Great spy / detective movies

1.Spy Game (2001)  7.0/10 Retiring CIA agent Nathan Muir recalls his training of Tom Bishop while working against agency politics to free him from his Chinese captors. (126 mins.)Director: Tony ScottStars: Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen DillaneAdd to Watchlist 

2.The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1990 TV Movie)  6.3/10 The Secret Life of Ian Fleming follows the exciting life of a dashing young Ian Fleming, the mastermind... (100 mins.)Director: Ferdinand FairfaxStars: Jason Connery, Kristin Scott Thomas, Joss Ackland, Patricia HodgeAdd to Watchlist 

3.The Recruit (2003)  6.6/10 A brilliant young CIA trainee is asked by his mentor to help find a mole in the Agency. (115 mins.)Director: Roger DonaldsonStars: Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel MachtAdd to Watchlist 

4.The French Connection (1971)  7.8/10 A pair of NYC cops in the Narcotics Bureau stumble onto a drug smuggling job with a French connection. (104 mins.)Director: William FriedkinStars: Gene Hackman, Roy Scheider, Fernando Rey, Tony Lo BiancoAdd to Watchlist 

5.The Bourne Identity (2002)  7.9/10 A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and regain his memory. (119 mins.)Director: Doug LimanStars: Franka Potente, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Clive OwenAdd to Watchlist 

6.The International (2009)  6.5/10 An Interpol agent attempts to expose a high-profile financial institution's role in an international arms dealing ring. (118 mins.)Director: Tom TykwerStars: Clive Owen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Ulrich ThomsenAdd to Watchlist 

7.Body of Lies (2008)  7.1/10 A CIA agent on the ground in Jordan hunts down a powerful terrorist leader while being caught between the unclear intentions of his American supervisors and Jordon Intelligence.(128 mins.)Director: Ridley ScottStars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh FarahaniAdd to Watchlist 

8.Breach (2007)  7.0/10 Based on the true story, FBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was put on trial for selling secrets to the Soviet Union. (110 mins.)Director: Billy RayStars: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Haysbert, Laura LinneyAdd to Watchlist 

9.The Good Shepherd (2006)  6.7/10 The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life. (167 mins.)Director: Robert De NiroStars: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec BaldwinAdd to Watchlist 

10.Syriana (2005)  7.0/10 A politically-charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands ofthose personally involved and affected by it. (128 mins.)Director: Stephen GaghanStars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Kayvan NovakAdd to Watchlist 

11.The Fourth Protocol (1987)  6.5/10 John Preston is a British agent with the task of preventing the Russians detonating a nuclear explosion next to an American base in the UK. The Russians are hoping this will shatter the 'special relationship' between the two countries. (119 mins.)Director: John MackenzieStars: Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Ned Beatty, Joanna CassidyAdd to Watchlist 

12.The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)  6.8/10 The true story of a disillusioned military contractor employee and his drug pusher childhood friend who became walk-in spies for the Soviet Union. (131 mins.)Director: John SchlesingerStars: Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Pat Hingle, Joyce Van PattenAdd to Watchlist 

13.Three Days of the Condor (1975)  7.5/10 A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust. (117 mins.)Director: Sydney PollackStars: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max von SydowAdd to Watchlist 

14.The Prize (1963)  6.8/10 As the Nobel Prize winners come to Stockholm to receive their awards, their lives are overturned and perturbed in various ways. (134 mins.)Director: Mark RobsonStars: Paul Newman, Edward G. Robinson, Elke Sommer, Diane BakerAdd to Watchlist 

15.The Conversation (1974)  7.9/10 A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered. (113 mins.)Director: Francis Ford CoppolaStars: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic ForrestAdd to Watchlist 

16.Charade (1963)  8.0/10 Romance and suspense in Paris, as a woman is pursued by several men who want afortune her murdered husband had stolen. Who can she trust? (113 mins.)Director: Stanley DonenStars: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James CoburnAdd to Watchlist 

17.North by Northwest (1959)  8.5/10 A hapless New York advertising executive is mistaken for a government agent bya group of foreign spies, and is pursued across the country while he looks fora way to survive. (136 mins.)Director: Alfred HitchcockStars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce LandisAdd to Watchlist 

