, Vermont, involves a "bank in a remote town in New England".

Jeffrey MacDonald case
17 February 1970
 * ** TV miniseries

Knapp Commission on NYPD corruption
1970–1972

Watergate burglary
17 June 1972
 * * TV movie

Gay Brooklyn bank robbery
22 August 1972

Ted Bundy case
1974–1978
 * * TV movie

Frank Lucas case
before 1975

Martha Moxley murder
31 October 1975
 * * TV movie

Hillside Strangler case
1977–1978
 * * TV movie

Bob Crane murder
29 June 1978

What if ...

 * * TV movie

Azaria Chamberlain disappearance
17 August 1980 (dingo baby abduction)

Canada

 * * TV movie

Colin Thatcher case
21 January 1983

Montreal Massacre
6 December 1989

Roberto Succo case
1980s

Soraya M. case
1986

Enrique Camarena murder
9 February 1985
 * ** TV miniseries

Andrei Chikatilo case
1978–1990
 * * TV movie

What if ...

 * ♠ In this version, the murderer, renamed Evilenko, has psychic powers.

Doctor Tarnower murder
10 March 1980 (Scarsdale Diet author death)
 * * TV movie

John Lennon murder
8 December 1980

See also Assassinations in fiction.

Lawrencia "Bambi" Bembenek case
28 May 1981
 * * TV movie

Henry Lee Lucas case
before 11 June 1983

Alan Berg murder
18 June 1984

See also Assassinations in fiction.

Exxon Valdez disaster
23 March 1989

Paul Bernardo case
up to 1992

Bombay bombings of 1993
12 March 1993

Barings Bank collapse
1995

Spain

 * ♠ A crossword puzzle writer becomes involved in a bizarre mystery in Seville.

James Bulger murder
12 February 1993
 * ♠ The principal connection to the Bulger case appears to be the youthfulness of the convicted boys.

Suicide of Vince Foster
20 July 1993

Natalee Holloway disappearance
30 May 2005
 * * TV movie

United States

 * д Decade when story occurs is presumed.
 * ** TV miniseries

Valerie Plame exposure
14 July 2003

Political crimes
For political prisoners, see List of films based on civics books.

Drug trade
For traffickers, see above.

For addicts, see List of films based on civics books.

Prisons
For punishment and prisons, see List of films based on civics books.