Maven's Best 100+ Spy Stories
by maven0690 | created - 21 Jul 2015 | updated - 20 Jan 2019 | PublicTales of the hidden "Cloak and Dagger" world that determines the fate of nations and the course of history. Iconic names like James Bond, Jason Bourne, Jack Ryan, Secret Agents and Assassins in Movies & TV about espionage with 6.4+ rating and 150+ votes. See also:
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1. Spy (2015)
R | 120 min | Action, Comedy
A desk-bound CIA analyst volunteers to go undercover to infiltrate the world of a deadly arms dealer and prevent diabolical global disaster.
Director: Paul Feig | Stars: Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne, Jude Law, Jason Statham
Votes: 258,748 | Gross: $110.83M
2. The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
R | 121 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Samantha Caine lives in a small town with her daughter. Eight years ago she emerged, two months pregnant, from a nearby river with no memory of her past or who she is. However, she's getting closer to finding out about her past.
Director: Renny Harlin | Stars: Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson, Yvonne Zima, Craig Bierko
Votes: 85,658 | Gross: $33.33M
3. Spy (2011–2012)
30 min | Comedy
Tim is in a custody battle with his ex-wife, when he quits his job. He applies for a job as a civil servant doing data entry, but discovers during the job interview that he has been offered a job as a trainee spy for MI5.
Stars: Tom Goodman-Hill, Darren Boyd, Jude Wright, Robert Lindsay
Votes: 3,916
4. Spy Game (2001)
R | 126 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Retiring CIA agent Nathan Muir recalls his training of Tom Bishop while working against agency politics to free him from his Chinese captors.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack, Stephen Dillane
Votes: 167,026 | Gross: $0.03M
5. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced from semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet Agent within MI6.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong
Votes: 212,467 | Gross: $24.15M
6. I Spy (1965–1968)
51 min | Action, Adventure
A pair of intelligence agents posing as a tennis pro and his coach go on secret missions around the world.
Stars: Robert Culp, Bill Cosby, Kenneth Tobey, Arthur Batanides
Votes: 2,485
7. Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
R | 129 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A spy organisation recruits a promising street kid into the agency's training program, while a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.
Director: Matthew Vaughn | Stars: Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Caine
Votes: 715,925 | Gross: $128.26M
8. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A bored married couple is surprised to learn that they are both assassins hired by competing agencies to kill each other.
Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Adam Brody, Vince Vaughn
Votes: 541,315 | Gross: $186.34M
9. Salt (2010)
PG-13 | 100 min | Action, Thriller
A CIA agent goes on the run after a defector accuses her of being a Russian spy.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski
Votes: 330,053 | Gross: $118.31M
10. The Avengers (1961–1969)
TV-14 | 50 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A quirky spy show of the adventures of eccentrically suave British Agent John Steed and his predominantly female partners.
Stars: Patrick Macnee, Diana Rigg, Honor Blackman, Linda Thorson
Votes: 8,886
11. The New Avengers (1976–1977)
60 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
Secret agent Steed, working for an unnamed branch of British intelligence, is teamed up with two partners to fight evil plots for world domination, dealing with suspended animation, biological warfare, robotics, and other threats.
Stars: Patrick Macnee, Gareth Hunt, Joanna Lumley, Maurice Marsac
Votes: 2,604
12. The Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.: The Fifteen Years Later Affair (1983 TV Movie)
TV-PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
When THRUSH steals a nuclear weapon and demands a ransom delivered by Napoleon Solo, UNCLE recalls him and his partner to duty.
Director: Ray Austin | Stars: Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Patrick Macnee, Tom Mason
Votes: 743
13. The Saint (1962–1969)
TV-PG | 50 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Simon "The Saint" Templar, a wealthy adventurer and 20th-century Robin Hood, travels the world in his white Volvo P1800S, solving unsolvable problems and righting wrongs.
Stars: Roger Moore, Ivor Dean, Leslie Crawford, Justine Lord
Votes: 6,214
14. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968)
TV-PG | 50 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
The two top Agents of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.) fight the enemies of peace, particularly the forces of T.H.R.U.S.H.
