20 Best Movies Over Three Hours Long

Runtime: 3 hours, 9 minutes

What makes Oliver Stone's magnum opus JFK such an enduring thriller is that it refuses to give answers about President Kennedy's assassination, those involved, and those affected. Rather, it's about a feeling; how one important man's death shook the world and left it trapped in a state of terrible uncertainty.

Stone injects his film with an energy that envelops from the first frame. It's so fast-paced, frantic, and almost desperate that watching Kevin Costner's embattled district attorney Jim Garrison search for answers sometimes becomes too much to bear. New revelations bring new questions; new characters face fresh horror impossible to ignore.

Within this fervent energy, Stone manages to juggle an impressively stacked ensemble cast, which aside from Costner also includes Gary Oldman, Sissy Spacek, Joe Pesci, Laurie Metcalf, John Candy, and a scene-stealing Donald Sutherland, all of whom deliver brief but faultless performances. 

If Stone's intentions with JFK were to capture an era of heightened emotion, conspiracy and fear, then he achieved it tenfold, and in the process delivered a thriller of timeless influence.