The 40 most popular 1960s thriller movies, ranked. Click any film for ratings, reviews, trailers, and where to watch.


Psycho
1960 · 1h 49m · US
When 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 Bates cares for his housebound mother.


High and Low
1963 · 2h 22m · JP
A Yokohama shoe executive faces a wrenching choice when kidnappers mistakenly seize his chauffeur’s son but demand the ransom anyway.


From Russia with Love
1963 · 1h 55m · UK
Agent 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 snatch a decoding device known as the Lektor, using the ravishing Tatiana to lure Bond into helping them. Bond willingly travels to meet Tatiana in Istanbul, where he must rely on his wits to escape with his life in a series of deadly encounters with the enemy.


Dr. No
1962 · 1h 50m · UK
Agent 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 encounters beautiful Honey Ryder, to confront a megalomaniacal villain in his massive island headquarters.


Thunderball
1965 · 2h 10m · UK
A 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 service sends James Bond to the Bahamas to once again save the world.


The Birds
1963 · 1h 59m · US
Thousands of birds flock into a seaside town and terrorize the residents in a series of deadly attacks.


Rosemary's Baby
1968 · 2h 18m · US
A 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.


Goldfinger
1964 · 1h 50m · UK
Special 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 devious scheme to raid Fort Knox -- and obliterate the world's economy.


You Only Live Twice
1967 · 1h 57m · UK
A 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 face with his archenemy Blofeld.


On Her Majesty's Secret Service
1969 · 2h 22m · UK
With 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 mountaintop retreat in the Swiss Alps, where he is training an army of beautiful, lethal women.


Woman in the Dunes
1964 · 2h 27m · JP
A 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 whose life task is shoveling sand for them.


The Great Spy Chase
1964 · 1h 48m · FR
A cold-war spy parody. After the death of an armaments manufacturer, an international group of spies is drawn into a high-stakes battle of wits to obtain the valuable military patents which have been inherited by the lovely widow.


Marnie
1964 · 2h 10m · US
Marnie 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 fascination turns to obsession, and he blackmails her into marriage, convinced he can cure her. But as he probes deeper into Marnie’s fractured mind, long-buried fears and compulsions begin to surface.


Bullitt
1968 · 1h 53m · US
Senator 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 Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.


The Swimming Pool
1969 · 2h 3m · FR
Set 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 passion - until the day when Marianne invites her former lover and his beautiful teenage daughter to spend a few days with them. From the first moment, a certain uneasiness and tension begin to develop between the four, which soon escalates in a dangerous love-game.


Yojimbo
1961 · 1h 50m · JP
A 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 name Sanjuro Kuwabatake, the ronin convinces both silk merchant Tazaemon and sake merchant Tokuemon to hire him as a personal bodyguard, then artfully sets in motion a full-scale gang war between the two ambitious and unscrupulous men.


Torn Curtain
1966 · 2h 7m · US
During 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 when his fiancee, unaware of his motivation, follows him across the border.


Repulsion
1965 · 1h 45m · UK
Beautiful 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 an Italian holiday with her married boyfriend, Carole withdraws into her apartment. She begins to experience frightful hallucinations, her fear gradually mutating into madness.


Ocean's Eleven
1960 · 2h 7m · US
Danny Ocean and his gang attempt to rob the five biggest casinos in Las Vegas in one night.


What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962 · 2h 15m · US
A former vaudeville child star viciously torments her paraplegic sister in their decaying Hollywood mansion.


The Time Machine
1960 · 1h 43m · US
A Victorian Englishman travels to the far future and finds that humanity has divided into two hostile species.


The Italian Job
1969 · 1h 40m · UK
Charlie'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 doesn't get very far, so Charlie takes over the 'job'. Using three Mini Coopers, a couple of Jaguars, and a bus, he hopes to bring Torino to a standstill, steal a fortune in gold and escape in the chaos.


Le Samouraï
1967 · 1h 45m · FR
After 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 employer, and not even his armor of fedora and trench coat can protect him.


Trampa mortal
1963 · 1h 17m · ES
A former convict, named Raul Vela, and a cabaret singer, called Clara, are a couple who tries to lead a normal life. He has found an employment and she wants to leave the cabaret. One day an old chief, who wants to disappear, proposes him to justify his supposed death in a supposed accident. In exchange, Raúl will receive one hundred thousand pesetas as gratification. Raul refuses to engage in the deception. Shortly after, he reads in a newspaper about the death of Cervera, which makes the police relate him to the case.