Stars: Robert Vaughn, David McCallum, Leo G. Carroll, John Herman Shaner
Votes: 6,261
15. Danger Man (1960–1961)
TV-PG | 24 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
John Drake is a special operative for NATO, specializing in security assignments against any subversive element which threatened world peace.
Stars: Patrick McGoohan, Richard Wattis, Lionel Murton, Michael Ripper
Votes: 1,384
16. Secret Agent (1964–1967)
TV-PG | 49 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
John Drake is a special operative for M9, specializing in security assignments against any subversive element that threatens world peace.
Stars: Patrick McGoohan, Peter Madden, Frank Maher, Peter Brayham
Votes: 1,539
17. The Prisoner (1967–1968)
TV-PG | 1,010 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After he resigns, a secret agent is abducted and taken to what looks like an idyllic village, but is actually a bizarre prison. He refuses to give his warders information while attempting to escape.
Stars: Patrick McGoohan, Angelo Muscat, Peter Swanwick, Peter Brace
Votes: 15,041
18. Mission: Impossible (1966–1973)
TV-PG | 50 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
An elite covert operations unit carries out highly sensitive missions subject to official denial in the event of failure, death or capture.
Stars: Peter Graves, Barbara Bain, Greg Morris, Peter Lupus
Votes: 11,487
19. Department S (1969–1970)
60 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
An elite department within Interpol, Department S inherits those cases which the other member groups have failed to solve.
Stars: Peter Wyngarde, Joel Fabiani, Rosemary Nicols, Dennis Alaba Peters
Votes: 582
20. Callan (1967–1972)
60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
David Callan is the top agent/assassin for the Security Service (British counterintelligence), but he is an embittered man who performs his duties "for Queen and country" under duress. This... See full summary »
Stars: Edward Woodward, Russell Hunter, Lisa Langdon, Anthony Valentine
Votes: 856
21. The Champions (1968–1969)
60 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
After a plane carrying three UN Agents crashes in the Himalayas, they are rescued by an advanced civilisation secretly living in Tibet who grant them enhanced versions of the ordinary five senses, and intellectual and physical abilities.
Stars: Stuart Damon, Alexandra Bastedo, William Gaunt, Anthony Nicholls
Votes: 1,424
22. Mission: Impossible (1996)
PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
An American agent, under false suspicion of disloyalty, must discover and expose the real spy without the help of his organization.
Director: Brian De Palma | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart, Henry Czerny
Votes: 470,182 | Gross: $180.98M
23. Mission: Impossible (1988–1990)
TV-PG | 47 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
An elite covert operations unit carries out highly sensitive missions subject to official denial in the event of failure, death or capture.
Stars: Peter Graves, Thaao Penghlis, Antony Hamilton, Phil Morris
Votes: 4,298
24. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
PG-13 | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Ethan and his team take on their most impossible mission yet when they have to eradicate an international rogue organization as highly skilled as they are and committed to destroying the IMF.
Director: Christopher McQuarrie | Stars: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg
Votes: 410,851 | Gross: $195.04M
25. Mission: Impossible III (2006)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
IMF agent Ethan Hunt comes into conflict with a dangerous and sadistic arms dealer who threatens his life and his fiancée in response.
Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Tom Cruise, Michelle Monaghan, Ving Rhames, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Votes: 390,648 | Gross: $134.03M
26. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (2011)
PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in the bombing of the Kremlin, causing Ethan Hunt and his new team to go rogue to clear their organization's name.
Director: Brad Bird | Stars: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton
Votes: 528,341 | Gross: $209.40M
27. Wanted (2008)
R | 110 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A frustrated office worker discovers that he is the son of a professional assassin, and that he shares his father's superhuman killing abilities.