18.Torn Curtain (1966)  6.7/10 An American scientist publicly defects to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the solution for a formula resin and then figuring out a plan to escape back to the West.(128 mins.)Director: Alfred HitchcockStars: Paul Newman, Julie Andrews, Lila Kedrova, Hansjörg FelmyAdd to Watchlist 

19.Bullitt (1968)  7.5/10 An all guts, no glory San Francisco cop becomes determined to find the underworld kingpin that killed the witness in his protection. (114 mins.)Director: Peter YatesStars: Steve McQueen, Jacqueline Bisset, Robert Vaughn, Don GordonAdd to Watchlist 

20.Chinatown (1974)  8.3/10 A private detective hired to expose an adulterer finds himself caught up in a web of deceit, corruption and murder. (130 mins.)Director: Roman PolanskiStars: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston, Perry LopezAdd to Watchlist 

21.L.A. Confidential (1997)  8.3/10 As corruption grows in 1950s LA, three policemen - one strait-laced, one brutal, and one sleazy - investigate a series of murders with their own brand of justice. (138 mins.)Director: Curtis HansonStars: Kevin Spacey, Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kim BasingerAdd to Watchlist 

22.The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)  7.7/10 British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the cold war during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one. (112 mins.)Director: Martin RittStars: Richard Burton, Oskar Werner, Claire Bloom, Sam WanamakerAdd to Watchlist 

23.Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)  7.1/10 In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6. (127 mins.)Director: Tomas AlfredsonStars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark StrongAdd to Watchlist 

24.The Cold Light of Day (2012)  4.9/10 After his family is kidnapped during their sailing trip in Spain, a young WallStreet trader is confronted by the people responsible: intelligence agents looking to recover a mysterious briefcase. (93 mins.)Director: Mabrouk El MechriStars: Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis, Sigourney Weaver, Verónica EcheguiAdd to Watchlist 

25.Sherlock Holmes (2009)  7.6/10 Detective Sherlock Holmes and his stalwart partner Watson engage in a battle of wits and brawn with a nemesis whose plot is a threat to all of England. (128 mins.)Director: Guy RitchieStars: Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark StrongAdd to Watchlist 

26.RED (2010)  7.1/10 When his peaceful life is threatened by a high-tech assassin, former black-opsagent Frank Moses reassembles his old team in a last ditch effort to survive and uncover his assailants. (111 mins.)Director: Robert SchwentkeStars: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise ParkerAdd to Watchlist 

20 Must-See Spy MoviesFrom old-school “007″ to the explosive digital movies of 2007, action and adventure movies have kept us on the edge of our seats, contemplating the critical missions of international spies and fates of nations by slipping inside the shoes of our favorite characters. Here are 20 must-see spy movies from the past 50 years of top-secret assignments portrayed on the silver screen. (Movie synopses provided by Netflix)1950sNorth by Northwest (1959) What if everyone around you was suddenly convinced you were a spy? This classic from master director Alfred Hitchcock stars Cary Grant as an advertising executive who looks a little too much like someone else and is forced to go on the lam (helped along by Eva Marie Saint). Hitchcock’s sure-handed comic drama pits Grant against a crop duster and landshim in a fight for his life on Mount Rushmore. That’s a cliffhanger if ever there was one! 

1960sGoldfinger (1964) The third installment in the 007 series finds uberspy James Bond (Sean Connery) trying to thwart baddie Auric Goldfinger (Gert Fröbe) andhis elaborate gambit to corner the gold market by contaminating Fort Knox. Naturally, the oh-so-cool Mr. Bond jets to scores of exotic locales and canoodles with a bevy of beauties along the way — including Pussy Galore, the archvillain’s sexy henchwoman. Goldfinger racked up an Oscar for Best Sound Effects.Ipcress File (1965) It’s the height of the Cold War, and ex-thief Harry Palmer(Michael Caine) — now reluctantly working as a secret agent — has been called in to investigate a series of strange kidnappings among leading scientists. Widely recognized as one of the best spy thrillers of all time, The Ipcress File marks Caine’s first appearance as Palmer, the role that made him a star.You Only Live Twice (1967) After American and Soviet spaceships disappear, thetwo countries trade blame for the incidents. As the nations edge toward war, James Bond (Sean Connery) finds himself in the middle of another internationalmystery. After staging his own death, Agent 007, with Tiger Tanaka (Tetsuro Tamba) and the beautiful Aki (Akiko Wakabayashi), discovers that the leader (Donald Pleasence) of the SPECTRE crime organization orchestrated the events.In Like Flint (1967) Suave stud Derek Flint returns in the sequel to Our Man Flint — and this time, he’s up against more than he bargained for! A group of powerful female tycoons have concocted a method of brainwashing women through beauty salon hair dryers; with the women in the world enslaved, these distaff dominatrixes hijack the first U.S. space platform and replace the president with their own surgically reproduced clone. 