No dispares contra mí
1961 · 1h 20m · ES
The young law student David is involved in a series of small crimes that led him to discover the corpse of the husband of his French friend Lucile in the trunk of the car in which he runs away to France, which makes her join him of his trip. Film with a clear influence of the Nouvelle Vague


Le Trou
1960 · 2h 12m · FR
Four 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 with the newcomer. Over the course of three days, the prisoners and friends break through the concrete floor using a bed post and begin to make their way through the sewer system – yet their escape is anything but assured.


Eyes Without a Face
1960 · 1h 24m · FR
Dr. 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. Génessier, along with accomplice and laboratory assistant Louise, kidnaps young women and brings them to the Génessier mansion. After rendering his victims unconscious, Dr. Génessier removes their faces and attempts to graft them on to Christiane's.


Madigan
1968 · 1h 41m · US
NYPD detectives Bonaro and Madigan lose their guns to fugitive Barney Benesch. As compensation, they are given a weekend to bring Benesch to justice. While they follow various leads, Police Commissioner Russell goes about his duties, including attending functions, meeting with aggrieved relatives, and counseling the spouses of fallen officers.


Left-Handed Fate
1966 · 1h 25m · ES
Gim, an attractive advertising model, decides to face her destiny and confront a mysterious serial killer who relentlessly pursues the most beautiful women in a disturbingly empty city.


Savage Sunday
1967 · 1h 33m · MX
Repressed middle-aged Catholic gets into a troublesome relationship with the prostitute next door and her little boy.


Judex
1963 · 1h 44m · FR
Georges Franju's Judex is an arch, playful tribute to the serials of the influential silent filmmaker Louis Feuillade. Franju shuffles through the plot of Feuillade's lengthy serial of the same name, about an adventurer named Judex whose revenge against the corrupt banker Favraux unleashes a complicated series of schemes.


Topaz
1969 · 2h 7m · US
Copenhagen, Denmark, 1962. When a high-ranking Soviet official decides to change sides, a French intelligence agent is caught up in a cold, silent and bloody spy war in which his own family will play a decisive role.


Harper
1966 · 2h 1m · US
Harper is a cynical private eye in the best tradition of Bogart. He even has Bogie's Baby hiring him to find her missing husband, getting involved along the way with an assortment of unsavory characters and an illegal-alien smuggling ring.


Mil Máscaras
1969 · 1h 29m · MX
A committee of four wise men trains the masked hero Mil Máscaras to defend the world. When someone kidnaps the members of the committee, the hero stops at nothing to rescue them.


Lord of the Flies
1963 · 1h 32m · UK
Following 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. Democracy and order soon begin to crumble when a breakaway faction regresses to savagery with horrifying consequences.


Pretty Poison
1968 · 1h 29m · US
A troubled arsonist spins a tale of espionage to a captivating girl, who becomes enthralled and entangled in his dangerous fantasies, leading to unexpected murder and chaos that change their lives forever.


The Magician
1960 · 1h 41m · FR
In a Munich circus, Pierre, who has come to attend the funeral of his father, a famous illusionist, finds love in the arms of the beautiful Hildegarde. But he discovers that Hildegarde has a twin sister, Greta.


The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
1965 · 1h 52m · UK
British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the Cold War during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one.


The Manchurian Candidate
1962 · 2h 6m · US
Near 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 lauded as a hero by the rest of his platoon. However, the platoon commander, Captain Bennett Marco, finds himself plagued by strange nightmares and soon races to uncover a terrible plot.


Point Blank
1967 · 1h 32m · US
After being double-crossed and left for dead, a mysterious man named Walker single-mindedly tries to retrieve the rather inconsequential sum of money that was stolen from him.
The 1960s broke the old rules everywhere at once — the French New Wave, the collapse of the Hollywood Production Code, and new waves across Europe and Japan reshaping what a film could show and say.
Thrillers are engineered for tension: the pace, the withholding, the sense that something is closing in. The genre blends freely with crime, horror, and science fiction, and it's where a lot of the sharpest genre craft happens.