Underrated Thrillers
by Mikesw1234 | created - 25 Oct 2013 | updated - 25 Feb 2014 | Public- Instant Watch Options
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1. Call Northside 777 (1948)
Approved | 112 min | Drama, Film-Noir
Chicago reporter P.J. McNeal re-opens a decade-old murder case.
Director: Henry Hathaway | Stars: James Stewart, Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb, Helen Walker
Votes: 10,248
2. Key Largo (1948)
Approved | 100 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A man visits his war buddy's family hotel and finds a gangster running things. As a hurricane approaches, the two end up confronting each other.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore
Votes: 43,999
3. Rope (1948)
Approved | 80 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two men attempt to prove they committed the perfect crime by hosting a dinner party after strangling their former classmate to death.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger, Dick Hogan
Votes: 153,782
4. Union Station (1950)
Approved | 81 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A sharp-eyed woman spots a man with a gun on a train and her alert to the railroad police helps them in their search for a ruthless gang who have kidnapped a blind heiress.
Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: William Holden, Nancy Olson, Barry Fitzgerald, Lyle Bettger
Votes: 2,726
5. The Enforcer (1951)
Approved | 87 min | Crime, Film-Noir, Thriller
A crusading district attorney finally gets a chance to prosecute the organizer and boss of Murder Inc.
Directors: Bretaigne Windust, Raoul Walsh | Stars: Humphrey Bogart, Zero Mostel, Ted de Corsia, Everett Sloane
Votes: 5,649
6. The Sniper (1952)
Approved | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir
A sniper kills young brunettes as the police attempt to grapple with the psychology of the unknown assailant.
Director: Edward Dmytryk | Stars: Arthur Franz, Adolphe Menjou, Gerald Mohr, Marie Windsor
Votes: 3,747
7. Guns at Batasi (1964)
Approved | 103 min | Drama, History, War
Anachronistic strict Regimental Sergeant Major Lauderdale (Sir Richard Attenborough), on a remote colonial African army caught in a local coup d'etat, must use his experience to defend those in his care.
Director: John Guillermin | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Jack Hawkins, Flora Robson, John Leyton
Votes: 1,958
8. 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: 24,421
9. 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: 17,350 | Gross: $7.96M
10. The Battle of Algiers (1966)
Not Rated | 121 min | Drama, War
In the 1950s, fear and violence escalate as the people of Algiers fight for independence from the French government.
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo | Stars: Brahim Hadjadj, Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Samia Kerbash
Votes: 65,710 | Gross: $0.06M
11. The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
Approved | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate.
Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger
Votes: 4,358
12. Targets (1968)
R | 90 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An aging horror star questions his place in modern Hollywood, while a disturbed young man goes on a killing spree.
Director: Peter Bogdanovich | Stars: Tim O'Kelly, Boris Karloff, Nancy Hsueh, James Brown
Votes: 11,420
13. The Chairman (1969)
M/PG | 93 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, the US government sends a scientist to China to steal the formula for a new agricultural enzyme developed by the Chinese.
Director: J. Lee Thompson | Stars: Gregory Peck, Anne Heywood, Arthur Hill, Alan Dobie
Votes: 1,415
14. Executive Action (1973)
PG | 91 min | Crime, Drama, History
Rogue intelligence agents, right-wing politicians, greedy capitalists, and free-lance assassins plot and carry out the JFK assassination.
Director: David Miller | Stars: Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan, Will Geer, Gilbert Green
Votes: 3,246
15. 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: 44,957 | Gross: $16.06M
16. 21 Hours at Munich (1976 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 101 min | Drama, History, Sport
A dramatization of the incident in 1972 when Arab terrorists broke into the Olympic compound in Munich and murdered eleven Israeli athletes.
Director: William A. Graham | Stars: William Holden, Shirley Knight, Franco Nero, Anthony Quayle
Votes: 1,224
17. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
R | 104 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Four armed men hijack a New York City subway car and demand a ransom for the passengers. The city's police are faced with a conundrum: Even if it's paid, how could they get away?
Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo
Votes: 35,865 | Gross: $2.49M
18. Juggernaut (1974)
PG | 109 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A blackmailer demands a huge ransom in exchange for information on how to disarm the seven bombs he placed aboard the transatlantic liner Britannic.
Director: Richard Lester | Stars: Richard Harris, Omar Sharif, David Hemmings, Anthony Hopkins
Votes: 6,328 | Gross: $1.56M
19. The Terrorists (II) (1974)
PG | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In a Scandinavian country, national security chief Colonel Tahlvik is tasked to rescue the passengers of a hijacked British airliner while the British Ambassador is being held hostage at his residence by another terrorist team.
Director: Casper Wrede | Stars: Sean Connery, Ian McShane, Jeffry Wickham, Isabel Dean
Votes: 2,506
20. Network (1976)
R | 121 min | Drama
A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit, but finds that his message may be difficult to control.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall
Votes: 170,741
21. North Sea Hijack (1980)
PG | 95 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
When terrorists take over two oil rigs, and threaten to blow them up if their demands are not met, an eccentric anti-terrorism expert volunteers his unique commando unit to stop them.
Director: Andrew V. McLaglen | Stars: Roger Moore, James Mason, Anthony Perkins, Michael Parks
Votes: 5,820
22. The Professional (1981)
Not Rated | 108 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Victim of a plot which has resulted in his imprisonment in a Central African jail for two years, a French secret agent arrives in Paris to settle accounts.
Director: Georges Lautner | Stars: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Desailly, Cyrielle Clair, Marie-Christine Descouard
Votes: 17,281
23. The Final Option (1982)
R | 125 min | Action, Thriller
It's suspected that a peace/anti-nuke organization in UK has some extremists willing to use terrorism. The action will probably be against an embassy in London. The SAS/Special Air Service try to get the organization infiltrated.
Director: Ian Sharp | Stars: Lewis Collins, Judy Davis, Richard Widmark, Edward Woodward
Votes: 3,767 | Gross: $2.67M
24. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
R | 116 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A fearless Secret Service agent will stop at nothing to bring down the counterfeiter who killed his partner.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, Jane Leeves, Cherise Bates
Votes: 39,400 | Gross: $17.31M
25. Target (1985)
R | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
When American Donna Lloyd is kidnapped during a trip to Europe, her son Chris and her husband Walter start searching for her.
Director: Arthur Penn | Stars: Gene Hackman, Matt Dillon, Brad Williams, Gayle Hunnicutt
Votes: 4,917
26. In the Line of Duty: The F.B.I. Murders (1988 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 92 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Florida 1985: A series of brutal robberies and murders keeps the F.B.I busy. Although all crimes seem to be comitted by the same group, they can't hunt them down. The experienced officer ... See full summary »
Director: Dick Lowry | Stars: Ronny Cox, Bruce Greenwood, Michael Gross, Doug Sheehan
Votes: 1,074
27. Sneakers (1992)
PG-13 | 126 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A security pro finds his past returning to haunt him when he and his unique team are tasked with retrieving a particularly important item.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Robert Redford, Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, Jo Marr
Votes: 62,562 | Gross: $51.43M
28. The Firm (1993)
R | 154 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A young lawyer joins a prestigious law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Hal Holbrook
Votes: 147,796 | Gross: $158.35M
29. Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A Black war hero is hired to find a mysterious woman, and gets mixed up in a murderous political scandal in 1948 Los Angeles.
Director: Carl Franklin | Stars: Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Jennifer Beals, Don Cheadle
Votes: 24,270 | Gross: $16.03M
30. The Assignment (1997)
R | 115 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An American naval officer is recruited for an operation to eliminate his lookalike, the infamous terrorist Carlos The Jackal.