1970sThree Days of the Condor (1975) His name is Joe Turner — code name, Condor. Inthe next 24 hours, everyone he trusts will try to kill him. Robert Redford stars as the CIA researcher who returns from lunch to find all his co-workers murdered. Double-crossed and forced to go underground, he kidnaps a young woman (Faye Dunaway) and holds her hostage as he unravels the mystery. Conspiracy films don’t come any better. 

1980sSpies Like Us (1985) In director John Landis’ slapstick-filled comedy, Emmett (Chevy Chase) and Austin (Dan Aykroyd), two CIA spies who have never left their boring offices in Washington, D.C., must save the world from nuclear disaster. Trouble begins when the duo enters the Soviet Union via Afghanistan while trying to avoid detection by the Russian army and rival spies. Landis cast several of his director friends (including Terry Gilliam and Joel Coen) in cameos. 

1990sLa Femme Nikita (1990) Internationally acclaimed director Luc Besson delivers the action-packed story of Nikita (Anne Parillaud), a ruthless street junkie whose killer instincts could make her the perfect weapon. Recruited against her will into a secret government organization, Nikita is broken and transformed into a sexy, sophisticated “lethal weapon.” Later remade in the United States as Point of No Return, starring Bridget Fonda.Clear and Present Danger (1994) Superspook Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) gets political when an unconstitutional “war on drugs” — fought with U.S. soldiers — goes awry. Ryan uncovers the secret plan just as the troops are abandoned, and he realizes he’s being set up to take the fall. Can Ryan save the soldiers, save himself and save the day?Ronin (1998) Director John Frankenheimer helmed this action thriller at full throttle. A briefcase with undisclosed contents — sought by Irish terrorists and the Russian mob — makes its way into criminals’ hands. An Irish liaison (Natascha McElhone) assembles a squad of mercenaries, or ronin, charged with the thorny task of recovering the case. But the team, led by an ex-CIA agent (Robert De Niro), mistrusts one another. Can they accomplish their mission?The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997) Iowa video-store clerk Wallace Ritchie (Bill Murray) opts to celebrate his birthday with younger brother James (PeterGallagher). But James, an aggressive businessman, has an important dinner meeting planned. He gets rid of Wallace by giving him a ticket to the Theatre of Life, an audience-participation show where an unfortunate case of mistaken identity leads Wallace into — among other things — a web of espionage.Austin Powers II: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) When diabolical genius Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) travels back in time to steal superspy Austin Powers’ “mojo,” Austin (Myers again) must return to the swingin’ ’60s himself. There, with the help of American agent Felicity Shagwell (Heather Graham), he faces

off against Dr. Evil’ls army of minions and — naturally! — saves the world. Verne Troyer co-stars as Dr. Evil’s clone, Mini-Me. 

