Hill Center and Friends of the Southeast Library are screening the thriller “Seven Days in May” tonight, a free offering that will be hosted by Hill Rag film critic Mike Canning.

The 1964 movie by tension guru director John Frankenheimer, about an attempted military coup in Washington, starts at 7 p.m. It comes at a perfect time, what with all the NSA spying paranoia in the air. It’s got one of those awesome mid-20th Century casts, too, with Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner and Frederic March. Oh, and Rod Serling, of “Twilight Zone” fame, penned the screenplay.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfA3TdLoOIk

Canning, whose book “Hollywood on the Potomac” details what Hollywood gets right and wrong about Washington-set cinematic fare, will introduce the movie and then host a Q and A afterward.

To register, go to www.hillcenterdc.org.