TV and Movies

[Mersha]

I have always been a fan of politcal thrillers and found two gems on Netflix.

"The Coldest Game" starring Bill Pullman as an alcoholic chess grand master drawn in to the Bay of Pigs crisis in 1961.

The second is "Official Secrets" starring Keira Knightley based on a true story of UK intelligence whistleblower Katharine Gunn leaking a sensitive classified document regarding the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

It is always nice to find a worthwhile movie.

[Bookplate]

Thanks; I liked Official Secrets but didn't know about The Coldest Game.  I can recommend The Trial of the Chicago Seven as well.

[Lilysmom1]

@Mersha @Bookplate , thanks for the recommendations.  Always looking for a good movie to watch.  

Damien Lewis is in a new series soon to be spy drama released called A Spy Among Friends.  It is not out yet.  Based on the book by Ven. acIntyre.  It will be on. Netflix.  Love Damien Lewis.  LM

[AngelPuppy1]

I wish I did like them, but I just don't. I have tried to watch some of them, but they leave me cold.  I figure there is enough political mayhem going on in the real world and that's more than enough for me.  

[Group 5 minus 1]

Manchurian Candidate. I liked both.

Advise and Consent 

7 Days in May

[Caligurll]

The Contender - Jeff Bridges, Joan Allen, William Petersen, Sam Elliot, Gary Oldman, Christian Slater

When the sitting Vice President dies, Senator Laine Hanson is chosen by the President to be the first woman to hold the office.  The selection meets with opposition from members of both parties, in particular a powerful political adversary who will seemingly stop at nothing to discredit her.  Her confirmation hearings set off a firestorm of controversy as shocking secrets from Hansen's past are revealed, threatening her personal life as well as her political future.

[Mersha]

@Caligurll   I have not seen "The Contender"...will check it out.

Some oldies but always goodies, "Three Days of the Condor" (Robert Redford), "Patriot Games" (Harrison Ford), "All The President's Men" (Robert Redford & Dustin Hoffman).

ETA "No Way Out" (Kevin Costner)

[Group 5 minus 1]

Forgot about No Way Out"--absolutely great. Remember the first time I saw it!

Cosner looks better than in that hat in "Yellowstone".

[Oznell]

@Mersha  and political thriller fans,  I also love "The Three Days of the Condor",  and "No Way Out".  

My favorite of all might be this classic of the "paranoid thriller" genre, an influential, mid-Seventies film by director Alan J. Pakula:

It's "The Parallax View"--    Warren Beatty, Hume Cronyn, Paula Prentiss, William Daniels

A TV  journalist (Paula Prentiss) is one of those present who witnesses the assassination of the American president atop the Space Needle in Seattle.   Years later, she urgently visits her ex-boyfriend (Beatty) , also a reporter, and tells him that the other witnesses have all been killed and she's terrified she's next.   Beatty then begins a nightmarish investigation of his own into this dangerous, convoluted series of deaths...

It's absolutely a chilling roller coaster, with wonderful old acting pros like Hume Cronyn and William Daniels.

Enigmatic, and handsome Beatty, and Prentiss (skittish, doe-eyed with fear, and adorable in her sporty pixie)  are good also--

 

[Mersha]

@Oznell   I missed "The Parallax View" but will definitely check it out.