Director: Timur Bekmambetov | Stars: Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Terence Stamp
Votes: 408,498 | Gross: $134.51M
28. The Eiger Sanction (1975)
Approved | 129 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Classical art professor and collector Dr. Jonathan Hemlock, who doubles as a professional assassin, is coerced out of retirement to avenge the murder of an old friend.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, George Kennedy, Vonetta McGee, Jack Cassidy
Votes: 22,328 | Gross: $1.53M
29. Mata Hari (1931)
Passed | 89 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A semi-fictionalized account of the life of Mata Hari, an exotic dancer who was accused of spying for Germany during World War I.
Director: George Fitzmaurice | Stars: Greta Garbo, Ramon Novarro, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone
Votes: 3,953 | Gross: $0.93M
30. OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (2006)
Not Rated | 99 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Secret agent OSS 117 foils Nazis, beds local beauties, and brings peace to the Middle East.
Director: Michel Hazanavicius | Stars: François Damiens, Jean Dujardin, Khalid Maadour, Youssef Hamid
Votes: 23,102 | Gross: $0.30M
31. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020)
TV-PG | 45 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The missions of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.
Stars: Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Brett Dalton, Iain De Caestecker
Votes: 225,952
32. Agent Carter (2015–2016)
TV-PG | 42 min | Action, Adventure, Crime
In 1946, Peggy Carter is relegated to secretarial duties in the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR). When Howard Stark is accused of treason, he secretly recruits Peggy to clear his name with the help of his butler, Edwin Jarvis.
Stars: Hayley Atwell, James D'Arcy, Enver Gjokaj, Chad Michael Murray
Votes: 89,150
33. Get Smart (2008)
PG-13 | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Maxwell Smart, a highly intellectual but bumbling spy working for the CONTROL agency, is tasked with preventing a terrorist attack from rival spy agency KAOS.
Director: Peter Segal | Stars: Steve Carell, Anne Hathaway, Alan Arkin, Dwayne Johnson
Votes: 228,600 | Gross: $130.32M
34. Get Smart (1965–1970)
TV-G | 25 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
Maxwell Smart, a highly intellectual but bumbling spy working for the CONTROL agency, battles the evil forces of rival spy agency KAOS with the help of his competent partner Agent 99.
Stars: Don Adams, Barbara Feldon, Edward Platt, Robert Karvelas
Votes: 13,783
35. Get Smart (1995)
30 min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery
Maxwell Smart, now Chief of Control, has to deal with his own bumbling secret agent, his son Zach.
Stars: Don Adams, Andy Dick, Elaine Hendrix, Heather Morgan
Votes: 1,106
36. Skyfall (2012)
PG-13 | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond's loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. When MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Judi Dench
Votes: 730,979 | Gross: $304.36M
37. Casino Royale (2006)
PG-13 | 144 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
After earning 00 status and a licence to kill, secret agent James Bond sets out on his first mission as 007. Bond must defeat a private banker funding terrorists in a high-stakes game of poker at Casino Royale, Montenegro.
Director: Martin Campbell | Stars: Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Judi Dench, Jeffrey Wright
Votes: 694,438 | Gross: $167.45M
38. Quantum of Solace (2008)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
James Bond descends into mystery as he tries to stop a mysterious organisation from eliminating a country's most valuable resource.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric, Judi Dench
Votes: 470,700 | Gross: $168.37M
39. GoldenEye (1995)
PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Years after a friend and fellow 00 agent is killed on a joint mission, a secret space based weapons program known as "GoldenEye" is stolen. James Bond is assigned to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using the weapon.
Director: Martin Campbell | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen
Votes: 270,184 | Gross: $106.60M
40. Goldfinger (1964)
PG | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
While investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman, Shirley Eaton
Votes: 202,514 | Gross: $51.08M
41. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond sets out to stop a media mogul's plan to induce war between China and the UK in order to obtain exclusive global media coverage.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher
Votes: 204,654 | Gross: $125.33M
42. Dr. No (1962)
PG | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A resourceful British government agent seeks answers in a case involving the disappearance of a colleague and the disruption of the American space program.
