>but even the private detective allows the
>viewer/reader to identify with authority against criminals
Like this scene with Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) talking to Ruth Wonderly (Mary Astor) in the Maltese Falcon:
"Well, if you get a good break, you'll be out of Tahatchapi in 20 years and you can come back to me then. I hope they don't hang you, precious, by that sweet neck."
"...you're taking the fall.......You'll never understand me, but I'll try once and then give it up. When a man's partner's killed he's supposed to do something about it. It doesn't make any difference what you thought of him. He was your partner and you're supposed to do something about it."