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Conspiracy thriller films have a way of sticking with our minds maybe it’s because they show that the authorities are hiding something and we know that actually might be true or maybe it’s just thrilling to uncover a large conspiracy even in a fictional world. We thought of compiling a list of the best and most thrilling conspiracy movies and we have only included the films that are entertaining and have a large conspiracy in their story. So, here are the 10 best conspiracy thriller movies you shouldn’t miss out on.

All the President’s Men (Rent on Prime Video)

All the President’s Men is a biographical political thriller film directed by Alan J. Pakula from a screenplay by William Goldman. Based on a 1974 non-fiction book of the same name by authors Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, the 1976 film is set during the 1972 elections and it follows the story...

In 1982, Jonathan Demme directed a lovely TV movie called “Who Am I This Time?” about a shy actor (Christopher Walken) who can only reveal himself on stage in a variety of disparate roles. It’s an emblematic title and idea for Demme himself, a director whose fascination for the viewer lies in the fact that he’s paradoxically both an auteur with a clear signature and a director who tried on different artistic personalities throughout his career. There’s the exploitation guerrilla of the early ’70s; the humanist drama specialist who made “Melvin and Howard,” “Philadelphia,” and “Rachel Getting Married”; the off-beat hipster comedian; the sensitive documentarian; the live performance specialist; and the steward of well resourced, star-driven literary adaptations and remakes that became Demme’s specialty after his blockbuster success with “The Silence of the Lambs” in 1991.

While the subject matter and scale may vary, the point of view...

The ’70s were the perfect time to be paranoid: rumors of government-sanctioned assassinations here and abroad, second-gunman theories around dead presidents, whispers of elite secret societies pulling strings, that whole Watergate thing. It wafted in the air like yesterday’s tear gas. The movies picked up the vibe and amplified it. Buy a ticket and you could see Warren Beatty discover an assassin-recruitment corporation (The Parallax View), Robert Redford as a CIA analyst on the run from agency goons (Three Days of the Condor), Gene Hackman get tripped up over...

Mafia-related murders. An improbable constellation of 20th-century icons. Belated accessibility to the public after decades of obscurity. Are we talking about the JFK assassination or Winter Kills, William Richert’s 1979 film inspired by it?

Adapted from Richard Condon’s 1974 novel, the film flamed out on its initial release for many of the usual reasons: a troubled production, the short-sightedness of critics, and a willingness on the part of the filmmakers to potentially confuse, alienate, or offend audiences of the day. But even if you don’t go in with a conspiratorial mindset, one viewing of this riotously entertaining, chillingly perceptive film could leave you wondering if some larger force is at play, protecting the targets of this should-be New Hollywood classic by keeping it in the dark after all this time.

The history of Winter Kills is nearly as lurid and tangled as the conspiracy it depicts. Unable to secure...

The JFK assassination is parodied in 1979 black comedy “Winter Kills,” which has landed a remastered re-release presented by auteur Quentin Tarantino. IndieWire exclusively shares the trailer for the Rialo Pictures reissue here.

“Winter Kills” is a thinly veiled and hyper-paranoiac take on the JFK assassination starring Jeff Bridges as Nick Kegan, scion of a fabulously wealthy and powerful family headed by patriarch John Huston, as a character based on Joe Kennedy. Nick (Bridges) soon finds himself going down multiple rabbit holes while trying to unravel the conspiracy behind the murder of a U.S. president, his older brother.

Anthony Perkins, Dorothy Malone, Toshiro Mifune, and Elli Wallach also star, as well as an uncredited Elizabeth Taylor who plays a character inspired by JFK’s rumored-to-be mobbed-up mistress Judith Exner. “Winter Kills” is the feature debut of model and Australian actress Belinda Bauer.

A new re-issued release of “Winter Kills” by...

I’ve loved gangster movies since I was four years old and saw Humphrey Bogart and Sylvia Sidney in Dead End (1937) on TV, and Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967) at the movies (My dad pinched a lobby card for me). Every Friday night, a local NYC station ran old crime flicks on a slot called “Tough Guys.” Bogart, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, and George Raft were the faces over the title. Today that might be Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Wesley Snipes, and James Gandolfini.

