Spy movies have been a staple of genre films for decades, going back to the early 20th century. Since then, movie spies have evolved with the times, moving from Cold War espionage to post-9/11 assassins. These movies can be stewards of pure escapism or dark reflections of reality, and in the last 50 years, there has been no shortage of thrilling spy adventures to fill up cinemas and streaming services alike.
Character-driven dramas, action-packed thrillers, goofy comedies, and true stories are all represented by the best spy movies to have been released since 1975. They all offer something unique to the genre and bring a distinct style of cloak-and-dagger action. From Bond to Bourne and every spy in between, these are the greatest spy movies made in the last 50 years, ranked based on their approach to familiar themes, uniqueness, performances, screenplay, directing, production values, and overall standing and contributions to the genre.
10
‘Top Secret!’ (1984)
Spy comedies enjoy poking fun at the tropes that populate everyone’s favorite secret agent movies, and the last 50 years have spoiled audiences with some laugh-out-loud offerings. Spies Like Us, Burn After Reading, the Austin Powers trilogy, and the simply-titled Spy all wear the brand of humor from their singular filmmakers and stars, but if there’s one spy comedy that takes its espionage to the silliest extremes, it’s Top Secret!
Coming from the directorial team of Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker (aka ZAZ), the same trio responsible for Airplane! and The Naked Gun, Top Secret! takes aim at multiple eras of spy thrillers, along with the films of Elvis Presley. The outrageous plot sees American rock star Nick Rivers (Val Kilmer) travel to East Germany to perform his surf songs, only to get wrapped up in the local resistance movement. Replete with sight gags, slapstick and the wacky wordplay that the ZAZ team is known for, Top Secret! is gut-busting counterintelligence.
9
‘Ronin’ (1998)
Ronin, a twisty action-thriller from legendary director John Frankenheimer, was overlooked upon its original release but has steadily gained a following of fans since, thanks to its white-knuckle car chases and incredible cast. Robert De Niro plays a former special agent turned mercenary who, along with several other specialists, is hired to procure a briefcase. Getting the briefcase turns out to be only half the battle as the double crosses come fast and furious, with various parties all vying for possession of the MacGuffin.
While the film’s plot was criticized for its near incomprehensibility, it does follow in the tradition of densely packed narratives from both spy and noir thrillers. Ronin also gets by on vibes alone, as the immaculately choreographed and executed action sequences are some of the best in the genre, and the international cast, which includes Jean Reno, Sean Bean and Stellan Skarsgård, all lean into their archetypes. Ronin was a welcome return for Frankenheimer and represents the final great film in his storied career.
8
‘Munich’ (2005)
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Steven Spielberg has directed two spy thrillers in his career: the Cold War courtroom drama Bridge of Spies and the assassination revenge thriller Munich. The latter represents one of the director’s most complex and divisive films ever made, dramatizing the secret operation orchestrated by Mossad to assassinate targets involved with the 1972 Olympics massacre. It’s a dark, visceral thriller that offers no easy answers or tidy conclusions in its war on terror, making it stand out in stark contrast to much of Spielberg’s filmography.
The ensemble cast is led by Eric Bana as the leader of the intrepid group of would-be assassins, including a pre-Bond Daniel Craig, who operate outside any official sanctions to keep Israel’s hands clean. As the team works through their list of suspects, they begin to question their morality in taking lives and whether their actions contribute to any greater good. As relevant as ever, Spielberg’s uncompromising masterpiece that couches its heavy themes in some of the director’s most nerve-wracking sequences of suspense.
7
‘Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’ (2011)
No two authors are more associated with the spy genre than Ian Fleming, who created the heightened spy world of James Bond, and John le Carré, whose grounded psychological thrillers offer an antidote to Fleming’s escapism. The many works of le Carré have been adapted to film and television many times over, with the best feature film offering in the last 50 years being Tomas Alfredson‘s adaptation of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
An impeccable, Oscar-nominated Gary Oldman leads the story as George Smiley, a British intelligence deputy tasked with weeding out a Soviet mole. A paranoid puzzle of a film, what the script loses from the novel in terms of complexity it makes up for with atmosphere and slow-burn suspense, all anchored by Oldman’s iconic performance. Grounded but no less engaging or anxiety-inducing, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a masterclass in precise escalation.
6
‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’ (2015)
As a spy franchise, the Mission: Impossible series only began to hit its stride with its fourth installment, Ghost Protocol. That Brad Bird-directed piece of pure escapism may be the most fun installment in the franchise, and the sixth, Fallout, may be the most action-packed, but it’s Rogue Nation that truly checks all the spy boxes with stylish satisfaction.
