20 Mind Blowing Conspiracy Movies You Must Watch

2. North By Northwest

Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant, taking a role rather regrettably turned down by James Stewart) would like it to be known that he is not, repeat not, a spy. Furthermore, he would like to address that he is not and has never been a murderer. It€™s because of these rumours and a rather clever initial moment of mistaken identity that Thornhill is now a wanted man with enemy agents, police and a mysterious blonde (Eva Marie Saint) chasing him across the country on a death-defying race for his life. Relentlessly and viciously pursued by automobile, train and (most memorably of all, in the film€™s iconic crop-dusting sequence) plane, Thornhill is eventually chased to the top of Mount Rushmore where he has to fight to the death to get his real life back. This is my favourite Hitchcock movie of all time and without a doubt his strongest piece of work within the conspiracy movie sub-genre. From it€™s incredible Saul Bass opening credits and brilliantly mundane catalyst for the film€™s events, right past the mysteriously bad James Mason and his henchman played by Martin Landau, up through the crop-dusting attack sequence and finishing at it€™s thrilling Mount Rushmore based finale, this film is a masterful blend of suspense and romance, action and comedy and, unarguably, one of the most thrilling adventure films Hitchcock (or anyone else for that matter) has ever brought to the screen!