Director: Terence Young | Stars: Sean Connery, Ursula Andress, Bernard Lee, Joseph Wiseman
Votes: 179,367 | Gross: $16.07M
43. The World Is Not Enough (1999)
PG-13 | 128 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond uncovers a nuclear plot while protecting an oil heiress from her former kidnapper, an international terrorist who can't feel pain.
Director: Michael Apted | Stars: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards
Votes: 209,945 | Gross: $126.94M
44. From Russia with Love (1963)
PG | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond willingly falls into an assassination plot involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E.
Director: Terence Young | Stars: Sean Connery, Robert Shaw, Lotte Lenya, Daniela Bianchi
Votes: 145,324 | Gross: $24.80M
45. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)
PG | 125 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond investigates the hijacking of British and Russian submarines carrying nuclear warheads, with the help of a K.G.B. agent whose lover he killed.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Roger Moore, Barbara Bach, Curd Jürgens, Richard Kiel
Votes: 116,256 | Gross: $46.80M
46. Thunderball (1965)
PG | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond heads to the Bahamas to recover two nuclear warheads stolen by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Agent Emilio Largo in an international extortion scheme.
Director: Terence Young | Stars: Sean Connery, Claudine Auger, Adolfo Celi, Luciana Paluzzi
Votes: 127,061 | Gross: $63.60M
47. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
PG | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A diamond smuggling investigation leads James Bond to Las Vegas where he uncovers an evil plot involving a rich business tycoon.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Lana Wood
Votes: 114,124 | Gross: $43.82M
48. For Your Eyes Only (1981)
PG | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
Secret service agent James Bond is assigned to find a missing British vessel equipped with a weapons encryption device and prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
Director: John Glen | Stars: Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson
Votes: 108,276 | Gross: $62.30M
49. Live and Let Die (1973)
PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond is sent to stop a diabolically brilliant heroin magnate armed with a complex organisation and a reliable psychic tarot card reader.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour, Clifton James
Votes: 115,447 | Gross: $35.38M
50. The Living Daylights (1987)
PG | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond is sent to investigate a KGB policy to kill all enemy spies, and uncovers an arms deal that potentially has major global ramifications.
Director: John Glen | Stars: Timothy Dalton, Maryam d'Abo, Jeroen Krabbé, Joe Don Baker
Votes: 105,827 | Gross: $51.19M
51. You Only Live Twice (1967)
PG | 117 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond and the Japanese Secret Service must find and stop the true culprit of a series of space hijackings, before war is provoked between Russia and the United States.
Director: Lewis Gilbert | Stars: Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama, Tetsurô Tanba
Votes: 117,515 | Gross: $43.08M
52. Licence to Kill (1989)
PG-13 | 133 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A vengeful James Bond goes rogue to infiltrate and take down the organization of a drug lord who has murdered his friend's new wife and left him near death.
Director: John Glen | Stars: Timothy Dalton, Robert Davi, Carey Lowell, Talisa Soto
Votes: 112,058 | Gross: $34.67M
53. Octopussy (1983)
PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
A fake Fabergé egg recovered from the body of a fellow agent leads James Bond to uncover a jewel smuggling operation led by the mysterious Octopussy, and a plot to blow up a NATO air base.
Director: John Glen | Stars: Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Kristina Wayborn
Votes: 112,964 | Gross: $67.90M
54. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)
PG | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
British agent James Bond goes undercover to pursue the villainous Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who is planning to hold the world to ransom.
Director: Peter R. Hunt | Stars: George Lazenby, Diana Rigg, Telly Savalas, Gabriele Ferzetti
Votes: 99,425 | Gross: $22.80M
55. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
PG | 125 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
James Bond is targeted by the world's most expensive assassin, while he attempts to recover sensitive solar cell technology that is being sold to the highest bidder.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams
Votes: 113,056 | Gross: $20.97M
56. The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
Jason Bourne dodges a ruthless C.I.A. official and his Agents from a new assassination program while searching for the origins of his life as a trained killer.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Matt Damon, Edgar Ramírez, Joan Allen, Julia Stiles
Votes: 658,154 | Gross: $227.47M
57. The Bourne Identity (2002)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and attempting to regain his memory.
Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Franka Potente, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper, Clive Owen
Votes: 576,153 | Gross: $121.66M
58. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
PG-13 | 108 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
When Jason Bourne is framed for a CIA operation gone awry, he is forced to resume his former life as a trained assassin to survive.