The gangster and crime genre produced some of the most influential films in cinema history. Mervyn LeRoy’s Little Caesar (1931), William A. Wellman’s The Public Enemy (1931), and Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932), get a lot of credit for breaking ground in topics beyond criminality, shattering sexual taboos as well as the boundaries of acceptable visual violence. High Sierra (1941) and White Heat...

If Frank Sinatra had his way, Angela Lansbury would never have given her finest film performance. For the role of Eleanor Iselin, a dead-hearted Communist agent plotting a series of assassinations that will result in the ascension of her alcoholic, McCarthyite husband to the White House, the Chairman of the Board favored Lucille Ball. In conversation with Alec Baldwin at the 2016 TCM Film Festival's screening of "The Manchurian Candidate," the actor confessed a bit of curiosity for this alternate bit of casting. "I mean, that could've been fascinating. You wouldn't have believed that she could be this devil incarnate."

For 1962 audiences, when "The Manchurian Candidate" was initially released, it would've been staggering to see the beloved First Lady of comedy play a cunning matriarch who has the barely suppressed hots for her brainwashed, trained-killer son Raymond Shaw (Lawrence Harvey). But, trust me, when the film was re-released in 1988, it was...

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William Richert, the maverick writer-director behind the Jeff Bridges-starring conspiracy thriller Winter Kills and A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, which gave River Phoenix his first leading role, has died. He was 79.

Richert died Tuesday at his home in Portland, Oregon, his wife, Gretchen, told The Hollywood Reporter. She would not disclosed the cause of death but said he chose to use Oregon’s Death With Dignity Act.

Richert’s résumé also included co-writing The Happy Hooker (1975), starring Lynn Redgrave as celebrity madam Xaviera Hollander, and a pair of Ivan Passer-directed films: Law and Disorder (1974), starring Carroll O’Connor and Ernest Borgnine, and Crime and Passion (1976), starring Omar Sharif and Karen Black.

A black comedy take on the mystery surrounding the John F. Kennedy assassination, Winter Kills (1979) featured Bridges fronting an all-star cast that also included John Huston, Elizabeth Taylor,...

The Manchurian Candidate is a compelling conspiracy thriller, one that still holds a visceral power 60 years after release. The threat of incipient fascism disguised as a clown and a buffoon drives the film as much as the plot that gives the film its title. There are conspiracies within conspiracies, it may be shot in black and white but it's got plenty of grey areas.

Based on Richard Condon's novel, it features a tremendous assemblage of talent, not least Frank Sinatra. His contributions to the film are significant, not just the use of his private plane. It's probably his finest performance on film, a blend of reserved bonhomie and righteous outrage that would be prototypical for actors like Harrison Ford and George Clooney.

Condon's book was one of several of his filmed, though this and Prizzi's Honor are probably the only ones fondly remembered. It's a taut work, and it's easily.

“Yeah”

By Raymond Benson

It’s the most-heard response from Jack Nicholson’s character, Charley Partanna: “Yeah.” Does he swear a blood oath to Don Corrado Prizzi (William Hickey) for life? “Yeah.” Does he want to “do it” on the Oriental [rug] with Maerose Prizzi (Anjelica Huston)? “Yeah.” Does he want to get married to Irene Walker (Kathleen Turner), an assassin who may or may not be working against his own family? “Yeah.”

Is Prizzi’s Honor an amazing, acerbic black comedy that surprises you at every turn? “Yeah!”

It was director John Huston’s swan song, his last film to be released while he was alive. Prizzi picked up Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Director, Actor (Nicholson), Supporting Actor (Hickey), Adapted Screenplay, Costumes, and Editing. The picture won none of those, but Anjelica Huston snatched the award for Supporting Actress for her role. Allegedly she had to fight to get the part,...

