MTDb › Best of › Thriller › 1960s
Best Thriller Movies of the 1960s
#1 Psycho (1960) · ★ 8.4 · 11,281 votes · 1h 49m · thriller, horror, mysteryWhen larcenous real estate clerk Marion Crane goes on the lam with a wad of cash and hopes of starting a new life, she ends up at the notorious Bates Motel, where manager Norman Ba…
#2 High and Low (1963) · ★ 8.4 · 1,201 votes · 2h 22m · thriller, drama, crimeA Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.…
#3 Le Trou (1960) · ★ 8.2 · 602 votes · 2h 12m · thriller, drama, crimeFour prison inmates have been hatching a plan to literally dig out of jail when another prisoner, Claude Gaspard, is moved into their cell. They take a risk and share their plan wi…
#4 Woman in the Dunes (1964) · ★ 8.2 · 538 votes · 2h 27m · thriller, dramaA vacationing entomologist suffers extreme physical and psychological trauma after being taken captive by the residents of a poor seaside village and made to live with a woman whos…
#5 Yojimbo (1961) · ★ 8.1 · 1,758 votes · 1h 50m · thriller, dramaA nameless ronin, or samurai with no master, enters a small village in feudal Japan where two rival businessmen are struggling for control of the local gambling trade. Taking the n…
#6 The Great Escape (1963) · ★ 7.9 · 2,953 votes · 2h 53m · adventure, thriller, dramaThe Nazis, exasperated at the number of escapes from their prison camps by a relatively small number of Allied prisoners, relocate them to a high-security 'escape-proof' camp to si…
#7 What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) · ★ 7.9 · 1,193 votes · 2h 15m · thriller, drama, horrorA former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.…
#8 Army of Shadows (1969) · ★ 7.9 · 781 votes · 2h 25m · thriller, drama, historyBetrayed by an informant, Philippe Gerbier finds himself trapped in a torturous Nazi prison camp. Though Gerbier escapes to rejoin the Resistance in occupied Marseilles, France, an…
#9 Rosemary's Baby (1968) · ★ 7.8 · 4,510 votes · 2h 18m · thriller, drama, horrorA young couple, Rosemary and Guy, moves into an infamous New York apartment building, known by frightening legends and mysterious events, with the purpose of starting a family.…
#10 Le Samouraï (1967) · ★ 7.8 · 1,313 votes · 1h 45m · thriller, drama, crimeAfter carrying out a flawlessly planned hit, Jef Costello, a contract killer with samurai instincts, finds himself caught between a persistent police investigator and a ruthless em…
#11 Z (1969) · ★ 7.8 · 653 votes · 2h 2m · thriller, drama, crimeA prominent politician is murdered during a demonstration. The government and army are trying to suppress the truth, but a tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get aw…
#12 In the Heat of the Night (1967) · ★ 7.7 · 1,290 votes · 1h 49m · thriller, drama, crimeAfrican-American Philadelphia police detective Virgil Tibbs is arrested on suspicion of murder by Bill Gillespie, the racist police chief of tiny Sparta, Mississippi. After Tibbs p…
#13 Night of the Living Dead (1968) · ★ 7.6 · 2,764 votes · 1h 36m · thriller, horror, science-fictionA ragtag group barricade themselves in an old Pennsylvania farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls ravaging the Northeast.…
#14 Eyes Without a Face (1960) · ★ 7.6 · 818 votes · 1h 24m · thriller, drama, horrorDr. Génessier is riddled with guilt after an accident that he caused disfigures the face of his daughter, the once beautiful Christiane, who outsiders believe is dead. Dr. Génessie…
#15 Purple Noon (1960) · ★ 7.6 · 628 votes · 1h 58m · thriller, drama, crimeTom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more to Tom Ripley than even he can guess.…
#16 The Birds (1963) · ★ 7.5 · 4,565 votes · 1h 59m · thriller, horrorThousands of birds flock into a seaside town and terrorize the residents in a series of deadly attacks.…
#17 The Manchurian Candidate (1962) · ★ 7.5 · 838 votes · 2h 6m · thriller, dramaNear the end of the Korean War, a platoon of U.S. soldiers is captured by communists and brainwashed. Following the war, the platoon is returned home, and Sergeant Raymond Shaw is…
#18 Cape Fear (1962) · ★ 7.5 · 655 votes · 1h 46m · thriller, drama, crimeSam Bowden witnesses a rape committed by Max Cady and testifies against him. When released after 8 years in prison, Cady begins stalking Bowden and his family but is always clever…
#19 Goldfinger (1964) · ★ 7.4 · 4,103 votes · 1h 50m · action, adventure, thrillerSpecial agent 007 comes face to face with one of the most notorious villains of all time, and now he must outwit and outgun the powerful tycoon to prevent him from cashing in on a…
