30 Best Spy Films of All Time

George Clooney’s directorial debut, “Confessions of a Dangerous Mind” is based on the 1984 “unauthorized autobiography” of game show host Chuck Barris (“The Gong Show,” most famously), in which he claims to have also been an assassin for the CIA. Sam Rockwell stars as Barris in this perfect fusion of dark humor, psychological drama, spy thriller, and absurdist fantasy. The CIA, for what it’s worth, has denied that Barris ever worked with them.

Tom Hanks stars as the title character in this film, based on a true story, as a U.S. Congressman who, alongside CIA operative Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman), helps to organize and support the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan War of 1979 to 1989. Written by Arron Sorkin and directed by Mike Nichols, it was nominated for five Golden Globes and earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for Hoffman.

The tenth James Bond film and the third to star Roger Moore, “The Spy Who Loved Me” took its title but none of the plot from Ian Fleming’s 1962 Bond novel of the same name. In the film, Bond teams up with a Soviet agent played by Barbara Bach to stop a megalomaniac named Karl Stromberg from destroying the world and starting a new civilization under the sea. This was Moore’s personal favorite Bond film, and famously features a car that transforms into a submarine.

From the same writing/directing team that brought us the comedy classic “Airplane!,” “Top Secret!” is a Cold War spy spoof for the ages. It stars Val Kilmer in his film debut, playing an American rock-and-roll star (à  la Elvis) who gets mixed up with the East Germans. It’s an exceedingly silly romp that also sends up surf musicals and World War II films, and it’s sadly underappreciated. But if you’re a fan of “Airplane!” or silly spoofs in general, you definitely will want to seek this one out.

An adaptation of the Ian Fleming novel of the same name, the third James Bond film follows Bond (Sean Connery) as he tries to find two atomic bombs stolen by a secret organization called SPECTRE, which is holding the world ransom for £100 million in diamonds. His search leads him to the Bahamas, and culminates in an underwater battle that was incredibly difficult to film. It performed exceedingly well at the box office, with the now-iconic underwater action sequences receiving lots of praise.

An erotic spy film set in both 1938 Hong Kong and 1942 Shanghai, “Lust, Caution” is about Chinese university students who plot to assassinate a high-ranking government special agent by luring him into a honey trap. It won director Ang Lee the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, and was widely praised for its tenseness and sensuality.

Pierce Brosnan excelled in his James Bond debut, revitalizing the series with a fast-paced, action-packed film in which he must stop a rogue former MI-6 agent, played by Sean Bean, from unleashing a global financial meltdown via a satellite weapon. The first Bond film to not use any elements of any Ian Fleming novels, the first to use CGI, and the first to cast a female as M (a spot-on Judy Dench), “GoldenEye” was a critically-praised smash hit, grossing far more than the Bond films starring Brosnan’s predecessor, Timothy Dalton, and spawning an iconic Nintendo 64 video game.

Based on the 1946 novel “The Big Clock” by Kenneth Fearing, “No Way Out” is a stylish neo-noir suspense film in which Navy lieutenant Kevin Costner has a fling with Susan Atwell (Sean Young), who’s also involved with the Secretary of Defense, played by Gene Hackman. When Atwell turns up dead, Costner is placed in charge of the investigation, and intrigue abounds. The film made a star out of Costner, and the suspense builds to a shocking twist ending.

An underappreciated computer-animated spy comedy from 20th Century Fox, “Spies in Disguise” boasts a star-studded cast. The plot involves a secret agent (played by Smith) who is accidentally turned into a pigeon by a young scientist (Holland); the duo then have to work together to not only turn Smith’s character back into a human, but also stop a terrorist from destroying the world with a fleet of weaponized drones. It underperformed at the box office, but received generally good reviews for its family-friendliness.

Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” follows the Israeli government’s secret revenge mission against the Palestine Liberation Organization in the wake of their murder of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team during the 1972 Munich Olympics. The film made more than 20 top-10 lists of the year’s best films, and was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

An action-packed spy comedy that sparked a franchise, “Kingsman: The Secret Service” follows Gary “Eggsy” Unwin (Taron Egerton) as he’s recruited by Harry Hart, aka Galahad (Colin Firth) into a secret British spy organization just in time to attempt to stop a villain (Samuel L. Jackson) from killing most of humanity. It’s fun, darkly funny, and wholly original, with some scenes of truly over-the-top violence thrown in for good measure. Based on a comic book series of the same name, it was director Matthew Vaughn’s most successful film to date.

A perfect starring vehicle for Melissa McCarthy, “Spy” stars the actress as a desk-bound CIA agent who’s recruited to track down a stolen nuclear weapon. Directed by Paul Fieg and bolstered by great performances from Rose Byrne, Jude Law, Peter Serafinowicz, Miranda Hart, and a surprisingly funny Jason Statham, “Spy” is a laugh-out-loud funny spy thriller, and it won McCarthy the Golden Globe Award for Favorite Comedic Movie Actress.

The fourth of Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible” films, “Ghost Protocol” is a fast-paced thriller with lots of twists, turns, and, of course, scenes involving Cruise running. In the film, after a mission goes wrong and the Kremlin is bombed, Cruise and his team are left without backup while trying to stop an extremist with nuclear launch codes. Dim the lights and grab the popcorn, because this one will have you on the edge of your seat.

“Official Secrets” is based on the story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), a whistleblower who exposed an illegal American and British spying operation to dig up dirt on UN diplomats in order to coerce them into supporting the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The film received high praise for Knightley’s compelling performance as well as its historical accuracy.

In the classic ’70s film “Three Days of the Condor,” a CIA analyst (Robert Redford) discovers that his co-workers have been murdered; he attempts to track down their killers, with plenty of twists and turns long the way. It’s tense and well-directed by Sydney Pollack, and Faye Dunaway turns in a great supporting performance.

An Alfred Hitchcock-directed suspense thriller classic, “The Man Who Knew Too Much” stars James Stewart and Doris Day as a married couple who (along with their son) get mixed up in an assassination plot while vacationing in French Morocco. It’s edge-of-your-seat suspenseful and Hitchcock is in fine form; Stewart and Day also turn in great performances as a man in over his head and a mother trying to protect her child, respectively. Also, for what it’s worth, this is the film in which Day’s “Que Sera, Sera” debuted.

The James Bond film that started them all, “Dr. No,” based on Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name, introduced the world to Sean Connery’s iconic Agent 007. In the film, Bond travels to Jamaica to investigate a fellow agent’s disappearance, and while there he uncovers a plot by the villainous Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman) to disrupt a Cape Canaveral rocket launch with a radio-based weapon. It’s a clever, sexy, action-packed adventure, and essential viewing for Bond fans. Posters of Andress emerging from the sea in front of Connery in a white bikini ended up on dorm-room walls all over America.

The second installment in the Jason Bourne film series based on Robert Ludlum’s novels, “The Bourne Supremacy” follows the amnesia-stricken former CIA assassin Bourne (Matt Damon) as he gets wrapped up in CIA conspiracies while continuing to attempt to learn more of his past. Joan Allen, Brian Cox, and Franka Potente lead the supporting cast in this action-packed thriller.

An adaptation of Tom Clancy’s iconic novel and the first film to feature the character of CIA analyst Jack Ryan (here portrayed by Alec Baldwin, supplanted by Harrison Ford in later films), “The Hunt for Red October” largely takes place on a Soviet submarine during the Cold War. The sub’s commander (played by Sean Connery) wants to secretly defect to America, and Ryan must prove that to the U.S. Navy before they initiate a violent confrontation with the Soviets.

The second James Bond film (and Sean Connery’s second appearance in the role), “From Russia with Love” follows Bond to Turkey, where he’s assisting in the defection of a Soviet consulate clerk (Daniela Bianchi); all the while, the shady organization called SPECTRE is trying to kill bond and avenge the death of Dr. No. Another huge Bond success, it’s a sharp, fast-paced Cold War thriller with a smartly-written script and plenty of exciting action sequences.

