Poll Suggestion: Don't Blow My Cover
by The-Plague | created - 27 Aug 2014 | updated - 28 Aug 2014 | PublicA list of some of the most memorable movies with a major character who is undercover. Which is your favorite?
Discuss here.
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1. White Heat (1949)
Not Rated | 114 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist.
Director: Raoul Walsh | Stars: James Cagney, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien, Margaret Wycherly
Votes: 35,718
2. Stone Cold (1991)
R | 92 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A tough Alabama cop is blackmailed by the FBI into going undercover in a violent Mississippi biker gang.
Director: Craig R. Baxley | Stars: Brian Bosworth, Lance Henriksen, William Forsythe, Arabella Holzbog
Votes: 10,021 | Gross: $9.29M
3. Beyond the Law (1993)
R | 108 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An undercover cop joins a murderous, arms-dealing biker gang to try to put them behind bars.
Director: Larry Ferguson | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Linda Fiorentino, Michael Madsen, Courtney B. Vance
Votes: 7,740
4. Serpico (1973)
R | 130 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe, Biff McGuire
Votes: 134,675 | Gross: $29.80M
5. Donnie Brasco (1997)
R | 127 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
An FBI undercover agent infiltrates the mob and finds himself identifying more with the Mafia life--at the expense of his regular one.
Director: Mike Newell | Stars: Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Michael Madsen, Bruno Kirby
Votes: 332,020 | Gross: $41.91M
6. Reservoir Dogs (1992)
R | 99 min | Crime, Thriller
When a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.
Director: Quentin Tarantino | Stars: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn
Votes: 1,087,575 | Gross: $2.83M
7. Infernal Affairs (2002)
R | 101 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A story between a mole in the police department and an undercover cop. Their objectives are the same: to find out who is the mole, and who is the cop.
Directors: Andrew Lau, Alan Mak | Stars: Andy Lau, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Anthony Chau-Sang Wong, Eric Tsang
Votes: 131,351 | Gross: $0.17M
8. Face/Off (1997)
R | 138 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi
To foil a terrorist plot, FBI agent Sean Archer assumes the identity of the criminal Castor Troy who murdered his son through facial transplant surgery, but the crook wakes up prematurely and vows revenge.
Director: John Woo | Stars: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola
Votes: 400,672 | Gross: $112.23M
9. The Departed (2006)
R | 151 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
An undercover cop and a mole in the police attempt to identify each other while infiltrating an Irish gang in South Boston.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg
Votes: 1,421,340 | Gross: $132.38M
10. Running Scared (2006)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A low-ranking thug is entrusted by his crime boss to dispose of a gun that killed corrupt cops, but things get out of control when the gun ends up in wrong hands.
Director: Wayne Kramer | Stars: Paul Walker, Cameron Bright, Chazz Palminteri, Vera Farmiga
Votes: 103,637 | Gross: $6.86M
11. Point Break (1991)
R | 122 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An F.B.I. Agent goes undercover to catch a gang of surfers who may be bank robbers.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves, Gary Busey, Lori Petty
Votes: 202,090 | Gross: $43.22M
12. The Fast and the Furious (2001)
PG-13 | 106 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
Los Angeles police officer Brian O'Conner must decide where his loyalty really lies when he becomes enamored with the street racing world he has been sent undercover to destroy.
Director: Rob Cohen | Stars: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster
Votes: 419,269 | Gross: $144.53M
13. Cruising (1980)
R | 102 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A police officer goes undercover in the underground S&M gay subculture of New York City to catch a serial killer who is preying on gay men.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Al Pacino, Paul Sorvino, Karen Allen, Richard Cox
Votes: 27,997 | Gross: $19.80M
14. Kindergarten Cop (1990)
PG-13 | 111 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A tough cop must pose as a kindergarten teacher in order to locate a dangerous criminal's ex-wife, who may hold the key to putting him behind bars.
Director: Ivan Reitman | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penelope Ann Miller, Pamela Reed, Linda Hunt
Votes: 162,521 | Gross: $91.46M
15. We Own the Night (2007)
R | 117 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A New York City nightclub manager tries to save his brother and father from Russian Mafia hitmen.
Director: James Gray | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlberg, Eva Mendes, Danny Hoch
Votes: 92,924 | Gross: $28.56M
16. 21 Jump Street (2012)
R | 109 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
A pair of underachieving cops are sent back to a local high school to blend in and bring down a synthetic drug ring.
Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller | Stars: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Brie Larson
Votes: 598,162 | Gross: $138.45M
17. A Scanner Darkly (2006)
R | 100 min | Animation, Comedy, Crime
An undercover cop in a not-too-distant future becomes involved with a dangerous new drug and begins to lose his own identity as a result.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Robert Downey Jr., Rory Cochrane
Votes: 117,089 | Gross: $5.50M
18. Death Warrant (1990)
R | 89 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
In a violent and corrupt prison, decorated cop Louis Burke must infiltrate the jail to find answers to a number of inside murders. What he finds is a struggle of life and death tied in to his own past.