Director: Paul Greengrass | Stars: Matt Damon, Franka Potente, Joan Allen, Brian Cox
Votes: 486,831 | Gross: $176.24M
59. The Bourne Legacy (2012)
PG-13 | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
An expansion of the universe from Robert Ludlum's novels, centered on a new hero whose stakes have been triggered by the events of the previous three films.
Director: Tony Gilroy | Stars: Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton, Scott Glenn
Votes: 315,544 | Gross: $113.20M
60. Our Man Flint (1966)
Approved | 108 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
When scientists use eco-terrorism to impose their will on the world by affecting extremes in the weather, Intelligence Chief Cramden calls in top agent Derek Flint.
Director: Daniel Mann | Stars: James Coburn, Lee J. Cobb, Gila Golan, Edward Mulhare
Votes: 7,090 | Gross: $16.00M
61. The Sum of All Fears (2002)
PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
CIA analyst Jack Ryan must stop the plans of a Neo-Nazi faction that threatens to induce a catastrophic conflict between the United States and Russia's President by detonating a nuclear weapon at a football game in Baltimore, Maryland.
Director: Phil Alden Robinson | Stars: Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, Ian Mongrain, Russell Bobbitt
Votes: 124,383 | Gross: $118.91M
62. North by Northwest (1959)
Approved | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery
A New York City advertising executive goes on the run after being mistaken for a government agent by a group of foreign spies, and falls for a woman whose loyalties he begins to doubt.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis
Votes: 346,050 | Gross: $13.28M
63. Clear and Present Danger (1994)
PG-13 | 141 min | Action, Crime, Drama
CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer, Joaquim de Almeida
Votes: 107,881 | Gross: $122.19M
64. True Lies (1994)
R | 141 min | Action, Comedy, Thriller
A fearless, globe-trotting, terrorist-battling secret agent has his life turned upside down when he discovers his wife might be having an affair with a used-car salesman while terrorists smuggle nuclear war heads into the United States.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold, Bill Paxton
Votes: 280,845 | Gross: $146.28M
65. The Ipcress File (1965)
Passed | 109 min | Drama, Thriller
In London, a wisecracking spy investigates the kidnapping and brainwashing of British scientists while dealing with the constraints of his agency's bureaucracy.
Director: Sidney J. Furie | Stars: Michael Caine, Nigel Green, Guy Doleman, Sue Lloyd
Votes: 17,576
66. The Good Shepherd (2006)
R | 167 min | Drama, History, Thriller
The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life.
Director: Robert De Niro | Stars: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin
Votes: 108,560 | Gross: $59.95M
67. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
Approved | 112 min | Drama, Thriller
Instead of coming in from the Cold War, British agent Alec Leamas chooses to face another mission.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Richard Burton, Oskar Werner, Claire Bloom, Sam Wanamaker
Votes: 18,807
68. Three Days of the Condor (1975)
R | 117 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A bookish CIA researcher in Manhattan finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.
Director: Sydney Pollack | Stars: Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, Max von Sydow
Votes: 62,512 | Gross: $41.51M
69. Patriot Games (1992)
R | 117 min | Action, Thriller
When CIA analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Anne Archer, Patrick Bergin
Votes: 120,393 | Gross: $83.29M
70. The Recruit (2003)
PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Thriller
A brilliant young CIA trainee is asked by his mentor to help find a mole in the Agency.
Director: Roger Donaldson | Stars: Al Pacino, Colin Farrell, Bridget Moynahan, Gabriel Macht
Votes: 142,216 | Gross: $52.80M
71. Notorious (1946)
Not Rated | 102 min | Drama, Film-Noir, Romance
The daughter of a convicted German spy is asked by American agents to gather information on a ring of German scientists in South America. How far will she have to go to ingratiate herself with them?