The first entry directed by Christopher McQuarrie, who would continue to shepherd the franchise moving forward, Rogue Nation is a globe-trotting thriller that sees Tom Cruise‘s Ethan Hunt go up against his most iconic villain, the evil Syndicate, embodied by Sean Harris’ Solomon Lane. Rogue Nation is filled with the franchise’s signature hair-raising stunts, including an opening action sequence with Cruise strapped to the outside of a plane as it takes off, and it introduces the fan-favorite character of Ilsa Faust, played by Rebecca Ferguson. It’s the peak of the Mission: Impossible franchise, and a modern action classic.
5
‘The Bourne Identity’ (2002)
At a time when Bond had devolved into overblown gadgetry and gimmicks, the world was gifted a new spy anti-hero in the form of Matt Damon‘s Jason Bourne. Inspired by the novels by Robert Ludlum, the Bourne franchise began with the Doug Liman-directed The Bourne Identity, where the CIA operative is found floating in the Mediterranean Sea. Pulled out by a fishing boat, he has no memory of his past and must piece together the clues to his identity, all while dodging assassins sent by his former employers.
Presented as a gritty and grounded alternative to Bond, this influential spy thriller set the tone for a decade-plus of imitators who would all fail to recapture the spirit of Damon’s amnesiac action hero, who went on to headline two equally impressive sequels and inspired a spin-off and short-lived television series. For the 2000s, a decade mired in terrorist attacks, paranoia and violent political rhetoric, Bourne was the anti-hero audiences deserved.
4
‘Three Days of the Condor’ (1975)
The late Robert Redford made a career out of playing intelligent, rebellious heroes, a mode that served him well in his first spy thriller, the stripped-down Three Days of the Condor. Redford plays a mild-mannered CIA analyst who returns to his New York City workplace one day to find his coworkers all murdered. Now on the run, he must uncover the conspiracy behind the massacre, while continuing to evade Max Von Sydow‘s sinister assassin.
Sydney Pollack‘s thriller crackles with suspense and mystery, and Redford is perfectly suited to the lead role. His chemistry with Faye Dunaway, who plays his unwitting accomplice, carries the kind of electric charge that could power a thousand movie romances. Redford was the very definition of a movie star who could carry an entire film on his shoulders. In Three Days of the Condor, that weight is heavier than ever in one of the most tense conspiracy thrillers of the ’70s.
3
‘The Hunt for Red October’ (1990)
Tom Clancy‘s flagship character, Jack Ryan, has appeared in over 30 novels, five films and an Amazon Prime series. He’s been played by major stars like Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine. All due respect to those actors and their respective movies, and John Krasinski’s series, but the first Ryan thriller, The Hunt for Red October, is still his best.
Adapted by John McTiernan, who was coming off the one-two action punch of Predator and Die Hard, the first Clancy film stars Alec Baldwin as the iconic character, who is a low-level analyst brought in to consult when a Soviet submarine captain, played by Sean Connery, goes rogue. A taut and intelligent thrill ride, The Hunt for Red October was McTiernan’s final action masterpiece, a technical achievement on every level, powered by two major movie star performances.
2
‘The Lives of Others’ (2006)
As quiet and contemplative as other spy thrillers are bombastic and fantastical, The Lives of Others is a German drama of observation. Set in East Berlin and following a Stasi agent assigned to spy on a seemingly model communist citizen, the film is an interrogation of government deception and mass surveillance. Despite its historical setting, The Lives of Others was incredibly relevant to the post-9/11 paranoia and overreach perpetrated by American agencies in the name of patriotism.
The assured and patient direction is made all the more impressive considering it was Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck‘s directorial debut. It’s as keenly observed a human drama as it is a tightly wound espionage thriller, belonging in the same category as Francis Ford Coppola‘s paranoid classic The Conversation. The film won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film, and its legacy has only grown with the omnipresence of surveillance in the daily lives of citizens the world over.
1
‘Casino Royale’ (2006)
Released the same year as The Lives of Others, the James Bond reboot Casino Royale couldn’t be more different, perfectly illustrating the wide spectrum that spy movies can cover. Daniel Craig’s inaugural outing as 007, which was met with angry fan fervor online prior to its release, Casino Royale also served as a proper reset to the long-running franchise itself, adapting Ian Fleming’s first spy novel, which features a more inexperienced Bond on his first mission as a Double-0. Foregoing or recontextualizing many of the franchise’s most iconic signatures, such as the opening gun barrel shot, the film also brought Bond back to basics.
Craig’s spy is a blunt instrument who shoots first and asks questions later, and who hasn’t yet earned the trust of M, played by a returning Judi Dench. Tasked with winning a high-stakes poker game against the villainous Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), the film front-loads its action in the extended first act, which lets the rest of the film focus on developing the character of Bond and his burgeoning romance with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green). Casino Royale was a gambit that paid off hugely, successfully rebooting the character for modern audiences. Arguably the best Bond movie ever made, it’s also the best spy film of the 21st century and the best of the last 50 years.
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