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Top 25 ThrillersThis is a list of the top 25 thrillers of all time. Included in the mix are suspense, mystery, horror, and film noir. The list was created by aggregating the resources at the bottom of this page. 1. Vertigo (1958) 2. Rear Window (1954) 3. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 4. Psycho (1960) 5. North by Northwest (1959)
6. Chinatown (1974)
11. The Third Man (1949)
16. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
21. The Conversation (1974) Resources:
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Top 25 Film Noir Movies“Film noir” is a term originally applied by French critics to American detective films and thrillers made in the ‘40s and ‘50s by noted directors such as Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, and Fritz Lang. The films in this genre are generally marked by a low-key, black-and-white visual style rooted in German expressionism. 1. Double Indemnity (1944) 2. Out of the Past (1947) 3. Touch of Evil (1958) 4. The Big Sleep (1946) 5. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
6. In a Lonely Place (1950)
11. Laura (1944)
16. The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
21. White Heat (1949)
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| Touch of EvilReleased: April 23, 1958 Studio: Universal Genre: thriller/gangster/film noir Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 2.20 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: ? Worldwide: ? |
Directing: Orson Welles Screenwriting: Orson Welles Starring: Charlton Heston, Orson Welles, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia Review:“Welles’s last Hollywood film” PM is “proof that post-Kane Welles was not a downward spiral.” T98 It is “considered one of the finest classics-era film noir” MSN as well as “a technical masterpiece.” VD It is a “tightly directed and brilliantly scripted film.” A07 which “is remarkably idiosyncratic, from its legendary opening crane shot to the strangely angled setups and crosscut plotlines.” PM This is “an off-beat, twisted, dark and sweaty…thriller, with murder, police corruption, kidnapping, betrayal, perversion and more” FS “in a seedy border town.” VD Hank Quinlan (Welles) is a “a big, fat, corrupt cop” ML “tracking down some thugs that murdered a wealthy crime lord.” VD He “habitually fabricates evidence to convict the guilty (even though his instincts are usually correct) and frames a young Mexican for the murder.” FS This puts him in conflict with the “self-righteous” FS Mike Vargas (Heston), a Mexican narcotics agent. Through “persistent, perilous efforts with the cooperation of Quinlan’s long-time partner Sgt. Pete Menzies (Calleia),” FS Vargas is able to bring down Quinlan. The movie opens with “cinema’s most exhilarating and complex opening-shot ever” T98 and ends “with the explosive, car-bomb murder of an American businessman on the American side of the border.” FS Sources:
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| Double IndemnityReleased: September 6, 1944 Studio: Paramount Genre: film noir/crime drama Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 5.72 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 159.6 Worldwide: ? |
Directing: Billy Wilder Screenwriting: Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler Starring: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson Review:This “classic, brooding film noir” FS is “considered one of the best pictures ever made.” VD This “suspense-filled masterpiece” MSN is “a thriller in every sense of the word.” VD “So oft-imitated it should be old hat by now, but no – mix together the ruthlessness of the script, the director, and the film’s femme fatale star, and what you get is a poisonous cocktail that still has real kick to it.” ML “Before he settled down to being an ultra-cynical connoisseur of vulgarity, Wilder helped (as much as any of his fellow Austro-German emigres in Hollywood) to define the mood of brooding pessimism that laced so many American movies in the ‘40s.” T95 The “electric, snappy, hard-boiled script written by Wilder and Raymond Chandler” FS is a “searing adaptation of James M. Cain’s novel of duplicity and murder.” A07 Chandler, who also wrote The Big Sleep was a detective fiction writer brought in to co-write with Wilder. He gave the “dialogue a sprinkling of characteristic wit, without mitigating any of the overall sense of oppression.” T95 However, “the two detested each other so much that Chandler walked out and wouldn't return until his list of demands were met.” MSN “Nice guy” MacMurray is “a calculating insurance salesman” FS and Stanwyck is “a scheming, irresistible, long-legged blonde femme fatale.” FS This “adulterous, duplicitous couple…commit the murder of her wealthy husband in a larcenous, fraudulent attempt to collect on an insurance policy.” FS “The policy states that if he dies accidentally from a moving train, the payout is doubled. They kill him and place the body on the tracks, thinking they’ve committed the perfect crime. They’re wrong.” VD “The double-crossing, cold-hearted protagonists are doggedly and persistently pursued by a suspicious, formidable insurance investigator (Robinson).” FS Sources:
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