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20th Century Thrillers (20 titles)

Its hard to define what makes the quintessential thriller, and where do you draw the line between thrillers and 'action' flicks or cops and robbers, or fast-paced dramas, or gangester movies, or film noir etc. For me thrillers have got to have guns, chases, tough/flawed-but-true/sensitive-but-ruthless/guys, seductive/vulnerable/fiesty/vampy/resourceful gals, nasty/ viscious/cold-blooded/ villians, more guns, more chases, tensions, suspense, a few laffs and a sense of peril. All of these films do at least some of this stuff really well.

by: A customer

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70
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Bullitt

The Daddy of the modern Thriller: it all stems from here, Car chases; cool, maverick cops; corrupt bosses; deadly shoot-outs in public places; gore; climaxes at airports. Oh, and Steve McQueen in a defining role.

Bullitt on DVD (1968)
Starring: Norman Fell, Simon Oakland, Robert Duvall
Director: Peter Yates
Certificate:
Watch now: Unavailable
Robert L. Pike's crime novel Mute Witness makes the transition to the big screen in this film from director Peter Yates. In one of his most famous roles, Steve McQueen stars as tough-guy police detective Frank Bullitt. The story begins with Bullitt assigned to a seemingly routine detail, protecting ..read more »
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- 70
- from 9940 members

Point Blank

Another 60s classic, from the decade of the anti-hero

Point Blank (1967)
Starring: Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, Keenan Wynn
Director: John Boorman
Certificate:
A man is shot and left for dead by his unfaithful wife and her mobster lover. Now he's back and out for revenge against the businessmen and mobsters who did him wrong.
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- 80
- from 499 members
Currently unavailable

North by Northwest

Psycho is more scarey, but this has colour, wit, zest, thrills, shocks, twists, humor, the effortless cool of Cary Grant and the slimey menace of James Mason. Hitchcock's greatest.

North by Northwest on DVD (1959)
Starring: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Certificate:
Watch now: Included in all packages with LOVEFiLM Instant
An advertising executive is mistaken for a spy and is pursued across the country while he looks for a way to survive.
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- 80
- from 26,073 members

Heat

Deadly shoot-outs in public places, gore; climax at an airport. Ok, its been done before but never like this, never better.

Heat on DVD (1995)
Starring: Ashley Judd, Al Pacino, Diane Venora
Director: Michael Mann
Certificate:
A successful career criminal considers getting out of the business after one last score, while an obsessive cop desperately tries to put him behind bars in this intelligent thriller written and directed by Michael Mann. Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) is a thief who specializes in big, risky jobs, ..read more »
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- 70
- from 47,233 members

Witness

Harrison Ford: the Cary Grant of the late 20th century. A slow burn of a thriller with a pastoral interlude.

Witness on DVD (1985)
Starring: Danny Glover, Harrison Ford, Jan Rubes
Director: Peter Weir
Certificate:
When a young Amish boy (Lukas Haas) witnesses a murder in a big city train station, detective Jon Book (Harrison Ford) is given the job of protecting him. Suspecting that the murder was part of a police conspiracy, Book retreats to the small farming community where the boy lives. As time passes, ..read more »
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- 70
- from 8819 members

Out Of The Past

Nobody does fedora, trenchcoat and cigarette better than Robert Mitchum. See also Mitchum's 'Farewell My Lovely'

Out Of The Past on DVD (1947)
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer
Director: Jacques Tourneur
Certificate:
Private detective Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) is hired by gambler Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas) to find Sterling's girlfriend after she shoots him and takes off with $40,000 of his money. Bailey tracks the woman, Kathie Moffett (Jane Greer) to Mexico, only to fall for her charms. When Kathie ..read more »
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- 80
- from 1400 members

Prime Cut

Quirky, memorable, early 70s thriller, typical of its time, its a 'B' movie in colour, with good production values and everyone is having fun.

Prime Cut (1972)
Starring: Lee Marvin, Gene Hackman, Angel Tompkins
Director: Michael Ritchie
Certificate:
Gritty, tongue-in-cheek drama about a Kansas City mobster in deep trouble when an enforcer from Chicago is sent to collect a debt.
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- 60
- from 94 members
Currently unavailable

Marathon Man

Schlesinger is not everyones cup of tea, but the torture scene has probably led to more cancelled dentist appointments than anything else in film history

Marathon Man on DVD (1976)
Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Allen Joseph, Marc Lawrence
Director: John Schlesinger
Certificate:
Thriller starring Dustin Hoffman. Graduate student and marathon runner Babe Levy (Hoffman) finds himself thrown into a dangerous new world when Doc (Roy Scheider), his secret agent brother, is killed by the Nazi war criminal Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier). Szell has come to the US in search of ..read more »
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- 70
- from 8911 members

Gilda

South America. Nightclubs. Nasty Nazis. And Rita Hayworth. The Love Godess. The greatest Femme Fatale ever captured on screen

Gilda on DVD (1946)
Starring: Ludwig Donath, Glenn Ford, Rita Hayworth
Director: Charles Vidor
Certificate:
When wealthy Ballin Mundson (George Macready) rescues down at his heels gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) and invites him to the Buenos Aires casino he owns, both men get more than they wagered on. Farrell convinces Mundson to hire him as casino manager, but is shocked when Mundson introduces his ..read more »
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- 70
- from 2427 members

The Long Kiss Goodnight

One of my favourite films. Comic-book nonsense on one level, but just such great fun and Samuel Jackson's finest hour

The Long Kiss Goodnight on DVD (1996)
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Brian Cox, Patrick Malahide
Director: Renny Harlin
Certificate:
Samantha Caine (Geena Davis) is a school teacher who can remember nothing about her life prior to being discovered eight years previously. When she begins to have flashbacks to her past, she is helped by detective Mitch Henessey (Samuel L. Jackson) to find out that she is a former CIA assassin, who ..read more »
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- 70
- from 8309 members