25 best conspiracy movies ever

Conspiracy Theory (1997)

Before he went a bit loopy in real life, Mel Gibson trained for the role with this thriller in which he plays everyone’s favourite conspiracy theorist stereotype – a taxi driver. Julia Roberts comes along for the ride, as does Gibson’s brother Donald, who makes a cameo appearance.

The Insider (1999)

It’s all smoke and no mirrors when Al Pacino finds himself in the middle of a big tobacco cover-up. Russell Crowe has his whistle at the ready, but will he blow it? You’ll have to watch Michael Mann’s two and a half hour film to find out. Or track down the Vanity Fair article it’s based on.

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Hitchcock’s tale of a Moroccan family holiday that accidentally wades into an assassination plot is a masterly turn, not least the 12-minute Albert Hall scene (that’s actually shot in LA, conspiracy fans). The Man Who Knew Too Much is a remake of Hitchcock’s 1934 film of the same name. It also made our list of the best remakes ever made.

Marathon Man (1976)

Trips to the dentist will never be the same after you’ve watched Dustin Hoffman having his tooth extracted in Marathon Man. It goes to show you shouldn’t eat too many sweets, forget to brush your teeth or get caught up in international diamond conspiracies. There’s also some running.

Syriana (2005)

Fat George Clooney stars in this Middle East-American oil industry thriller. If that sounds about as exciting as analysing post-war crude prices, it’s worth taking a run-up: Syriana is more complicated than extracting sub-tectonic fossil fuels while balancing hair-trigger geopolitics on your head.