2000sSpy Game (2001) Robert Redford and Brad Pitt reunite in this espionage thriller from director Tony Scott. On the verge of retiring from the CIA, veteran spy Nathan Muir (Redford) learns that his one-time protege and close friend, Tom Bishop (Pitt), is a political prisoner sentenced to die in Beijing. Although their friendship has been marred by bad blood and resentment, Muir agrees to take on the most dangerous mission of his career and rescue Bishop.The Bourne Identity (2002) A man (Matt Damon) washes up on an island in the Mediterranean Sea, suffering from gunshot wounds and amnesia. He soon realizeshe’s being hunted down by assassins and that he’s very good at killing them before they get him – but the question of his identity perplexes him as he fights to stay alive. Franka Potente co-stars in this action thriller based onRobert Ludlum’s novel.The Recruit (2003) Of all the CIA operatives-in-training, James Clayton (ColinFarrell) is the one agency veteran Walter Burke (Al Pacino) most wants to recruit. James is far from grateful, but he’s the sharpest of his class. Before he officially becomes an officer, however, he must prove he’s worthy atthe Farm, the CIA’s secret training grounds, where he learns to watch his backand trust no one but himself.The Manchurian Candidate (2004) In this remake of the 1962 political thriller,Capt. Bennett Marco (Denzel Washington) and Sgt. Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber)are taken captive during the first Persian Gulf War and brainwashed so that they’re programmed to rebel once they return home. Ten years later, as Shaw’s mother (Meryl Streep) is busy helping her son in his bid for the presidency, Marco recalls the brainwashing. Can he get to Shaw before it’s too late?Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) Marriage has gotten stale for John and Jane Smith (Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie), a husband and wife who don’t yet know that they share the same undercover line of work: They’re both guns for hire. Hiding their occupations has never been a hardship for either of them – until they discover that their next assignment involves them targeting each other! Can they go through with their respective missions, or will love prevail?Syriana (2005) George Clooney (who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Golden Globe for his role) plays CIA operative Bob Barnes in this political thriller by Stephen Gaghan. America is at the beck and call of the Middle Eastwhen it comes to the oil industry, and all its players — Washington, sheiks, oil companies, field workers — intersect with each other. The star-studded cast includes Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Chris Cooper and Christopher Plummer.The Matador (2006) The life of Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), a salesman foreveron the road, veers into dangerous and surreal territory when he wanders into aMexican bar and meets a mysterious stranger, Julian (Pierce Brosnan), who’s very likely a hit man. Their meeting sets off a chain of events that will change their lives forever, as Wright is suddenly thrust into a far-from-

mundane existence that he takes to surprisingly well, once he gets acclimated to it.The Good Shepherd (2006) Matt Damon and Robert De Niro (who also directs) starin this partially fact-based drama that examines the early history of the CIA as seen through the eyes of a dedicated agent. An upstanding, sharp-minded Yale student, Edward Wilson (Damon) is recruited to work for the fledgling CIAduring World War II. Though loyal to his country, Wilson begins to feel the job eroding his ideals, filling him with distrust and destroying his personal life.

Top 20 Spy   movies The release of Ben Affleck’s smart historical satire Argo, based loosely on the true extraction by the CIA and Canadian officials of six American Embassy staff members out of Tehran in 1980, mademe reflect on the spy genre as a whole. The penumbral world of international double and triple agents, where there’s a poison-tipped umbrella in every cafe and a micro-dotted envelope in every office, is often the stuff of great movies. As a genre it peaked in the 1960s thanks to the exploits of superspy James Bondand the more down-to-earth escapades created by Adam Hall, Len Deighton and John le Carré. Despite the end of the Cold War the spy genre has flourished but changed to keep up with the shifts in the political landscape post 9/11.So here, submitted for Todd Mason’s Overlooked Movies meme over at his Sweet Freedom blog, is my list of favourites, and the reasonswhy, in chronological order, focusing mostly on the Cold War period …Dick Gordon: National Security Agency.Martin Bishop: Ah. You’re the guys I hear breathing on the other end of my phone.Dick Gordon: No, that’s the FBI. We’re not chartered for domestic surveillance.Martin Bishop: Oh, I see. You just overthrow governments. Set up friendly dictators.Dick Gordon: No, that’s the CIA. We protect our government’s communications, we tryto break the other fella’s codes. We’re the good guys, Marty.Martin Bishop: Gee, I can’t tell you what a relief that is… Dick.- dialogue from SNEAKERS (1992)I love spy stories, topical and historical, whether at the cinemaor on TV, radio and in print for their unrivalled ability in the mystery genre to reflect the existential malaise of their times and just for the sheer possibilities for excitement, atmosphere and surprise in the plots. The genre has attracted many serious writers (from Conrad to Greene to Banville to Pynchon) and many of my choices below are adaptations derived from previously

published works. I have included three films by Hitchcock, which is a lot, but they all seem sufficiently different to merit inclusion (he made a great many spy thrillers) but it does mean that I have not included some quirky titles just because I ran out of space.