At the height of the Cold War, a lawyer (Tom Hanks) is tasked with negotiating the release of U.S. Navy pilot Francis Gary Powers, who was shot down and captured over the Soviet Union, in exchange for a convicted Soviet KGB spy (Mark Rylance). That’s the premise of this critically-acclaimed gem from Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay co-written by the Coen Brothers. It’s a gripping, action-packed character study that also happens to be based on a true story.

Tom Cruise returned for his fifth “Mission: Impossible” film, “Rogue Nation,” this time running from the CIA as he tries to prove the existence of The Syndicate, a global freelance terrorist organization composed of intelligence officers from around the world. Written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, it’s everything you expect from a “Mission: Impossible” film, loaded with eye-popping stunts and special effects, jaw-dropping action sequences, plenty of international intrigue, and a predictably over-the-top performance from Cruise.

Daniel Craig’s third Bond film, “Skyfall” finds Bond investigating an attack on MI6 (the UK’s foreign intelligence service) and uncovering a plot by a former agent (played by Javier Bardem) to kill M (the former head of MI6), played by Judy Dench. Directed by Sam Mendes, “Skyfall” was the second-highest grossing film of the year, was well-reviewed, featured a spectacular performance from Craig, and boasted a hit theme song by Adele.

A man is found in the Mediterranean Sea with two gunshot wounds in his back, and when he wakes up he has no memory but lots of combat skills, as well as access to a Swiss safe deposit box filled with money, passports, IDs, and a gun. Thus begins “The Bourne Identity,” the first installment in the Bourne series starring Matt Damon in the title role. In the film, Bourne finds himself mixed up with a CIA conspiracy while attempting to figure out who he is, and it’s a fun, mile-a-minute action thriller.

In the sixth (and best) film in the Tom Cruise-starring “Mission: Impossible” series, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) and his team must track down missing plutonium while on the run from a terrorist group called The Apostles after a mission goes wrong. It’s a fast-paced, well-told action adventure with some ridiculous stunts from Cruise, including skydiving from 25,000 feet and jumping from the roof of one building to another.

This action-packed thriller is the third installment in the Bourne series, and the best of the bunch. In the film, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) continues the search for details on his past (it’s a recurring theme) as he becomes the target of an assassin program, and it’s a thrill ride from start to finish. The film received universal acclaim and picked up three Academy Awards.

Daniel Craig made his James Bond debut with 2006’s “Casino Royale” and left anyone who doubted his ability to embody 007 in the dust. The full series reboot re-introduced Bond as more inexperienced and vulnerable than his predecessors, and follows him as he attempts to bankrupt a terrorist financier (Mads Mikkelson) in a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro while falling in love with the treasury employee who’s providing him the money (Eva Green). It dispensed with some of the more stale tropes of earlier Bond films, and critics (and fans) loved it.

If you’re going to watch one Bond movie, make it “Goldfinger.” The third film (and first blockbuster) in the series and the one where the character of James Bond truly came into his own, “Goldfinger” follows Bond as he investigates gold smuggling by magnate Auric Goldfinger and eventually uncovers his plan to contaminate the gold stored in Fort Knox with toxic radiation. It introduced now-classic characters including Oddjob and Bond’s personal pilot Рussy Galore, as well as the iconic shot of Bond girl Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton) completely covered in gold paint.

An all-time Cold War classic produced and directed by John Frankenheimer and based on the 1959 novel of the same name, “The Manchurian Candidate” stars Frank Sinatra as a Korean War veteran who is brainwashed by members of an international communist conspiracy to assassinate a U.S. presidential nominee and lead to the overthrow of the American government. Released at the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, it was a critical and box office success and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

The greatest spy film of all time (and one of the greatest films of all time, period), “Notorious” is an Alfred Hitchcock classic starring the power trio of Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, and Claude Rains. In the film, a U.S. government agent (Grant) enlists the daughter of a German war criminal (Bergman) in an effort to infiltrate a Nazi organization that moved to Brazil after World War II. The two fall in love, so it gets complicated when she’s instructed to seduce the organization’s leader (Rains). The screenplay, direction, cinematography, and overarching themes of trust, love, and duty were all widely praised by critics, and many consider it Hitchcock’s best film.