Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "political-thriller"

51. The Pelican Brief (1993)

PG-13 | 141 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

A law student uncovers a conspiracy, putting herself and others in danger.

Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington, Sam Shepard, John Heard

Votes: 96,284 | Gross: $100.77M

52. The Jackal (1997)

R | 124 min | Action, Crime, Drama

An imprisoned I.R.A. fighter is freed to help stop a brutal, seemingly "faceless" assassin from completing his next job.

Director: Michael Caton-Jones | Stars: Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, Sidney Poitier, Diane Venora

Votes: 124,445 | Gross: $54.93M

53. 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: 45,073 | Gross: $16.06M

54. 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: 171,025 | Gross: $15.54M

55. The Good Shepherd (2006)

R | 167 min | Drama, History, Thriller

The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life.

Director: Robert De Niro | Stars: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin

Votes: 108,713 | Gross: $59.95M

56. Conspiracy Theory (1997)

R | 135 min | Action, Drama, Mystery

A taxi driver with a penchant for conspiracy theories becomes a target after one of these theories turns out to be true. Unfortunately, to save himself, he has to figure out which theory it is.

Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Patrick Stewart, Cylk Cozart

Votes: 107,503 | Gross: $75.98M

57. Money Monster (2016)

R | 98 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Financial TV host Lee Gates and his producer Patty are put in an extreme situation when an irate investor takes them and their crew as hostage.

Director: Jodie Foster | Stars: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Jack O'Connell, Dominic West

Votes: 105,522 | Gross: $41.01M

58. 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: 148,834 | Gross: $33.58M

59. The Siege (1998)

R | 116 min | Action, Thriller

The secret U.S. abduction of a suspected terrorist leads to a wave of terrorist attacks in New York City, which leads to the declaration of martial-law.

Director: Edward Zwick | Stars: Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis, Annette Bening, Tony Shalhoub

Votes: 78,261 | Gross: $40.98M

60. Absolute Power (1997)

R | 121 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Career thief Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood) witnesses a horrific crime involving U.S. President Alan Richmond (Gene Hackman).

Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Laura Linney

Votes: 60,326 | Gross: $50.01M

61. The Hour (2011–2012)

TV-14 | 60 min | Drama

A behind-the-scenes drama and espionage thriller in Cold War-era England that centers on a journalist, a producer, and an anchorman for an investigative news programme.

Stars: Romola Garai, Ben Whishaw, Dominic West, Anna Chancellor

Votes: 11,105

62. Vantage Point (2008)

PG-13 | 90 min | Action, Crime, Drama

The attempted assassination of the American President is told and re-told from several different perspectives.

Director: Pete Travis | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Forest Whitaker, Matthew Fox, Bruce McGill

Votes: 154,205 | Gross: $72.27M

63. The General's Daughter (1999)

R | 116 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

When the daughter of a well-known and well-respected base commander is murdered, an undercover detective is summoned to look into the matter and finds a slew of cover-ups at West Point.

Director: Simon West | Stars: John Travolta, Madeleine Stowe, James Cromwell, Timothy Hutton

Votes: 63,984 | Gross: $102.71M

64. 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: 111,097 | Gross: $72.71M

65. The Peacemaker (1997)

R | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

A US Army colonel and a civilian woman supervising him must track down stolen Russian nuclear weapons before they're used by terrorists.

Director: Mimi Leder | Stars: George Clooney, Nicole Kidman, Marcel Iures, Aleksandr Baluev

Votes: 62,627 | Gross: $41.26M

66. Zero Day (II)

Drama, Thriller | Filming

In the midst of crisis: how can we discover the truth when it seems that the world is being destroyed by uncontrollable forces? Also, to what extent are conspiracy theories our own inventions or products of our imagination?

Stars: Jesse Plemons, Robert De Niro, Lizzy Caplan, Angela Bassett

67. Syriana (2005)

R | 128 min | Drama, Thriller

A politically charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved in and affected by it.

Director: Stephen Gaghan | Stars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Kayvan Novak

Votes: 134,575 | Gross: $50.82M

68. Arlington Road (1999)

R | 117 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A man begins to suspect his neighbors are not what they appear to be and their secrets could be deadly.

Director: Mark Pellington | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, Hope Davis

Votes: 92,076 | Gross: $24.36M

69. 36 Hours (1964)

Approved | 115 min | Thriller, War

Germans kidnap an American Major and try to convince him that World War II is over so they can get details about the Allied invasion of Europe out of him.

Director: George Seaton | Stars: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Taylor, Werner Peters

Votes: 4,807

70. Green Zone (2010)

R | 115 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

Discovering covert and faulty intelligence causes a U.S. Army officer to go rogue as he hunts for Weapons of Mass Destruction in an unstable region.

Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Matt Damon, Jason Isaacs, Greg Kinnear, Igal Naor

Votes: 142,911 | Gross: $35.05M

71. Ghosts of Beirut (2023)

TV-MA | History, Thriller

Follows the hunt for Imad Mughniyeh, a Lebanese terrorist who evaded his adversaries in the Mossad and the CIA for more than two decades.

Stars: Dina Shihabi, Navid Negahban, Sarah Oliver-Watts, Nick Donadio

Votes: 2,737

72. The China Syndrome (1979)

PG | 122 min | Drama, Thriller

A reporter finds what appears to be a cover-up of safety hazards at a nuclear power plant.

Director: James Bridges | Stars: Jane Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Michael Douglas, Scott Brady

Votes: 33,138 | Gross: $51.72M

73. 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: 17,407 | Gross: $7.96M

74. Proof of Life (2000)

R | 135 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

Alice hires a professional negotiator to obtain the release of her engineer husband, who has been kidnapped by anti-government guerrillas in South America.

Director: Taylor Hackford | Stars: Meg Ryan, Russell Crowe, David Morse, Pamela Reed

Votes: 58,978 | Gross: $32.60M

75. The Ipcress File (1965)

Passed | 109 min | Drama, Thriller

In London, a wisecracking spy investigates the kidnapping and brainwashing of British scientists while dealing with the constraints of his agency's bureaucracy.

Director: Sidney J. Furie | Stars: Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd

Votes: 17,649

76. The Parallax View (1974)

R | 102 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

An ambitious reporter gets in way-over-his-head trouble while investigating a senator's assassination which leads to a vast conspiracy involving a multinational corporation behind every event in the world's headlines.

Director: Alan J. Pakula | Stars: Warren Beatty, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels, Walter McGinn

Votes: 21,849 | Gross: $2.15M

77. The Choice

Drama, Thriller | Pre-production

The British PM's husband is kidnapped, the French President blackmailed. They must navigate a rivalry while uncovering a plot threatening them both, their political futures and lives at stake.

Stars: Laura Guest, Natalie Law, Suranne Jones, Julie Delpy

78. Fail Safe (1964)

Approved | 112 min | Drama, Thriller

A technical malfunction sends American planes to Moscow to deliver a nuclear attack. Can all-out war be averted?

Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Henry Fonda, Walter Matthau, Fritz Weaver, Dan O'Herlihy

Votes: 24,478

79. Pine Gap (2018)

TV-MA | 56 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Set in the intensely secretive world of intelligence and the enigmatic US/Australia joint defence facility in central Australia, the spy-thriller Pine Gap delves into the famously strong alliance between the two countries.

Stars: Parker Sawyers, Jacqueline McKenzie, Steve Toussaint, Tess Haubrich

Votes: 6,928

80. Rendition (2007)

R | 122 min | Drama, Thriller

When a terrorist bombing in North Africa kills 19 incl. an American, an Egyptian chemical engineer flying from South Africa to his wife in USA, is arrested upon arriving USA. He disappears. His wife asks senator for help.

Director: Gavin Hood | Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Jake Gyllenhaal, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin

Votes: 58,265 | Gross: $9.74M

81. Death and the Maiden (1994)

R | 103 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.

Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson, Krystia Mova

Votes: 26,897 | Gross: $2.10M

82. Seberg (2019)

R | 102 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller

Inspired by real events in the life of French New Wave icon Jean Seberg. In the late 1960s, Hoover's FBI targeted her because of her political and romantic involvement with civil rights activist Hakim Jamal.

Director: Benedict Andrews | Stars: Kristen Stewart, Yvan Attal, Gabriel Sky, Jack O'Connell

Votes: 10,375

83. 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: 31,429 | Gross: $0.08M

84. 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: 23,442 | Gross: $14.00M

85. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)

Approved | 75 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

An ordinary British couple vacationing in Switzerland suddenly find themselves embroiled in a case of international intrigue when their daughter is kidnapped by spies plotting a political assassination.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Leslie Banks, Edna Best, Peter Lorre, Frank Vosper

Votes: 21,239

86. Nick of Time (1995)

R | 90 min | Action, Crime, Drama

An unimpressive, everyday man is forced into a situation where he is told to kill a politician to save his kidnapped daughter.

Director: John Badham | Stars: Johnny Depp, Christopher Walken, Courtney Chase, Charles S. Dutton

Votes: 45,247 | Gross: $8.17M

87. Profile (I) (2018)

R | 106 min | Mystery, Thriller

An undercover British journalist infiltrates the online propaganda channels of the so-called Islamic State, only to be sucked in by her recruiter.