#20 Repulsion (1965) · ★ 7.4 · 1,132 votes · 1h 45m · thriller, drama, horrorBeautiful young manicurist Carole suffers from androphobia (the pathological fear of interaction with men). When her sister and roommate, Helen, leaves their London flat to go on a…
#21 The Time Machine (1960) · ★ 7.4 · 954 votes · 1h 43m · fantasy, adventure, thrillerA Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species.…
#22 Peeping Tom (1960) · ★ 7.4 · 933 votes · 1h 41m · thriller, drama, horrorLoner Mark Lewis works at a film studio during the day and, at night, takes racy photographs of women. Also he's making a documentary on fear, which involves recording the reaction…
#23 Blow-Up (1966) · ★ 7.3 · 1,408 votes · 1h 51m · thriller, drama, mysteryA successful mod photographer in London whose world is bounded by fashion, pop music, marijuana, and easy sex, feels his life is boring and despairing. But in the course of a singl…
#24 The Guns of Navarone (1961) · ★ 7.3 · 913 votes · 2h 40m · action, adventure, thrillerA team of allied saboteurs are assigned an impossible mission: infiltrate an impregnable Nazi-held island and destroy the two enormous long-range field guns that prevent the rescue…
#25 Wait Until Dark (1967) · ★ 7.3 · 615 votes · 1h 48m · thriller, horror, crimeAfter a flight back home, Sam Hendrix returns with a doll he innocently acquired along the way. As it turns out, the doll is actually stuffed with heroin, and a group of criminals…
#26 Bullitt (1968) · ★ 7.2 · 1,328 votes · 1h 53m · action, thriller, romanceSenator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francis…
#27 From Russia with Love (1963) · ★ 7.1 · 3,475 votes · 1h 55m · action, adventure, thrillerAgent 007 is back in the second installment of the James Bond series, this time battling a secret crime organization known as SPECTRE. Russians Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen are out to…
#28 Marnie (1964) · ★ 7.1 · 1,261 votes · 2h 10m · thriller, romance, dramaMarnie is a beautiful but emotionally withdrawn thief, stealing from employers before disappearing under new identities. When her new boss, Mark Rutland, discovers her secret, his…
#29 Dr. No (1962) · ★ 7.0 · 4,165 votes · 1h 50m · action, adventure, thrillerAgent 007 battles mysterious Dr. No, a scientific genius bent on destroying the U.S. space program. As the countdown to disaster begins, Bond must go to Jamaica, where he encounter…
#30 The Swimming Pool (1969) · ★ 7.0 · 581 votes · 2h 3m · thriller, romance, dramaSet in a magnificent villa near a sun-drenched St. Tropez, lovers Jean-Paul and Marianne are spending a happy, lazy summer holiday. Their only concern is to gratify their mutual pa…
#31 The Italian Job (1969) · ★ 6.9 · 900 votes · 1h 40m · action, comedy, thrillerCharlie's got a 'job' to do. Having just left prison he finds one of his friends has attempted a high-risk job in Torino, Italy, right under the nose of the mafia. Charlie's friend…
#32 The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) · ★ 6.8 · 606 votes · 1h 42m · thriller, romance, dramaA debonair, adventuresome bank executive believes that he has pulled off the perfect multi-million dollar heist--until he must match wits with an insurance investigator who will do…
#33 Thunderball (1965) · ★ 6.7 · 2,713 votes · 2h 10m · action, adventure, thrillerA criminal organization has obtained two nuclear bombs and are asking for a 100 million pound ransom in the form of diamonds in seven days or they will use the weapons. The secret…
#34 Lord of the Flies (1963) · ★ 6.7 · 597 votes · 1h 32m · adventure, thriller, dramaFollowing a plane crash a group of schoolboys find themselves on a deserted island. They appoint a leader and attempt to create an organized society for the sake of their survival.…
#35 You Only Live Twice (1967) · ★ 6.6 · 2,566 votes · 1h 57m · action, adventure, thrillerA mysterious spacecraft captures Russian and American space capsules and brings the two superpowers to the brink of war. James Bond investigates the case in Japan and comes face to…
#36 On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) · ★ 6.6 · 2,212 votes · 2h 22m · action, adventure, thrillerWith the help of Marc-Ange Draco, head of the Unione Corse crime syndicate, and Draco's troubled daughter Tracy, James Bond tracks his archnemesis, Ernst Stravro Blofeld, to a moun…
#37 Torn Curtain (1966) · ★ 6.6 · 684 votes · 2h 7m · thrillerDuring the Cold War, an American scientist appears to defect to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the formula for a resin solution—but the plan goes awry w…