Thrillers & Suspense
Thriller and Suspense Films promote intense excitement, suspense, a high level of anticipation, ultra-heightened expectation, uncertainty, anxiety, and nerve-wracking tension.
A genuine thriller is a film that relentlessly pursues a single-minded goal, to provide thrills and keep the audience cliff-hanging on the 'edge of their seats' as the plot builds towards a climax. Plots of thrillers often involve characters which come into conflict with each other or with outside forces - the menace is sometimes abstract or shadowy.
Below is a grand line-up of the best in contemporary Thrillers & Suspense made since 1965. Following a similar theme, with generally a darker look is the "Film Noir" feature, well worth checking out. The exploits of "James Bond 007" may also be accessed stage left.
Right: Frances McDormand makes an arrest in the Coen Bros "Fargo".
Jaws (1975)
8/10
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Lorraine Gary, Murray Hamilton, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider
A relentless, 25-foot-long "killing machine" is on the prowl off the coast of a New England resort town, and no one in the water is safe. Roy Scheider... Read more
French Connection II (1975)
6.8/10
Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Bernard Fresson, Fernando Rey, Gene Hackman
Gene Hackman is back as tough-as-nails New York cop "Popeye" Doyle, heading to France to track down the heroin dealer whose syndicate he busted in Ame... Read more
Brannigan (1975)
6.1/10
Director: Douglas Hickox
Starring: John Wayne, Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson
After a racketeer flees to London to avoid extradition, a Chicago cop (John Wayne) follows him to cut him off at the pass. Exciting English locales an... Read more
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
7.2/10
Director: Dick Richards
Starring: Charlotte Rampling, Harry Dean Stanton, John Ireland, Robert Mitchum, Sylvester...
Wonderfully evoking the time and mood of Raymond Chandlers 1940s Los Angeles, this film noir detective drama stars Robert Mitchum as an aging, down-on... Read more
The Killer Elite (1975)
6/10
Director: Sam Peckinpah
Starring: James Caan, Robert Duvall, Arthur Hill, Bo Hopkins
James Caan is a San Francisco killer-for-hire, working for the CIA, who uses firearms and martial arts for revenge in this tale of espionage, conspira... Read more
Obsession (1975)
6.8/10
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Cliff Robertson, Genevieve Bujold, John Lithgow
In this elegant thriller Cliff Robertson stars as a man who feels responsible for the death of his wife in a kidnapping tragedy, and seeks to resurrec... Read more
The Yakuza (1975)
7.3/10
Director: Sydney Pollack
Starring: Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura, Brian Keith
A superb blending of the American gangster, Japanese Samurai, blazing guns and swinging swords combine in this thrilling actioner about a former Ameri... Read more
Obsession (Blu-ray) (1975)
6.7/10
Director: Brian De Palma
Starring: Cliff Robertson, Genevieve Bujold, John Lithgow
In this elegant thriller Cliff Robertson stars as a man who feels responsible for the death of his wife in a kidnapping tragedy, and seeks to resurrec... Read more
Gone With The West (1974)
3.1/10
Starring: James Caan, Stefanie Powers, Aldo Ray, Barbara Werle, Sammy Davis Jr, Robert Wal...
After being framed, a cowboy is sent to jail. After his time is served, he leaves with vengeance in his heart. Soon he meets a young Native American w... Read more
The Gambler (Blu-ray) (1974)
7.2/10
Director: Karel Reisz
Starring: James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton, Morris Carnovsky, Jacqueline Brookes, B...
Axel Freed is a literature professor. He has the gambling vice. When he has lost all of his money, he borrows from his girlfriend, then his mother, an... Read more