The 25 Best Political thriller films
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- DirectorAlan J. PakulaStarsDustin HoffmanRobert RedfordJack Warden"The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.
- DirectorCharles JarrottStarsJohn SavageChristopher PlummerMarthe KellerA 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.
- DirectorChristian DuguayStarsAidan QuinnDonald SutherlandBen KingsleyAn American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal.
- DirectorFernando MeirellesStarsRalph FiennesRachel WeiszDanny HustonA widower's transcontinental quest to find answers about his wife's death leads him to explosive secrets.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsEdward FoxTerence AlexanderMichel AuclairIn 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.
- DirectorHenri VerneuilStarsYves MontandMichel AlbertiniRoland AmstutzConspiracy 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.
- DirectorGeorge ClooneyStarsPaul GiamattiGeorge ClooneyPhilip Seymour HoffmanAn idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsNicole KidmanSean PennCatherine KeenerPolitical 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.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsJack LemmonSissy SpacekMelanie MayronWhen an idealistic American writer disappears during the Chilean coup d'état in September 1973, his wife and father try to find him.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsYves MontandIrene PapasJean-Louis TrintignantThe 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.
- DirectorVincent WardStarsAnne FlanneryPeggy WalkerJohn BullockMalfred 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 terrifying night, beset by a prowler, but confronting only her own image at every step, she relives her past.
- DirectorSydney PollackStarsRobert RedfordFaye DunawayCliff RobertsonA 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.
- DirectorCosta-GavrasStarsJessica LangeArmin Mueller-StahlFrederic ForrestA lawyer defends her father accused of war crimes, but there is more to the case than she suspects.
- DirectorTerence YoungStarsMichael CaineLaurence OlivierSusan GeorgeAn MI6 defector has his appearance altered by the K.G.B. and is sent back to Britain to retrieve top-secret documents.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsFrank SinatraLaurence HarveyJanet LeighAn American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.
- DirectorAlain ResnaisStarsYves MontandIngrid ThulinGeneviève BujoldA veteran Republican fighter's ardent dedication to overthrow of Franco's regime is challenged. He realizes that the center of political struggle has shifted away from him, and is forced to make choices about his life and political ideals.
- DirectorSimon WincerStarsRobert PowellDavid HemmingsCarmen DuncanAn enigmatic faith healer - who appears to possess genuine magical powers - and a political fixer vie for influence over a senator and his family.
- DirectorDoug LimanStarsFranka PotenteMatt DamonChris CooperA 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.
- DirectorFlorian Henckel von DonnersmarckStarsUlrich MüheMartina GedeckSebastian KochIn 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.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsEwan McGregorPierce BrosnanOlivia WilliamsA ghost writer, hired to complete the memoirs of a former British Prime Minister, uncovers secrets that put his own life in jeopardy.
- DirectorMike HodgesStarsMickey RourkeBob HoskinsAlan BatesMartin, 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.
- DirectorRichard AttenboroughStarsDenzel WashingtonKevin KlineJosette SimonSouth 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.
- DirectorFritz LangStarsWalter PidgeonJoan BennettGeorge SandersIn July 1939, 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.
- StarsBurt LancasterRichard CrennaPaul Le MatWhen executives from an important Texas Corporation are taken hostage during the Iranian Revolution, magnate Ross Perot launches a special unit for their rescue.
- DirectorJohn FrankenheimerStarsBurt LancasterKirk DouglasFredric MarchUnited States military leaders plot to overthrow the President because he supports a nuclear disarmament treaty and they fear a Soviet sneak attack.