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains, Louis Calhern
Votes: 107,251 | Gross: $10.46M
72. Top Secret! (1984)
PG | 90 min | Comedy, Crime, Music
An American rock and roll singer is invited to a cultural festival in East Germany in order to distract from a plot to destroy NATO submarines, but he accidentally becomes involved in a resistance plot to rescue an imprisoned scientist.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Val Kilmer, Omar Sharif, Jeremy Kemp, Warren Clarke
Votes: 73,018 | Gross: $20.50M
73. Ronin (1998)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A freelancing former U.S. Intelligence Agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by the Irish and the Russians.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 195,093 | Gross: $41.62M
74. Body of Lies (2008)
R | 128 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
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 Jordan Intelligence.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani
Votes: 239,372 | Gross: $39.39M
75. RED (2010)
PG-13 | 111 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
When his peaceful life is threatened by a high-tech assassin, former black-ops agent Frank Moses reassembles his old team in a last-ditch effort to survive and uncover his assailants.
Director: Robert Schwentke | Stars: Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, Morgan Freeman, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 323,883 | Gross: $90.38M
76. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
R | 113 min | Biography, Comedy, Crime
An adaptation of the cult memoir of game show impresario Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell), in which he purports to have been a C.I.A. hitman.
Director: George Clooney | Stars: Sam Rockwell, Drew Barrymore, George Clooney, Julia Roberts
Votes: 91,986 | Gross: $16.00M
77. Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
R | 102 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
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.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Votes: 124,868 | Gross: $66.66M
78. The 39 Steps (1935)
Approved | 86 min | Crime, Mystery, Thriller
A man in London tries to help a counter-espionage agent, but when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to save himself and stop a spy ring that is trying to steal top-secret information.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Robert Donat, Madeleine Carroll, Lucie Mannheim, Godfrey Tearle
Votes: 61,524
79. The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
Approved | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
In the West Berlin of the 1960s, two British agents are killed by a Nazi group, prompting British Intelligence to dispatch agent Quiller to investigate.
Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: George Segal, Alec Guinness, Max von Sydow, Senta Berger
Votes: 4,352
80. The Kremlin Letter (1970)
M/PG | 120 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
During the Cold War a Naval Intelligence officer endowed with a powerful photographic memory is transferred to the CIA to participate in a covert operation in Moscow.
Director: John Huston | Stars: Bibi Andersson, Richard Boone, Nigel Green, Dean Jagger
Votes: 2,308 | Gross: $0.24M
81. The Deadly Affair (1967)
Not Rated | 107 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A British agent sets out to uncover the hidden facts behind a British government employee's suicide.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: James Mason, Maximilian Schell, Simone Signoret, Harriet Andersson
Votes: 4,186
82. Funeral in Berlin (1966)
Not Rated | 102 min | Thriller
Sent to East Berlin to retrieve a Communist defector, British spy Harry Palmer suspects the situation is not what his superiors believe it to be.
Director: Guy Hamilton | Stars: Michael Caine, Oscar Homolka, Paul Hubschmid, Eva Renzi
Votes: 7,776
83. Operation Crossbow (1965)
PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Drama, War
Allied agents attempt to infiltrate a German rocket research site.
Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Sophia Loren, George Peppard, Trevor Howard, John Mills
Votes: 5,507
84. Where Eagles Dare (1968)
M | 158 min | Action, Adventure, War
Allied agents stage a daring raid on a castle where the Nazis are holding American brigadier general George Carnaby prisoner, but that's not all that's really going on.
Director: Brian G. Hutton | Stars: Richard Burton, Clint Eastwood, Mary Ure, Patrick Wymark
Votes: 62,889
85. The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
PG-13 | 126 min | Drama, Thriller
An American POW in the Korean War is brainwashed as an unwitting assassin for an international Communist conspiracy.
Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 79,789
86. The Day of the Jackal (1973)
PG | 143 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
In the aftermath of France allowing Algeria's independence, a group of resentful military veterans hire a professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" to kill President Charles de Gaulle.
Director: Fred Zinnemann | Stars: Edward Fox, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair, Alan Badel
Votes: 44,911 | Gross: $16.06M
87. The Conversation (1974)
PG | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A paranoid, secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that the couple he is spying on will be murdered.
Director: Francis Ford Coppola | Stars: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield, Frederic Forrest
Votes: 121,818 | Gross: $4.42M
88. Argo (2012)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
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 six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin
Votes: 639,003 | Gross: $136.03M
89. The Hunt for Red October (1990)
PG | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller
In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain violates orders and heads for the U.S. in a new undetectable sub. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect or to start a war?
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill
Votes: 214,691 | Gross: $122.01M
90. Marathon Man (1976)
R | 125 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
After the shocking murder of his older brother, a New York history student finds himself inexplicably hounded by shadowy government agents on the trail of a Nazi war criminal who is trying to retrieve smuggled diamonds.
Director: John Schlesinger | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Olivier, Roy Scheider, William Devane
Votes: 70,204 | Gross: $21.71M
91. Archer (2009–2023)
TV-MA | 22 min | Animation, Action, Comedy
Covert black ops and espionage take a back seat to zany personalities and relationships between secret agents and drones.
Stars: H. Jon Benjamin, Judy Greer, Amber Nash, Chris Parnell
Votes: 165,873
92. Burn Notice (2007–2013)
TV-PG | 44 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A spy recently disavowed by the U.S. government uses his special ops training to help others in trouble.
Stars: Jeffrey Donovan, Gabrielle Anwar, Bruce Campbell, Sharon Gless
Votes: 79,158
93. MI-5 (2002–2011)
TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The missions of MI-5, the UK's domestic intelligence organization.
Stars: Peter Firth, Hugh Simon, Nicola Walker, Rupert Penry-Jones
Votes: 18,372
94. Chuck (2007–2012)
TV-14 | 43 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
When a computer geek inadvertently downloads critical government secrets into his brain, both the CIA and the NSA assign an agent to protect him and exploit his newfound skills.
Stars: Zachary Levi, Yvonne Strahovski, Joshua Gomez, Vik Sahay
Votes: 146,811
95. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)
TV-14 | 45 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced out of semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6's echelons.
Stars: Alec Guinness, Michael Jayston, Anthony Bate, George Sewell
Votes: 9,619
96. Covert Affairs (2010–2014)
TV-PG | 60 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Fresh out of the farm, Annie Walker must adapt to the challenging life of a CIA operative under the guidance of her handler, Auggie. But soon she realizes her recruitment might have to do with her last boyfriend rather than her talent.
Stars: Piper Perabo, Christopher Gorham, Kari Matchett, Peter Gallagher
Votes: 31,594
97. Alias (2001–2006)
TV-14 | 42 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
Sydney Bristow is an international spy recruited out of college, trained for espionage and self-defense.
Stars: Jennifer Garner, Ron Rifkin, Carl Lumbly, Kevin Weisman
Votes: 54,734
98. Nikita (2010–2013)
TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A rogue assassin returns to take down the secret organization that trained her.
Stars: Maggie Q, Shane West, Lyndsy Fonseca, Aaron Stanford
Votes: 53,891
99. The Sandbaggers (1978–1980)
TV-14 | 60 min | Thriller
The missions of an elite British Intelligence covert operations unit.
Stars: Roy Marsden, Ray Lonnen, Jerome Willis, Bob Sherman
Votes: 929
100. La Femme Nikita (1997–2001)
TV-14 | 60 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A clandestine anti-terrorist organization fakes the death of a convicted murderer and trains her in the fighting skills necessary to succeed in her new job.
Stars: Peta Wilson, Don Francks, Eugene Robert Glazer, Roy Dupuis
Votes: 10,817
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