Top 100 Spy Movies List

#20 Spy Movie

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) PG

James Bond is led to believe that he 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

Writers:

Richard Maibaum, Tom Mankiewicz

Stars:

Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland

#19 Spy Movie

The Good Shepherd (2006) R

The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life.

Director:

Robert De Niro

Writers:

Eric Roth

Stars:

Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro

#18 Spy Movie

Syriana (2005) R

A politically charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved and affected by it.

Director:

Stephen Gaghan

Writers:

Stephen Gaghan, Robert Baer

Stars:

George Clooney, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet

#17 Spy Movie

Taken (2008) PG-13

A retired CIA agent travels across Europe and relies on his old skills to save his estranged daughter, who has been kidnapped while on a trip to Paris.

Director:

Pierre Morel

Writers:

Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen

Stars:

Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen

#16 Spy Movie

Clear and Present Danger (1994) PG-13

CIA Analyst Jack Ryan is drawn into an illegal war fought by the US government against a Colombian drug cartel.

Director:

Phillip Noyce

Writers:

Tom Clancy, Donald Stewart

Stars:

Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, Anne Archer

#15 Spy Movie

For Your Eyes Only (1981) PG

Agent 007 is assigned to hunt for a lost British encryption device and prevent it from falling into enemy hands.

Director:

John Glen

Writers:

Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson

Stars:

Roger Moore, Carole Bouquet, Topol

#14 Spy Movie

True Lies (1994) R

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

Writers:

Claude Zidi, Simon Michaël

Stars:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold

#13 Spy Movie

Spy Game (2001) R

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

Writers:

Michael Frost Beckner, Michael Frost Beckner

Stars:

Robert Redford, Brad Pitt, Catherine McCormack

#12 Spy Movie

Live and Let Die (1973) PG

007 is sent to stop a diabolically brilliant heroin magnate armed with a complex organization and a reliable psychic tarot card reader.

Director:

Guy Hamilton

Writers:

Tom Mankiewicz

Stars:

Roger Moore, Yaphet Kotto, Jane Seymour

#11 Spy Movie

Patriot Games (1992) R

When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets him and his family for revenge.

Director:

Phillip Noyce

Writers:

Tom Clancy, W. Peter Iliff

Stars:

Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, Anne Archer

#10 Spy Movie

Ronin (1998) R

A freelancing former U.S. intelligence agent tries to track down a mysterious package that is wanted by both the Irish and the Russians.

Director:

John Frankenheimer

Writers:

J.D. Zeik

Stars:

Robert De Niro, Jean Reno, Natascha McElhone

#9 Spy Movie

Mission: Impossible (1996) PG-13

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

Writers:

Bruce Geller, David Koepp

Stars:

Tom Cruise, Jon Voight, Emmanuelle Béart

#8 Spy Movie

Skyfall (2012) PG-13

Bond's loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. Whilst MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

Director:

Sam Mendes

Writers:

Neal Purvis, Robert Wade

Stars:

Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris

#7 Spy Movie

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011) R

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

Writers:

Bridget O'Connor, Peter Straughan

Stars:

Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy

#6 Spy Movie

Three Days of the Condor (1975) R

A bookish CIA researcher finds all his co-workers dead, and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can really trust.

Director:

Sydney Pollack

Writers:

James Grady, Lorenzo Semple Jr.

Stars:

Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson

#5 Spy Movie

The Day of the Jackal (1973) PG

A professional assassin codenamed "Jackal" plots to kill Charles de Gaulle, the President of France.

Director:

Fred Zinnemann

Writers:

Frederick Forsyth, Kenneth Ross

Stars:

Edward Fox, Terence Alexander, Michel Auclair

#4 Spy Movie

The Constant Gardener (2005) R

A widower is determined to get to the bottom of a potentially explosive secret involving his wife's murder, big business, and corporate corruption.

Director:

Fernando Meirelles

Writers:

Jeffrey Caine, John le Carré

Stars:

Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Hubert Koundé

#3 Spy Movie

Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) R

A spy organization recruits an unrefined, but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program, just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius.

Director:

Matthew Vaughn

Writers:

Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn

Stars:

Colin Firth, Taron Egerton, Samuel L. Jackson

#2 Spy Movie

Goldfinger (1964)

Investigating a gold magnate's smuggling, James Bond uncovers a plot to contaminate the Fort Knox gold reserve.

Director:

Guy Hamilton

Writers:

Richard Maibaum, Paul Dehn

Stars:

Sean Connery, Gert Fröbe, Honor Blackman

#1 Spy Movie

The Bourne Identity (2002) PG-13

A man is picked up by a fishing boat, bullet-riddled and suffering from amnesia, before racing to elude assassins and regain his memory.

Director:

Doug Liman

Writers:

Tony Gilroy, W. Blake Herron

Stars:

Franka Potente, Matt Damon, Chris Cooper

1 2 3 4 5