Director: Deran Sarafian | Stars: Jean-Claude Van Damme, Robert Guillaume, Cynthia Gibb, George Dickerson
Votes: 20,770 | Gross: $16.85M
19. Rush (1991)
R | 120 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Two small-town Texas cops go undercover to catch a major drug dealer and are sucked into the drug culture, compromising their assignment.
Director: Lili Fini Zanuck | Stars: Jason Patric, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sam Elliott, Max Perlich
Votes: 9,882 | Gross: $7.24M
20. Narc (2002)
R | 105 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
When the trail goes cold on a murder investigation of a policeman, an undercover narcotics officer is lured back to the force to help solve the case.
Director: Joe Carnahan | Stars: Ray Liotta, Jason Patric, Chi McBride, Dan Leis
Votes: 43,071 | Gross: $10.46M
21. Street Kings (2008)
R | 109 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
An undercover cop, disillusioned by the death of his wife, is implicated in the murder of an officer and must struggle to clear himself.
Director: David Ayer | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hugh Laurie, Chris Evans
Votes: 120,750 | Gross: $26.42M
22. Deep Cover (1992)
R | 107 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A uniformed police officer is recruited by the DEA to infiltrate a drug smuggling ring looking to expand its operation.
Director: Bill Duke | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Lira Angel, René Assa
Votes: 14,032 | Gross: $16.64M
23. Hard Boiled (1992)
R | 128 min | Action, Crime, Thriller
A tough-as-nails cop teams up with an undercover agent to shut down a sinister mobster and his crew.
Director: John Woo | Stars: Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Teresa Mo, Philip Chan
Votes: 53,990
24. 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: 18,799
25. Europa Europa (1990)
R | 112 min | Drama, History, War
A boy in Nazi Germany, trying to conceal that he is Jewish, joins the Hitler Youth.
Director: Agnieszka Holland | Stars: Solomon Perel, Marco Hofschneider, René Hofschneider, André Wilms
Votes: 17,469 | Gross: $5.58M
26. Eastern Promises (2007)
R | 100 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A teenager who dies during childbirth leaves clues in her journal that could tie her child to a rape involving a violent Russian mob family.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Naomi Watts, Viggo Mortensen, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Josef Altin
Votes: 260,984 | Gross: $17.11M
27. Snitch (I) (2013)
PG-13 | 112 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
A father goes undercover for the DEA in order to free his son, who was imprisoned after being set up in a drug deal.
Director: Ric Roman Waugh | Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Susan Sarandon, Jon Bernthal, Rafi Gavron
Votes: 92,758 | Gross: $42.93M
28. American Hustle (2013)
R | 138 min | Crime, Drama
A con man, Irving Rosenfeld, along with his seductive partner Sydney Prosser, is forced to work for a wild F.B.I. Agent, Richie DiMaso, who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and the Mafia.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence
Votes: 500,202 | Gross: $150.12M
29. The Street with No Name (1948)
Approved | 91 min | Action, Crime, Drama
A covert FBI agent infiltrates a ruthless gangster mob, but his life is at risk from a mysterious informant who funnels inside information to the hoodlums.
Director: William Keighley | Stars: Mark Stevens, Richard Widmark, Lloyd Nolan, Barbara Lawrence
Votes: 3,338
30. Prince of the City (1981)
R | 167 min | Crime, Drama
A New York City narcotics detective reluctantly agrees to cooperate with a special commission investigating police corruption, and soon realises he's in over his head, and nobody can be trusted.
Director: Sidney Lumet | Stars: Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach, Richard Foronjy, Don Billett
Votes: 9,518 | Gross: $8.12M
31. Miami Vice (2006)
R | 132 min | Action, Crime, Drama
Based on the 1980s TV action/drama, this update focuses on vice detectives Crockett and Tubbs as their respective personal and professional lives become dangerously intertwined.
Director: Michael Mann | Stars: Colin Farrell, Jamie Foxx, Gong Li, Naomie Harris
Votes: 123,681 | Gross: $63.45M
32. No Man's Land (I) (2001)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Drama, War
Bosnia and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting between the two warring sides. Two soldiers from opposing sides in the conflict, Nino and Ciki, become trapped in no man's land, whilst a third soldier becomes a living booby trap.
Director: Danis Tanovic | Stars: Branko Djuric, Rene Bitorajac, Filip Sovagovic, Georges Siatidis
Votes: 48,811 | Gross: $1.06M
33. In Too Deep (1999)
R | 95 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Right out of police academy, Jeff/Omar Epps starts as undercover cop in Cincinnati. First it's small time cases but he proves himself and moves up to a big case - befriending a brutal crime boss.
Director: Michael Rymer | Stars: Lloyd Adams, Philip Akin, Anna Carolina Arias, Karina Arroyave
Votes: 7,121 | Gross: $14.00M
34. Undercover Blues (1993)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy, Crime
A spy couple on maternity leave in New Orleans, entertained by a mugger named Muerte, is called in when Novacek steals explosives.
Director: Herbert Ross | Stars: Kathleen Turner, Dennis Quaid, Fiona Shaw, Stanley Tucci
Votes: 9,995 | Gross: $12.42M
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