In putting my selection together I have tried to be fairly narrowto try and keep the list contained. So for instance I have avoided titles that include surveillance but that do not involve espionage in the traditional sense of government agents and so on, thus excluding the wonderful The Conversation (1974) for instance and also the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others (2006), which although more clearly in the Cold War mould, is not really thought of as a spy movie – well, at least not by me … I have also excluded parodies and spoofs, though I do enjoy them – so you will look in vain here for films featuring Matt Helm, Derek Flint, Charles Vine, the Carry On team etc. The Man from UNCLE has been excluded for that reason but also because the cinema releases it generated were just TV episodes re-packaged and I plan on doing a top 20 TV list of my favourite spy shows soon.1. THE 39 STEPS (1935)The Hitchcock version, adapted in collaboration with writer Charles Bennett, was merely the first of several takes on the John Buchan novel and far from being the most faithful. But it pretty much set up the template for the director’s celebrated innocent man on the run movies (see North By Northwest below for theUS equivalent) and is full of humour and surprise. The unmasking of the villain, who has only been described by his missing half finger, is a classic moment of movie cinema and the sequence withthe protagonists handcuffed together is a classic all its own, combining Hitch’s trademark erotic perversity with black humour. Copied endlessly, never truly equalled. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.2. CONTRABAND (1940)After the success of The Spy in Black the year before, the new writer-director team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger made another spy movie starring Conrad Veidt and Valerie Hobson and in typical fashion, the hero is a German! The two make a smashing pair as they travel through London to stop a group of Nazis loose on British soil one night during the blackout (which is why it was released in the US as ‘Blackout’), trading barbed witticisms as they go. Available on DVD under its US title.

3. FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO (1943)Billy Wilder combines wartime news grabbed from the headlines (Rommel in the desert) to craft a superb tale of espionage, derring-do and hidden treasure. Erich Von Stroheim is Rommel, top-billed Franchot Tone is passable as a British soldier masquerading as a club-footed waiter and Anne Baxter is the plucky and self-sacrificing waitress. Overlooked in comparison with the writer-director’s later and better-known classics, this one is particularly unjustly neglected in my view for its well-drawn characters and well-crafted plot. Available on DVD.4. MASK OF DIMITRIOS (1944)This adaptation of the classic Eric Ambler novel, sadly AWOL on DVD at present, offers a stunning rogue’s gallery of character actors (including Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet) and is meticulously structured as a series of interlocking flashbacks, all handled with great style by debut director Jean Negulesco. Ambler after Maugham and more or less concurrent with Graham Greene probably did more than anyone to make the spy genre respectable in literary circles and also to make it topical and realistic. But he also told some great stories. Orson Welles’ production of Journey Into Fear from Ambler’s book is sadly chaotic in the version that was released by RKO but almost made this listnone the less – at least you can get that one on DVD without trying too hard …5. NOTORIOUS (1946)One of Hitchcock’s finest movies, with Cary Grant as the CIA controller falling in love with his agent Ingrid Bergman, who hasgone undercover to find out what Claude Rains and other neo-Nazisare up to in South America. A sexy and suspenseful picture, its plot was shamelessly stolen without credit for Mission impossible 2. The original is infinitely preferable and also has one of the director’s best MacGuffins too. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.6. THE MAN WHO NEVER WAS (1956)‘Operation Mincemeat’ really happened and this film, scripted by Nigel Balchin, is comparatively faithful to the facts as they were known at the time. It was an attempt by the Allies to fool the Nazis into believing that they were not going to invade Sicily in 1943 but land in Greece and Sardinia instead. Clifton Webb gives a highly restrained performance as the intelligence officer who comes up with the ghoulish plan of dropping a recently dead body with fake documentation int he hope that the Nazis will pick it up. Stephen Boyd is the Irish agent who comes

