The 25 Best Political thriller films
by g-tyaneus | created - 30 May 2012 | updated - 02 Nov 2012 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. All the President's Men (1976)
PG | 138 min | Drama, History, Thriller
"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden, Martin Balsam
Votes: 125,981 | Gross: $70.60M
2. The Amateur (1981)
R | 112 min | Crime, Thriller
A CIA operative takes justice in his own hands, as his girlfriend is brutally murdered by terrorists. He carefully designs a plan to hunt down the terrorists, after the crime, and executes them one by one.
Director: Charles Jarrott | Stars: John Savage, Christopher Plummer, Marthe Keller, Arthur Hill
Votes: 903 | Gross: $6.89M
3. The Assignment (1997)
R | 115 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal.
Director: Christian Duguay | Stars: Aidan Quinn, Donald Sutherland, Ben Kingsley, Claudia Ferri
Votes: 9,974 | Gross: $0.54M
4. The Constant Gardener (2005)
R | 129 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A widower's transcontinental quest to find answers about his wife's death leads him to explosive secrets.
Director: Fernando Meirelles | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Hubert Koundé
Votes: 148,437 | Gross: $33.58M
5. The Day of the Jackal (1973)
PG | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In the aftermath of France allowing Algeria's independence, a group of resentful military veterans hire a professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" to kill President Charles de Gaulle.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Edward Fox, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel
Votes: 44,902 | Gross: $16.06M
6. I... For Icarus (1979)
120 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Conspiracy thriller inspired by the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination of JFK. After a fictional president is assassinated, a determined, tough prosecutor investigates the emerging conspiracy behind it.
Director: Henri Verneuil | Stars: Yves Montand, Michel Albertini, Roland Amstutz, Jean-Pierre Bagot
Votes: 4,561
7. The Ides of March (2011)
R | 101 min | Drama, Thriller
An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ryan Gosling
Votes: 230,666 | Gross: $40.96M
8. The Interpreter (2005)
PG-13 | 128 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
Political intrigue and deception unfold inside the United Nations, where a U.S. Secret Service agent is assigned to investigate an interpreter who overhears an assassination plot.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Jesper Christensen
Votes: 110,909 | Gross: $72.71M
9. Missing (1982)
PG | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
When an idealistic American writer disappears during the Chilean coup d'état in September 1973, his wife and father try to find him.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, Melanie Mayron, John Shea
Votes: 23,352 | Gross: $14.00M
10. Z (1969)
M/PG | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
The public murder of a prominent politician and doctor amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials. A tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Yves Montand, Irene Papas, Jean-Louis Trintignant, François Périer
Votes: 31,341 | Gross: $0.08M
11. A State of Siege (1978)
52 min | Drama
Malfred Signal leaves her life of stifling gentility, as an art teacher in a South Island private girls school, and decides to live out her dream: painting alone in the remote North. One ... See full summary »
Director: Vincent Ward | Stars: Anne Flannery, Peggy Walker, John Bullock, Peter McCauley
Votes: 41
12. Three Days of the Condor (1975)
R | 117 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A bookish CIA researcher in Manhattan finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max von Sydow
Votes: 62,495 | Gross: $41.51M
13. Music Box (1989)
PG-13 | 124 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.
Director: Costa-Gavras | Stars: Jessica Lange, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Frederic Forrest, Donald Moffat
Votes: 8,658 | Gross: $6.26M
14. The Jigsaw Man (1983)
PG | 94 min | Thriller
An MI6 defector has his appearance altered by the K.G.B. and is sent back to Britain to retrieve top-secret documents.
Director: Terence Young | Stars: Michael Caine, Laurence Olivier, Susan George, Robert Powell
Votes: 2,028
15. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
An American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 79,773
16. The War Is Over (1966)
121 min | Drama, War
A middle-aged political activist tries to dissuade his young followers from taking radical action.
Director: Alain Resnais | Stars: Yves Montand, Ingrid Thulin, Geneviève Bujold, Jean Dasté
Votes: 2,438
17. Harlequin (1980)
PG | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
An enigmatic faith healer - who appears to possess genuine magical powers - and a political fixer vie for influence over a senator and his family.
Director: Simon Wincer | Stars: Robert Powell, David Hemmings, Carmen Duncan, Broderick Crawford
Votes: 1,706
18. The Bourne Identity (2002)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and attempting to regain his memory.
Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Franka Potente, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen
Votes: 576,076 | Gross: $121.66M
19. The Lives of Others (2006)
R | 137 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In 1984 East Berlin, an agent of the secret police conducting surveillance on a writer and his lover finds himself becoming increasingly absorbed by their lives.
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck | Stars: Ulrich Mühe, Martina Gedeck, Sebastian Koch, Ulrich Tukur
Votes: 410,322 | Gross: $11.29M
20. The Ghost Writer (2010)
PG-13 | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A ghost writer, hired to complete the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister, uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Olivia Williams, Jon Bernthal
Votes: 170,789 | Gross: $15.54M
21. A Prayer for the Dying (1987)
R | 107 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Martin, an I.R.A. hitman, is seen by a Catholic priest while carrying out a hit. He grows a bond with the priest and his niece. But his past and his former employers put all their lives in danger.
Director: Mike Hodges | Stars: Mickey Rourke, Bob Hoskins, Alan Bates, Sammi Davis
Votes: 5,710 | Gross: $1.43M
22. Cry Freedom (1987)
PG | 157 min | Biography, Drama, History
South African journalist Donald Woods is forced to flee the country after attempting to investigate the death in custody of his friend, the Black anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko.
Director: Richard Attenborough | Stars: Denzel Washington, Kevin Kline, Josette Simon, Wabei Siyolwe
Votes: 14,459 | Gross: $5.90M
23. Man Hunt (1941)
Passed | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
British hunter Thorndike vacationing in Bavaria has Hitler in his gun sight. He is captured, beaten, left for dead, and escapes back to London where he is hounded by German agents and aided by a young woman.
Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, George Sanders, John Carradine
Votes: 6,435
24. On Wings of Eagles (1986)
300 min | Drama
When executives from an important Texas Corporation are taken hostage during the Iranian Revolution, magnate Ross Perot launches a special unit for their rescue.
Stars: Burt Lancaster, Richard Crenna, Paul Le Mat, Jim Metzler
Votes: 357
25. Seven Days in May (1964)
Approved | 118 min | Drama, Thriller
United States military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Fredric March, Ava Gardner
Votes: 17,322 | Gross: $7.96M
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