The 1970s was a decade full of movies about assassins, surveillance, secret governments, and corporate cabals. It was also a time of paranoid thoughts, mistrust in the air, ulterior motives, and lies designed to misdirect. And that was both on screen and, unfortunately, in the real world.
Post-Vietnam War, the Watergate scandal and a series of ugly revelations about the CIA, the FBI, and other federal agencies, the public was more receptive to stories where the country's leaders were the villains. Mix that with the rise of a younger, more countercultural group of filmmakers dubbed “New Hollywood,” and the recipe was set.
Below are some of the best of the bunch that group cooked up. They hold up really well and, while they may have never lost their cultural relevance, these films resonate just as loudly in today’s scorching political climate.
The Conversation (1974)
Written and Directed by Francis Ford Coppola. Starring Gene Hackman. Nominated for three Academy Awards. A surveillance expert faces a moral dilemma when his recordings reveal a potential murder and tragedy ensues. You’ll reevaluate all your private chats going forward.
The Parallax View (1974)
Written by David Glier and Lorenzo Semple, Jr. Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Starring Warren Beatty. Come for the political assassinations, a compromised federal investigation, and the hidden cabal behind it all, but stay to relish in one of the best brainwashing sequences you’ll ever see.
Three Days Of The Condor (1975)
Written by Lorenzo Semple, Jr. and David Rayfiel. Directed by Sydney Pollack. Starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway. You ever go out to lunch to the nearby deli, taking a quaint 30 minutes off from your boring CIA research job, and then come back and find all your co-workers murdered? That’s the inciting incident that sets off a chain of thrilling events in this classic film.
All The Presidents Men (1976)
Written by William Goldman, based on the book of the same name by Washington Post journalists Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman. Nominated for eight Academy Awards and ultimately won two. “Follow the money.” Deep Throat. This masterful depiction of the Watergate investigation needs no further introduction.
Given our current state of affairs, it’s only a matter of time until the political conspiracy thriller comes back in fashion. What top tier storyteller is going to tackle it? Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, Karyn Kasuma, Michael Mann, Rian Johnson, JC Chandor, Kathryn Bigelow, Leigh Whannell, Denis Villeneuve, David Fincher, Patty Jenkins, Paul Greengrass, Ava DuVernay. And exactly what kind of conspiracy should it be? Sound off below…
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Note From Tongal: "It’s A Conspiracy! The Enduring Legacy of 1970s Conspiracy Thrillers" is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Tongal. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