Director: Christian Duguay | Stars: Aidan Quinn, Donald Sutherland, Ben Kingsley, Claudia Ferri
Votes: 9,990 | Gross: $0.54M
31. 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: 78,142 | Gross: $40.98M
32. Joint Security Area (2000)
Not Rated | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
After a shooting incident at the North-South Korean border DMZ leaves two North Korean soldiers dead, a neutral Swiss and Swedish team investigates what actually happened.
Director: Park Chan-wook | Stars: Lee Yeong-ae, Lee Byung-hun, Song Kang-ho, Kim Tae-woo
Votes: 34,233
33. 15 Minutes (2001)
R | 120 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A homicide detective and a fire marshal must stop a pair of murderers who commit videotaped crimes to become media darlings.
Director: John Herzfeld | Stars: Robert De Niro, Edward Burns, Kelsey Grammer, Avery Brooks
Votes: 51,949 | Gross: $24.40M
34. The Sum of All Fears (2002)
PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
CIA analyst Jack Ryan must stop the plans of a Neo-Nazi faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia's President by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore, Maryland.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Ian Mongrain, Russell Bobbitt
Votes: 124,476 | Gross: $118.91M
35. Silmido (2003)
Not Rated | 135 min | Action, Drama
Based on a true story of 1968 Korean Republic Army plan to assassinate North Korean president Kim Il-Sung. 31 criminals and death row inmates are recruited into secret training on the ... See full summary »
Director: Kang Woo-suk | Stars: Ahn Sung-ki, Sol Kyung-gu, Huh Joon-ho, Jeong Jae-yeong
Votes: 4,730
36. Hostage (2005)
R | 113 min | Action, Crime, Drama
When a family is held hostage, former hostage negotiator Jeff Talley arrives at the scene. Talley's own family is kidnapped and Talley must decide which is more important: saving a family he doesn't even know or saving his own family.
Director: Florent-Emilio Siri | Stars: Bruce Willis, Kevin Pollak, Serena Scott Thomas, Jimmy Bennett
Votes: 113,559 | Gross: $34.64M
37. United 93 (2006)
R | 111 min | Action, Drama, History
A real-time account of the events on United Flight 93, one of the planes hijacked on September 11th, 2001 that crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania when passengers foiled the terrorist plot.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: David Alan Basche, Olivia Thirlby, Liza Colón-Zayas, J.J. Johnson
Votes: 110,968 | Gross: $31.57M
38. 16 Blocks (2006)
PG-13 | 102 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
An aging alcoholic cop is assigned the task of escorting a witness from police custody to a courthouse 16 blocks away. There are, however, chaotic forces at work that prevent them from making it in one piece.
Director: Richard Donner | Stars: Bruce Willis, Yasiin Bey, David Morse, Jenna Stern
Votes: 134,837 | Gross: $36.90M
39. The Kingdom (2007)
R | 110 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A team of U.S. government agents are sent to investigate the bombing of an American facility in the Middle East.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman
Votes: 132,318 | Gross: $47.54M
40. Body of Lies (2008)
R | 128 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A CIA agent on the ground in Jordan hunts down a powerful terrorist leader while being caught between the unclear intentions of his American supervisors and Jordan Intelligence.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani
Votes: 239,652 | Gross: $39.39M
41. The International (I) (2009)
R | 118 min | Action, Crime, Drama
An Interpol agent attempts to expose a high-profile financial institution's role in an international arms dealing ring.
Director: Tom Tykwer | Stars: Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ulrich Thomsen
Votes: 100,062 | Gross: $25.45M
42. The Assault (2010)
R | 91 min | Action, History, Thriller
Based on a true story, a SWAT team is tasked with storming a hijacked Air France plane to save its passengers.
Director: Julien Leclercq | Stars: Vincent Elbaz, Grégori Derangère, Mélanie Bernier, Philippe Bas
Votes: 4,145
43. Haywire (2011)
R | 93 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission.
Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Angarano
Votes: 89,789 | Gross: $18.94M
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