Director: Timur Bekmambetov | Stars: Valene Kane, Morgan Watkins, Christine Adams, Kate Watson

Votes: 7,047

88. Deutschland 83 (2015)

TV-MA | 42 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

Martin Rauch is recruited by the HVA to infiltrate the West Germany army. As a rookie spy, his decisions constantly put his cover at risk and force his agency to take extreme measures.

Stars: Jonas Nay, Maria Schrader, Ulrich Noethen, Sylvester Groth

Votes: 15,064

89. The Contender (2000)

R | 126 min | Drama, Thriller

Senator Laine Hanson is a contender for U.S. Vice President, but information and disinformation about her past surfaces that threatens to derail her confirmation.

Director: Rod Lurie | Stars: Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater

Votes: 25,055 | Gross: $17.87M

90. The Package (1989)

R | 108 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Experienced Green Beret sergeant Johnny Gallagher is escorting a prisoner, Airborne Ranger Thomas Boyette, back to the US, but Boyette escapes and Gallagher must risk life and limb to catch him.

Director: Andrew Davis | Stars: Gene Hackman, Tommy Lee Jones, Joanna Cassidy, John Heard

Votes: 11,515 | Gross: $10.65M

91. Murder at 1600 (1997)

R | 107 min | Action, Crime, Drama

A young woman is murdered in the White House. Homicide detective Regis investigates while Secret Service works against him. He's assigned agent Chance. She eventually cooperates after a man's framed.

Director: Dwight H. Little | Stars: Wesley Snipes, Diane Lane, Daniel Benzali, Dennis Miller

Votes: 32,965 | Gross: $25.83M

92. Ingobernable (2017– )

TV-MA | 40 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

The first lady of Mexico is a woman of conviction and ideals. But when she loses faith in her husband, she'll need all her strength to uncover the truth.

Stars: Kate del Castillo, Leah Allers, Eréndira Ibarra, Alberto Guerra

Votes: 3,432

93. Fair Game (I) (2010)

PG-13 | 108 min | Biography, Drama, Thriller

CIA operative Valerie Plame discovers her identity is allegedly leaked by the government as payback for an op-ed article her husband wrote criticizing the Bush administration.

Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Sonya Davison, Vanessa Chong

Votes: 51,102 | Gross: $9.53M

94. Tokyo Joe (1949)

Approved | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir

An American returns to Tokyo try to pick up threads of his pre-WW2 life there, but finds himself squeezed between criminals and the authorities.

Director: Stuart Heisler | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Alexander Knox, Florence Marly, Sessue Hayakawa

Votes: 2,747

95. The Quiet American (2002)

R | 101 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

An old British reporter vies with a young U.S. doctor for the affections of a beautiful Vietnamese woman.

Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Michael Caine, Brendan Fraser, Do Thi Hai Yen, Rade Serbedzija

Votes: 29,790 | Gross: $12.99M

96. The Russia House (1990)

R | 123 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

A British publisher is sent a manuscript detailing Soviet Union nuclear missile capabilities. British Intelligence intercept it and recruit him to investigate the author's editor, a beautiful Russian woman he claims never to have met.

Director: Fred Schepisi | Stars: Sean Connery, Michelle Pfeiffer, Roy Scheider, James Fox

Votes: 17,585 | Gross: $23.00M

97. The Sentinel (2006)

PG-13 | 108 min | Action, Crime, Thriller

A Secret Service agent is framed as the mole in an assassination attempt on the President. He must clear his name and foil another assassination attempt while on the run from a Secret Service Protective Intelligence Division agent.

Director: Clark Johnson | Stars: Michael Douglas, Kiefer Sutherland, Kim Basinger, Eva Longoria

Votes: 52,458 | Gross: $36.28M

98. The Osterman Weekend (1983)

R | 103 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

During the Cold War, a controversial television journalist is asked by the C.I.A. to persuade certain acquaintances, who are Soviet Agents of the Omega network, to defect.

Director: Sam Peckinpah | Stars: Rutger Hauer, John Hurt, Craig T. Nelson, Dennis Hopper

Votes: 9,435 | Gross: $6.49M

99. Okkupert (2015–2020)

TV-14 | 45 min | Drama, Thriller

In the near future, Norway is occupied by Russia on behalf of the European Union because the newly-elected environmentally-friendly Norwegian government has stopped the all important oil- and gas-production in the North Sea.

Stars: Henrik Mestad, Ane Dahl Torp, Eldar Skar, Ingeborga Dapkunaite

Votes: 9,849

100. Nirvana in Fire (2015–2018)

TV-14 | 45 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy

Story about a son's search for his family's lost honor.

Stars: Kei Gambit, Ge Hu, Tu-Te-Ha-Meng, Kai Wang

Votes: 2,901