Ticket 2 Ride

Films dealing with political assassination were few in years past, but they are fairly common now. I wonder what that means. Are numbed to murder or the number of tragic shootings, or that death in films or video games are so common we don’t connect that with reality?

Here is a list of mostly quality films about a politically motivated assassination to further a cause or change an election. These film represent stories of intrigue and complexity, less action and more plot. What are films I’ve missed?

Foreign Correspondent (1940) – An American correspondent gets mixed up with the assassination of a Dutch diplomat, who has been replaced by a double. The plan was to force the diplomat to revise a pre-war treaty to favor Germany. Espionage and intrigue, with fantastic airplane crash and windmill escape mark this Hitchcock film.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) – Hitchcock’s story of an American couple abroad who witness a murder that is tied to a political assassination planned in London.

The Manchurian Candidate (1963) – An American Medal of Honor recipient is actually a brainwashed sleeper agent programmed to kill a presidential candidate to be replaced by his Senator stepfather, who is controlled by medal recipient’s mother.

Z (1969) – The public murder of a prominent politician and doctor amid a violent demonstration is covered up by military and government officials. A tenacious magistrate is determined not to let them get away with it.

The Parallex View (1974) – A corporation provides assassins for political murders. A reporter infiltrates the corporation but they frame him for the assassination of a presidential candidate.

Executive Action (1973) – A group of rich, conservative interests plan and carry out the assassination of JFK, then cover their tracks to leave Oswald as the lone assassin.

The Day of the Jackal (1973) – An underground French paramilitary group is intent on eliminating President Charles de Gaulle, but when numerous attempts on his life fail, they resort to hiring the infamous hit man known as “The Jackal.”

Three Days of the Condor (1975) – The employees of a CIA research office are murdered because of catching some benign information that actually points to a potential military plan. One employee was absent during the murders and must avoid the assassins to unravel the mystery.

Blow Out (1981) – A sound man rescues the mistress of a political candidate for president and pieces together recorded sounds that reveals the car accident was actually a murder.

JFK (1991) – Oliver Stone’s take on JFK’s assassination and the many loose ends that point to a conspiracy.

In the Line of Fire (1993) – Inspired by the life of Secret Service Agent Clint Hill, the agent on JFK’s security detail. A different Clint, Eastwood, is protecting the president against an assassin.

Enemy of the State (1998) – A Senator is killed to prevent reining in a high level government surveillance operation. It’s a race to either stop them or be crushed by them.

The Interpreter (2005) – An assassination plot of an African diplomat is at the center of this thriller involving a UN interpreter.

Syriana (2005) – A complicated, interweaving story of radicalism, international politics, oil, and conflicting counterintelligence priorities. The key is the planned assassination of a Arab prince to make the pieces fall a certain way.

Milk (2008) – San Francisco city supervisor Harvey Milk was killed, along with Mayor Moscone, by a former supervisor. Milk was the first openly gay elected official in California.

Vantage Point (2008) – Witnesses with different points of view try to unravel an assassination attempt on the U.S. President who is attending a summit on terror in Spain.

Valkyrie (2008) – The story of an attempt on Hitler’s life by delivering a bomb to a conference attended by Hitler and military leaders. Based on the true story.

State of Play (2009) – The death of a Congressional aide starts the wheels in motion of mysteries involving blackmail of a Congressman over a multinational corporation’s efforts to exert private control over national defense.