From a Trapped Punk Band to a Missing Wife: 10 Amazing Thrillers That Deserve More Credit

A Desert Crime Turns Deadly

In After Dark, My Sweet, former boxer Kevin “Kid” Collie, played by Jason Patric, escapes a mental institution and meets Fay, a lonely widow portrayed by Rachel Ward. In a desert town near Palm Springs, Fay and crooked con man “Uncle” Bud, played by Bruce Dern, draw Collie into a kidnapping scheme involving a wealthy local boy.

Director James Foley uses the sun-blasted landscape to heighten the story’s oppressive mood. Patric’s uncertain performance plays against Dern’s shifty con man and Ward’s manipulative widow, but the film’s disappointing box-office showing helped leave it overlooked.

A Search Across Paris

In Frantic, Harrison Ford plays Dr. Richard Walker, whose wife, Sondra, disappears from their Paris hotel. When local police and U.S. embassy officials offer little help, Walker follows Michelle, a young French drug smuggler whose suitcase was accidentally exchanged with his wife’s.

The search becomes entangled with a stolen nuclear detonator switch and an international conspiracy. Ford plays a disoriented visitor rather than an invincible action hero, while Ennio Morricone’s restrained score supports the film’s tense, atmospheric mood.

A Band Trapped at the Roadhouse

Director Jeremy Saulnier makes the violence sudden and chaotic, giving the band’s struggle for survival a harsh edge. Patrick Stewart plays against type as a calm, methodical skinhead leader, and the film refuses the comforting expectation that every protagonist will make it out.

A CIA Agent Takes Revenge

In Hopscotch, Walter Matthau plays Miles Kendig, a veteran CIA agent who refuses to neutralize high-ranking KGB agent Mikhail Yaskov. His new boss, G.P. Myerson, responds by assigning him to desk work.

Kendig destroys files, leaves town and writes a tell-all book, setting off a worldwide pursuit to stop him. Directed by Ronald Neame, the comedy spy film turns the familiar espionage thriller into a witty cat-and-mouse story.