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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".

Death Wish: The Vigilante Collection (1974)

6.4/10
Director: J Lee Thompson, Michael Winner, Allan A Goldstein
Starring: Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia, William Redfield, Jill Ireland, A...

Charles Bronson stars as Paul Kersey, a once mild-mannered New York architect who turns vilgilante after his wife and daughter are attacked during a b... Read more

Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974)

6.7/10
Director: John Hough
Starring: Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Vic Morrow, Roddy McDowall

Would-be race car driver Larry (Peter Fonda) is joined by free-spirited girlfriend Mary (Susan George) and mechanic pal Deke (Adam Roarke) on a rubber... Read more

Gone In 60 Seconds (1974)

6.5/10
Director: H B Halicki
Starring: H B Halicki, Marion Busia, George Cole, James McIntyre

Maindrian Pace is a professional car thief who's just been double-crossed leaving him headed on a crash course with the police. What follows is trail... Read more

The Odessa File (1974)

7/10
Director: Ronald Neame
Starring: Jon Voight, Maximilian Schell, Maria Schell, Mary Tamm, Derek Jacobi, Klaus Lowi...

From the best-selling novel by Frederick Forsyth comes this thriller set in 1963 Hamburg, Germany. Jon Voight plays a German journalist who launches a... Read more

The Tamarind Seed (1974)

6.6/10
Director: Blake Edwards
Starring: Julie Andrews, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quayle, Dan O'Herlihy, Sylvia Syms, Oscar Ho...

Julie Andrews, stars in this classic thriller from Blake Edwards. When Judith (Andrews) an attractive widow, is holidaying in Barbados meets suspected... Read more

The Conversation (Blu-ray) (1974)

7.8/10
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Teri Garr, John Cazale, Harrison Ford, Gene Hackman, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Wil...

Gene Hackman is brilliant as Harry Caul, the surveillance man who becomes the object of surveillance himself. Coppola's great achievement is evoking a... Read more

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)

7.7/10
Director: Joseph Sargent
Starring: Martin Balsam, Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Hector Elizondo

First-rate thriller in which Robert Shaw heads a four-man gang who hijack a New York City subway car at rush hour and demand one million dollars in ra... Read more

The Stepford Wives (1974)

5.3/10
Director: Bryan Forbes
Starring: Katharine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Nanette Newman, Tina Louise, Ca...

Two women who move with their families to the quiet Connecticut town of Stepford wonder why all the local wives are in a state of perpetual bliss, but... Read more

Chinatown (1974)

8.2/10
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Perry Lopez, John Hillerman, John Huston, Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, Burt You...

Roman Polanski's classic detective yarn sees murder and scandal emerge from the drought of 1930s Southern California. Private Eye Jake Gittes (Jack Ni... Read more

The Conversation (1974)

7.9/10
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
Starring: Teri Garr, John Cazale, Harrison Ford, Gene Hackman, Frederic Forrest, Cindy Wil...

Gene Hackman is brilliant as Harry Caul, the surveillance man who becomes the object of surveillance himself. Coppola's great achievement is evoking a... Read more