to London to check the story which provides plenty of irony and excitement (and is the part fo the script that is the most clearly fictional). A fascinating true story now available on DVDand Blu-ray too (in the UK).7. NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959)Clever script concocted by Ernest Lehman – the hunt for a spy in which as executive Cary Grant gets mistaken for a spy, who doesn’t exists – great set-pieces (the crop duster sequence, the chase across Mount Rushmore, the assassination at the UN), a wonderful music score by Bernard Herrmann and a great henchman inMartin Landau – its wonderful stuff. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.8. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)Adapted from the book by Richard Condon, this story of brainwashing and political assassination is a true cinema classic. Angela Lansbury plays the scariest screen mother ever and director John Frankenheimer was never better – a cruel, nightmarish movie with a wicked satirical edge. Simply one of thebest films ever made – not to be confused with the disappointing remake starring Denzel Washington. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.9. FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963)Not my favourite Bond movie but probably the best plotted of the early films and the most successful in terms of combining action,intrigue and espionage. Len Deighton worked on an early draft of the script and John Barry provides a pounding score while the fabulous supporting cast includes Lotte Lenya, Pedro Armendariz and Robert Shaw. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.10. THE IPCRESS FILE (1965)Len Deighton combined the private eye hardboiled style with the modern spy story with brilliant results – the movie, wonderfully scored by John Barry and directed in a fussy, febrile and dynamicFilm Noir fashion by Sidney J. Furie, changed the book quite a bit but Michael Caine is brilliant as the protagonist (here named‘Harry Palmer’) and this may be the greatest of all 60s spy movies for its clever story, brilliant acting and high style. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.11. THE SPY WHO CAME IN FROM THE COLD (1965)The le Carré anti-Bond par-excellence, shot in contrasty black and white, this has enough twists for two movies but is anchored in a quartet of excellent performances led by Richard Burton as the disillusioned protagonist, Oskar Werner as his cold opposite number, Cyril Cusack as the devious head of British Intelligence

and Claire Bloom as the innocent caught in between. Unforgettable. Available on DVD.12. THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM (1966)An almost fairy tale atmosphere permeates this classic story of neo-Nazis in 1960s Berlin. George Segal is much too young as Quiller but is otherwise very good in the role and Max von Sydow is, as always, a fine villain (he even got to play Blofeld once).Senta Berger is the gorgeous damsel in distress and the memorablescore is by John Barry, who truly provided the soundtrack to 1960s espionage cinema. 13. WHERE EAGLES DARE (1968)War movie-cum-spy thriller in this men on a mission movie writtenby Alistair MacLean and starring Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood and the late Ingrid Pitt. Utterly preposterous and remembered mainly for its huge action scenes, it also has a wonderfully convoluted spy plot in the middle and has a nice twist at the endtoo – and a classic score by Ron Goodwin – what’s not to like? Available on DVD and Blu-ray.14. THE THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR (1975)This low-key piece of espionage, a kind of 39 Steps (see above) brought up to date, inadvertently caught the post-Watergate zeitgeist with its cynical view of government and the intelligence community. Redford is the low level CIA operative onthe run from he known not whom, Faye Dunaway the girl he meets and Max von Sydow the cool killer for hire. Meticulously directedby the late Sidney Pollack, this is a thriller that still works extremely well, its central distrust of large organisations continuing to chime with the times … Available on DVD and Blu-ray.15. NO WAY OUT (1987)This very clever adaptation of Kenneth Fearing’s The Big Clock is relocated to the Pentagon with Kevin Costner set to unmask a moleby murderous politician Gene Hackman. Highly suspenseful and witha humdinger of a final twist. I previously reviewed the film here. Available on DVD.16. THE RUSSIA HOUSE (1991)Adapted by Tom Stoppard from the novel by John le Carre, this is one of the last, great Cold War thrillers made just as the East-West thaw was settling. The supporting cast is wonderfully – especially Roy Scheider as the scabrous CIA chief, along with thelikes of JT Walsh, John Mahoney, James Fox, Michael Kitchen and the great Klaus Maria Brandauer, all serving the unlikely but

