Pulse-Raising Hostage Scenarios
AMC Movie List

Pulse-Raising Hostage Scenarios

The most gripping hostage scenarios on the big screen count on a killer combination of high stakes and gripping suspense. Which of the following top ten gets you closest to the edge of your seat?

rank title points votes your vote
1 Die Hard
John McClane (Bruce Willis) shows the henchmen holding his wife hostage who's boss. 300 438
2 Speed
A mad bomber rigs a city bus with an explosive that will detonate if it slows below 50 m.p.h. Keanu Reeves to the rescue! 113 393
3 The Rock
Ex-con Sean Connery and biochemist Nic Cage take on a gang of renegade marines holding 81 tourists hostage at Alcatraz. 111 365
4 Reservoir Dogs
The hostage action comes to a head in the nightmarish scene in which Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) slices off his prisoner's ear. 100 346
5 Air Force One
President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) lays down the fury on the Russian neo-Nationalists who've seized his plane. 90 364
6 Dog Day Afternoon
When things go awry, bank robber Sonny Wortzik (Al Pacino) takes  all the employees hostage and demands a jet to make his getaway. 80 310
7 The Negotiator
Cop Danny Roman (Samuel L. Jackson) takes hostages in protest of being framed for embezzlement by his fellow boys in blue. 54 296
8 Inside Man
Detective Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) realizes the bank robbers he's trapped are stalling, he can't quite figure out why... 48 284
9 Collateral
Unlucky cabbie Max (Jamie Foxx) is held captive by villainous Vincent (Tom Cruise) as he goes on a killing spree. 29 307
10 The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
Five men with colorful code names board a New York subway car and hold its passengers hostage. 24 280