Cinema's Best Political Thrillers Race Your Pulse and Thoughts

Aug 6, 2011
Sarah Davis

Laurence Hardy & Frank Sinatra in The Manchurian Candidate - Library of Congress

The turbulent political atmosphere we live in is depicted in some of cinema's finest films in the diverse genre, the political thriller.

The political thriller is a hybrid sub-genre, mixing drama and action. Often the thrill comes from psychological or circumstantial deadlines or tension, so it is not always filled with guns and gore. It need not always encompass executive powers, and sometimes the struggle is simply between two people. As critic Erik Lundegaard defines it, “The basic plot is an ordinary man pulling an innocent thread that leads to a mess of corruption.” Lundegaard traces the genre’s history back to the Cold War, with nail-biters like the Cuban Missile Crisis. Historical political thrillers have often been the basis for the thrill, like assassinations, war, and cover-up scandals.

Because it encompasses so many different possibilities, the political thriller is diverse and flexible. Here are some of the genre’s best, starting with its earliest days.

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

Starring Frank Sinatra and Angela Lansbury, among others, director John Frankenheimer’s Cold War drama imagined an American soldier (Laurence Harvey) being captured in Manchuria, China, and fighting against the brainwashing techniques of an international Communist conspiracy. Legend has it that Sinatra wanted to pull the film from distribution after the assassination of American president John F. Kennedy. The film is frequently considered one of the best films of all time, and the American Film Institute (AFI) ranked it #17 on its 100 Years…100 Thrills list.

Z (1969)

Z, a French-Algerian production directed by Costa Garvras, is about the assassination of the Greek politiian Vassilis Vassilikos. The film follows a fast-paced plot about the events following the investigation of the murder and the further danger—and bodies—that pile up. It begins with the unique disclaimer (here translated) that "Any resemblance to real events, to persons living or dead, is not accidental. It is INTENTIONAL." Z was the first film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Best Pictur and won the former.

Three Days of the Condor (1975)

Following Watergate American political culture would never be the same. Suddenly everyone who had been worried about conspiracies was no longer immediately written off. Stanley Pollack’s Three Days of the Condor picks up on this feeling and places Robert Redford in the role of CIA employee who likes to read magazines and newspapers to pick up on conspiracies. Soon he finds himself entangled in a murder mystery that grows larger the more he pushes for more details about what exactly is going on in the government’s most secretive organization. Nominated for multiple awards, Pollack’s film still resonates today.

All the President’s Men (1976)

All the President’s Men is one of the finest films ever made and especially one of the genre’s best. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman star as two rookie journalists who uncover the Nixon Watergate scandal and expose it to the world. Even if you think you’ve heard the Watergate story more times than you’d like, All the President’s Men is necessary viewing for those wanting to understand how history can be turned into a heart-stopping intellectual thriller. Featuring award-winning performances and an excellent screenplay by William Goldman, this film will have you on the edge of your seat as you live through the unreal events as they unfold before your eyes.

JFK (1991)

Picking up where Z left off, Oliver Stone’s outstanding film takes you inside the conspiracy theories to end all conspiracy theories: that JFK’s assassination was a planned hit job involving the US government and Cuba. The film follows Kevin Costner as a lawyer setting out to find the truth as he brushes up against forces larger than himself. Known for its fast pace, meditative implications, and totally unconventional (and Academy Award-winning) cinematography and editing, JFK set the precedent for films on many levels and raised the bar for political thrillers.

Some recent hot additions to the genre include:

The Lives of Others (Das Leben des Anderen) (2006)

A German drama that won awards all over, The Live of Others follows the ethical dilemma an investigator of East Germany’s secret police as he grows to become tangled in the lives of the people he spies on. The film questions the notion of evil having a concrete, black and white distinction. Excellent direction by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck in his debut films makes for a heart pounding thriller with an ending you do not see coming.

Fair Game (2010)

This underappreciated gem puts the true story of CIA agent Valerie Plame’s struggle to fight against the government when she and her husband expose the truth that there were no Weapons of Mass Destructions that were used to justify invading Iraq. This film, shown at Cannes in 2010, is a terrific movie if you want to better understand how what we read in the newspaper affected two people who were victims in the government’s cold disposal of any who questioned them.