ultimately winning star team of Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer. Shot on location in Moscow this film also has a wonderful music score by Jerry Goldsmith, played by Branford Marsalis. Available on DVD and Blu-ray (in France at least).17. SNEAKERS (1992)Branford Marsalis is also the soloist for this film (scored by James Horner), which was originally designed as a sequel to the 1983 Matthew Broderick cyber thriller Wargames.What ultimately emerged however was perhaps more caper movie than espionage, a film that affects a light tone but knows how to interject real jeopardy at the halfway mark to up the stakes in the search for the ultimate secret encryption decoding machine. Beautifully played by a great cast of new and old faces, with Redford and Poitier holding up the rear while the likes of River Phoenix and Dan Aykroyd steal all the scenes, which delight in building one paradox after another (a blind man drives a getaway car, a theft has to undertaken as slowly as possibly, an empty box that provesto have all the answers and so on). Really worth rediscovering. Available on DVD.18. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE (1996)I love Brian De Palma and his take on the 1960s and 70s TV serieswas typically subversive, wiping out the team in the opening sequence and turning heroes into outcasts. Of the four Tom Cruisemovies made in this series (so far) this is the only one that really stands up as a spy movie. Along with the celebrated Langley break-in (with Cruise hanging on wires) there are spectacular and small bits of business that prove endlessly intriguing, such as the revelation of the second IMF team at the restaurant and the sequences in which one character relates how he escaped death and the visualisation by the hero in his mind that directly contradicts it – all much cleverer than your average Summer movie. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.19. THE BOURNE SUPREMACY (2004)Having found the original underwhelming, this sequel was much more impressive with director Paul Greengrass’ kinetic style immediately impressing to create a truly breathless story of cross and double cross and Bourne tries to outwit various intelligence agencies and discover his real identity. Only the exit of the leading lady seems misjudged – for me the best of theBourne series, by far. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.20. TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (2011)A movie that stands on its own without ignoring both its literary

origins in the le Carré novel and the 1979 BBC TV mini-series starring Alec Guinness as spymaster George Smiley. Most of the people I know who claim to have not been able to follow this movie properly were those that did not know the story from previous incarnations, and I can see how the final revelation of the mole in British intelligence is perhaps a little bit too oblique – and the final death a bit too convenient-seeming (unless you’re read the book, where it is made clear that the parties in question had a pre-arranged rendezvous). This may be considered a bit of a failing from a story-telling standpoint andthe subplot involving Tom hardy’s Ricky Tarr is perhaps made too prominent at the expense of clarity. Additionally one could arguethat Oldman is perhaps too beholden at times to Alec Guinness’ TVportrayal but this movie has virtues all its own, especially in its masterly use of flashback. And the 70s atmosphere is brilliantly caught, the final use of a Julio Iglesias recording brilliantly judged in my view. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.21?With the exception of the Bourne film I have deliberately excluded the many, many films dealing with international terrorism since the World Trade Center Attack, purely for reasonsof space. This means that really fine films like David Mamet’s Spartan (2004) have been omitted though it is well worth looking for. The same goes for Traitor (2008), a fascinating little movie starring Don Cheadle based on a story by comedian Steve Martin, though the best of them so far may well be Syriana (2005) starring George Clooney. But there are plenty more I have left out – do let me know what you think …

Best Movies based on Intelligence Agenciesby vishalbh_30185 created 2 months ago | last updated - 2 months ago

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1.The Sum of All Fears (2002)  6.4/10 CIA analyst Jack Ryan must thwart the plans of a terrorist faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia's newly elected president by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore.(124 mins.)Director: Phil Alden RobinsonStars: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Ian Mongrain, Russell BobbittAdd to Watchlist 

2.Spy Game (2001)

  7.0/10 Retiring CIA agent Nathan Muir recalls his training of Tom Bishop while working against agency politics to free him from his Chinese captors. (126 mins.)Director: Tony ScottStars: Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen DillaneAdd to Watchlist 

3.Charlie Wilson's War (2007)  7.1/10 A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects. (102 mins.)Director: Mike NicholsStars: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy AdamsAdd to Watchlist 

4.Body of Lies (2008)  7.1/10 A CIA agent on the ground in Jordan hunts down a powerful terrorist leader while being caught between the unclear intentions of his American supervisors and Jordon Intelligence.(128 mins.)Director: Ridley Scott