Greta Gerwig is trying to follow in Emma Thompson‘s footsteps in more ways than one. Just like at the Oscars, should Gerwig win adapted screenplay at Saturday’s Writers Guild of America Award for “Little Women,” she’d be the first solo female winner in the category since Thompson was honored for “Sense and Sensibility” (1995) — yup, nearly a quarter of a century ago.

Gerwig, who’s in first place in our predictions, would also be only the third solo female champ in the category since the WGA Awards established adapted and original fields in 1970; the first was Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who received the prize for “A Room with a View” (1986).

Including writing teams, Gerwig would be the eighth female winner. Elaine May was the first, prevailing for her “Heaven Can Wait” (1978) script with Warren Beatty in the adapted comedy category, which, along with adapted drama, was discontinued after 1984. Seven years later,...

Once upon a time…or maybe twice…and on a personal note…I’ve been a Beatles fan as long as I can remember. Similarly, I’ve been a movie fanatic for almost as long (though not quite). So, at some point, I naturally started thinking about my favorite Beatle movie moments. Then, I started to ponder the moments that never actually happened. Now, I’m not suggesting that I was lost in some sort of drug-induced Sixties flashback, but rather I was thinking about the several unrealized film projects that the band never actually made.

Sure, A Hard Day’s Night (1964) is fantastic; Help! (1965) has its own unique charm by spoofing the then “new” James Bond style spy film; Yellow Submarine (1968) is sublime in its ground-breaking animated whimsy; and, finally, Magical Mystery Tour (1967) and Let It Be (1970) are pretty darn good celluloid time capsules. But, wouldn’t it have...

Every Friday, we’re recommending an older movie that’s available to stream or download and worth seeing again through the lens of our current moment. We’re calling the series “Revisiting Hours” — consider this Rolling Stone’s unofficial film club. This week: Scott Tobias on Jonathan Demme’s 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate.

It never sounded like a good idea to remake The Manchurian Candidate. Majors studios are always looking to plunder the vaults, eager to turn yesterday’s properties into tomorrow’s surefire hits, but John Frankenheimer’s...

John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.

#30 —Eleanor Prentiss Shaw, manipulative mother of a Vice Presidential candidate brainwashed by an international cabal.

John: The one regrettable casualty of this feature-film series is, of course, Streep’s Emmy winning performance(s) in Mike Nichols’ 2003 HBO adaptation of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. Perhaps we’ll have time to dig into that series in the future, but suffice it to say we rank her work in it quite highly. In 2004, Streep signed on to her first-ever remake, Jonathan Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate, playing a role made famous by Angela Lansbury in John Frankenheimer’s 1962 film. Demme’s version updates Frankenheimer’s film and Richard Condon’s 1959 source novel to contemporary times, made amid the the Bush/Kerry election and thematically enmeshed in the U.S.’s “War on Terror.” Denzel Washington stars as Ben Marco,...

From civil rights activist Malcolm X to wrongly imprisoned boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, Denzel Washington has given a number of memorable performances over his 30-plus year career. He added another to his resume in 2017 as a legal savant in “Roman J. Israel, Esq.” The film brought him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, the ninth bid of his career and his eighth for acting. How does this latest entry compare to the rest of his filmography? Tour through our photo gallery above of Washington’s 20 greatest movies ranked from worst to best.

See Denzel Washington (‘Roman J. Israel, Esq.’) will attempt to be sixth Best Actor champ as his film’s sole nomination

Washington snagged his first Oscar nomination exactly 30 years ago: Best Supporting Actor for “Cry Freedom” (1987). It was a mere two years later when Washington won that category for “Glory” (1989). And he made history 12 years after that when...

Variety reports that Denzel Washington will take on the Frank Sinatra role in a proposed remake of The Manchurian Candidate for Paramount and producers Scott Rudin and Tina Sinatra. No director has been attached to the project yet, though Dan Pyne (The Sum of All Fears) has penned the remake, adapted from the 1959 Richard Condon novel. The 1962 John Frankenheimer-directed original, which starred Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, and Angela Lansbury, centered around a group of soldiers brainwashed during the Korean war for Communist purposes and then sent back to America.