Spy thrillers have been popular with moviegoers ever since pictures started motioning, tangling viewers up in globe-trotting adventures, international intrigue, and clandestine comings and goings. The mysteries used in espionage escapades capture the imagination while also showing us a world right underneath our own, filled with dangerous secrets and deadly betrayal.
James Bond obviously leaps to mind when folks think of famous spy franchises, but there’s way more the genre than 007. Spy flicks can be rollicking hero’s quests and then can be crafty chronicles of cerebral cat and mouse games. We present for you here the 10 best spy movies, spanning all eras of cinema, from Bond to Hitchcock to tales of real life heroes.
Dr No (1962)
Where to Watch: HBO Max, or rentable on most platforms.
Addressing the license-to-kill elephant in the room, Dr. No, Bond’s first big outing is natural place to start for this giant 60-year franchise of James Bond movies. Sean Connery creates an instant film icon with his portrayal of author Ian Fleming’s daring MI6 agent, traveling from England to Jamaica in order to thwart a diabolical scientist from sabotaging space age rockets. Portraying the spy as a superhero, Dr. No helped set the template for big-budget espionage adventures.
North By Northwest (1959)
Where to Watch: HBO Max, or rentable on most platforms.
Master crafter of classic thriller movies, Alfred Hitchcock, dropped a masterwork on our laps with North by Northwest, starring Cary Grant as an everyman mistaken for a Cold War spy, hurling him into a cross-country chase and numerous threats on his life. Including a dangerous, clinging climax on Mount Rushmore and the cinematically famous crop duster dive-bomb scene. Eva Marie Saint and James Mason also star.
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Where to Watch: Paramount+, Pluto TV w/ ads, or rentable on most platforms.
Three Days of the Condor, from the great Sydney Pollack, stars frequent Pollack-collaborator Robert Redford as a bookish CIA researcher who racing against time to find out who’s behind the murder of his co-workers. It’s a mid-’70s New York-based thriller that reflects the distrust and paranoia of the era, complete with a stellar supporting cast featuring fresh-off-Chinatown Faye Dunaway, Max von Sydow, and Cliff Robertson (Uncle Ben!).
True Lies (1994)
Where to Watch: AMC+, or rentable on most platforms.
Now a CBS series, James Cameron’s True Lies reunited the director with Arnold Schwarzenegger (and Aliens’ Bill Paxton) for an adventure-comedy about a special ops spy whose wife discovers he’s not the mild-mannered computer salesman he’s pretended to be since the day they met. As the first film to ever cost $100 million dollars, True Lies leaned into its humor and sometimes cartoonish action for a clever look at a man trying to live two lives. Recent Oscar-winner Jamie Lee Curtis co-stars here, along with Tom Arnold, Art Malik, Tia Carrere, and a pre-Buffy Eliza Dushku.
See our list of the best James Cameron movies.
The 39 Steps (1935)
Where to Watch: HBO Max, or rentable on some platforms.
More Hitchcock here as one of the director’s earlier (and best) works, The 39 Steps, solidified him as a true pioneer of the spy thriller, following 1934’s The Man Who Knew Too Much and preceding 1936’s Sabotage. A secret society of puppet masters is at the heart of this pre-WW II project, as a man framed for murder races over the U.K. to clear his name and uncover the coven of covert agents trying to ruin his life (and steal military secrets).
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
Where to Watch: Prime Video, or rentable on some platforms.
Famed espionage author John le Carré — whose had many a novel turned into a movie/TV series — got the all-star treatment here for his 1974 staple-of-the-genre, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. With an ensemble cast featuring the likes of Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, and Benedict Cumberbatch, the story crackles with suspense, taking place in 1970s London, as a career “Circus” officer (Oldman) hunts for a Soviet double agent in the midst of the British secret service.
Read our review of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
Argo (2012)
Where to Watch: HBO Max, or rentable on most platforms.
Ben Affleck directed and starred in this Best Picture winner, which used both wry wit and punchy paranoia to dramatize the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran in the early ’80s — using a fake sci-film production as a cover to get CIA agents into the country. Argo’s unique blend of intensity and comedy helped highlight the danger and the absurdity of the situation. Also starring Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, and John Goodman.
Read our review of Argo.
The Imitation Game (2014)
Where to Watch: Fubo, or rentable on most platforms.
A historical drama, based on the 1983 biography Alan Turing: The Enigma, The Imitation Game shines a tragic spotlight on cryptanalyst Turing, who figured out how to decrypted German intelligence messages during WW II. Despite his heroic contributions to the war, Turing was condemned by the British government for being a homosexual, putting a sad and unjust spin on the final years of his life. Benedict Cumberbatch received an Oscar nomination for the film, which also stars Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, and Mark Strong.
Read our review of The Imitation Game or check out more of the best World War 2 movies.
No Way Out (1987)
Where to Watch: HBO Max, or rentable on most platforms.
This ’80s political action-thriller stars Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman, Sean Young, and Will Patton in a (then) modern take on twisty spy stories from the ’30s and ’40s. No Way Out — based on the 1946 novel The Big Clock (which already had two film adaptations before this) — follows a Navy Lt., Farrell, (Costner) who finds himself dead center in the middle of a cover-up when a politician’s mistress turns up dead. With his own boss as a lead suspect, hidden truths come to life as the walls start closing in. It’s a a slice of stylish noir that helped solidify Costner as a star.
The Conversation (1974)
Where to Watch: Fubo, Showtime, or rentable on most platforms.
Francis Ford Coppola’s unconventional, claustrophobic trip, The Conversation, pulled in some big time Oscar nominations for its portrayal of a paranoid, secretive surveillance expert who suspects the couple he is spying are targets for murder. Facing a crisis of conscience, Gene Hackman’s Harry Caul finds his life dismantled by his own derangements, in a film that strongly echoed the mistrust and madness of the decade. Co-starring John Cazale, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Harrison Ford, Teri Garr, and Robert Duvall.
Looking for more genre-defining films? Take a look at our guide to the best mystery movies of all time as well as the best horror movies.