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh FarahaniAdd to Watchlist 

5.Argo (2012)  7.8/10 Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue sixAmericans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980. (120 mins.)Director: Ben AffleckStars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan ArkinAdd to Watchlist 

6.Breach (2007)  7.0/10 Based on the true story, FBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was put on trial for selling secrets to the Soviet Union. (110 mins.)Director: Billy RayStars: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Haysbert, Laura LinneyAdd to Watchlist 

7.Syriana (2005)  7.0/10 A politically-charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands ofthose personally involved and affected by it. (128 mins.)Director: Stephen GaghanStars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Kayvan NovakAdd to Watchlist 

8.Munich (2005)  7.6/10 Based on the true story of the Black September aftermath, about the five men chosen to eliminate the ones responsible for that fateful day. (164 mins.)Director: Steven SpielbergStars: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Marie-Josée Croze, Ciarán HindsAdd to Watchlist 

9.Patriot Games (1992)  6.9/10 When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge. (117 mins.)Director: Phillip NoyceStars: Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Anne Archer, Patrick BerginAdd to Watchlist 

10.Clear and Present Danger (1994)  6.9/10 CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US governmentagainst a Colombian drug cartel. (141 mins.)Director: Phillip NoyceStars: Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer, Joaquim de AlmeidaAdd to Watchlist 

11.Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)  7.1/10 In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6. (127 mins.)Director: Tomas AlfredsonStars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark StrongAdd to Watchlist 

12.Fair Game (2010)  6.8/10 CIA operative Valerie Plame discovers her identity is allegedly leaked by the government as payback for an op-ed article her husband wrote criticizing the Bush administration. (108 mins.)Director: Doug LimanStars: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Sonya Davison, Vanessa ChongAdd to Watchlist 

13.Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014)  6.2/10 Jack Ryan, as a young covert CIA analyst, uncovers a Russian plot to crash theU.S. economy with a terrorist attack. (105 mins.)Director: Kenneth BranaghStars: Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, Kenneth BranaghAdd to Watchlist 

14.The Hunt for Red October (1990)  7.6/10 In 1984, the USSR's best submarine captain in their newest sub violates ordersand heads for the USA. Is he trying to defect, or to start a war? (134 mins.)Director: John McTiernanStars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam NeillAdd to Watchlist 

15.Madras Cafe (2013)  7.9/10 An Indian Intelligence agent (portrayed by John Abraham)[9] journeys into a war torn coastal island... (130 mins.)Director: Shoojit SircarStars: John Abraham, Nargis Fakhri, Rashi Khanna, Avijit DuttAdd to Watchlist 

16.Zero Dark Thirty (2012)  7.4/10 A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the NavyS.E.A.L. Team 6 in May 2011. (157 mins.)Director: Kathryn BigelowStars: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark StrongAdd to Watchlist 

17.The Recruit (2003)  6.6/10 A brilliant young CIA trainee is asked by his mentor to help find a mole in the Agency. (115 mins.)Director: Roger DonaldsonStars: Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel MachtAdd to Watchlist 

18.Enemy of the State (1998)  7.3/10 A lawyer becomes a target by a corrupt politician and his NSA goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a serious politically motivated crime. (132 mins.)Director: Tony ScottStars: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa BonetAdd to Watchlist 

19.Safe House (2012)  6.8/10 A young CIA agent is tasked with looking after a fugitive in a safe house. Butwhen the safe house is attacked, he finds himself on the run with his charge. (115 mins.)Director: Daniel EspinosaStars: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Robert Patrick, Vera FarmigaAdd to Watchlist 

20.From Paris with Love (2010)  6.5/10 In Paris, a young employee in the office of the US Ambassador hooks up with anAmerican spy looking to stop a terrorist attack in the city. (92 mins.)Director: Pierre MorelStars: John Travolta, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Kasia Smutniak, Richard DurdenAdd to Watchlist 

21.The Good Shepherd (2006)  6.7/10 The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life. (167 mins.)Director: Robert De NiroStars: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec BaldwinAdd to Watchlist 

22.Ronin (1998)  7.3/10 A freelancing former US intelligence agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by both the Irish and the Russians. (122 mins.)Director: John FrankenheimerStars: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan SkarsgårdAdd to Watchlist