Good political thrillers from the 1970s? or other good 70s movies?
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occ (
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January 11th, 2008
In reviews for the movie Michael Clayton, reviewers keep saying things like “harkens back to the political thrillers of the 1970s.” Since I was born in 79, I missed out on most of the 70s screen adventures. I enjoyed Michael Clayton, and I also loved the only other political 1970s movie I’ve seen…“All the Presidents Men”. What other 1970s movies would fall into this genre? The Sting was also really good…not quite a political thriller but just a good movie from the 70s.
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13 Answers
The Manchurian Candidate , not necessarily a political thriller, but a classic movie about how a former Korean War POW gets brainwashed by the communists into becoming a political assassin.
The Candidate with Robert Redford
-R
Not exactly ‘political’ but two movies off the top:
Chinatown-1974 w/Jack Nicholson
The Conversation-1974 w/Gene Hackman
Both had political undertones about government/power etc. As an audio enthusiast, I liked The Conversation because it was about wiretapping…
yes—these suggestions are on the right track. I loved Chinatown, and the Candidate. I’ve also recently watched Network. I guess I“ve seen more political 70s movies than I thought I had. The Conversation sounds good—I’ll check it out. Any other suggestions?
In the cheesy, pseudo-policitcal / sci-fi / suspense / thriller genre: The Omega Man with Charlton Heston. it’s the only movie that actually gave me nightmares when I was a kid!
Actually The Omega Man is a loose adaptation of Richard Matheson’s novel I Am Legend. The Omega Man is the second adaptation of the novel, with 1964’s The Last Man on earth being the first and the third was this past year’s release of I Am Legend starring Will Smith.
While The Godfather (1972) is not a political movie per se, it does deal a lot with the sort of subtle politicking that was found in Michael Clayton. If you don’t mind stepping back a decade Alfred Hitchcock has some wonderful thrillers like The Man Who Knew Too Much, Rear Window, Dial M for Murder, and many, many more
By the way, All the President’s Men is one of my favorite movies. As is The Godfather (hence my strong recommendation of it), although I am sure you have seen it, at least I hope you have.
My Dinner With Andre is an excellent intellectual movie about a discussion between two people directed by Louis Malle. The movie discusses everything from philosophy to politics to theaters. However its not from the 70s ( it came out in 1981). But heres a clip from the movie
Great political thrillers in the vein of “Michael Clayton” include The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor, All the President’s Men, Marathon Man. All are great, but the best in my opinion is The Parallax View!
Check out Advise and Consent from 1962. Truly about the political process.
The taking if the Palham 123 ( or something to that effect) saw by mistake on late night TV and thought it was great.
I can’t beleive no one has dropped the “Parralax View” with Warren Beaty yet.
@skeh0138: Kingkamandi mentioned it three posts up ^^ (no worries)
but you’re right, great film.
What was the name of the movie where the newly elected young president ordered that everyone over a certain age should be put to death. The climax of the film is when a little kid asks the president, “well how old are you?” the president answers and then the kid say’s, “Wow! that’s old. What was the name of that movie? and the name of the actor who played the president?
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