Jump to content

List of spy films

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Leo of Monterrey (talk | contribs) at 03:40, 8 January 2023 (→‎List of films: One last spy film for 2023.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The following is a list of spy films in alphabetical order.

Overview and history

The spy film, also known as the spy thriller, is a genre of film that deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as many James Bond films). Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, including works by John Buchan, le Carré, Ian Fleming (Bond) and Len Deighton. It is a significant aspect of British cinema,[1] with leading British directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed making notable contributions and many films set in the British Secret Service.[2]

Spy films show the espionage activities of government agents and their risk of being discovered by their enemies. From the Nazi espionage thrillers of the 1940s to the James Bond films of the 1960s and to the high-tech blockbusters of today, the spy film has always been popular with audiences worldwide. Offering a combination of exciting escapism, technological thrills, and exotic locales, many spy films combine the action and science fiction genres, presenting clearly delineated heroes for audiences to root for and villains for them to hate. They may also involve elements of political thrillers. However, there are many that are comedic (mostly action comedy films if they fall under that genre).

James Bond is the most famous of film spies, but there were also more serious, probing works like le Carré's The Spy Who Came in from the Cold that also emerged from the Cold War. As the Cold War ended, the newest villain became terrorism and more often involved the Middle East.[3]

List of films

Released Title Director References
1935 The 39 Steps Alfred Hitchcock [4]
1959 The 39 Steps Ralph Thomas [5]
1978 The 39 Steps Don Sharp [6]
1943 Above Suspicion Richard Thorpe [7]
1948 The Big Clock John Farrow [8]
1974 The Black Windmill Don Siegel [9]
2002 The Bourne Identity Doug Liman
2004 The Bourne Supremacy Paul Greengrass [10]
2007 The Bourne Ultimatum Paul Greengrass [11]
2014 Captain America: The Winter Soldier Anthony and Joe Russo
1958 Carve Her Name with Pride Lewis Gilbert [12]
2001 Charlotte Gray Gillian Armstrong [13]
1994 Clear and Present Danger Phillip Noyce [14]
1939 Confessions of a Nazi Spy Anatole Litvak [15]
2005 The Constant Gardener Fernando Meirelles [16]
1962 The Counterfeit Traitor George Seaton [17]
1966 The Deadly Affair Sidney Lumet [18]
1951 Decision Before Dawn Anatole Litvak [19]
2001 Enigma Michael Apted [20]
1981 Eye of the Needle Richard Marquand [21]
2023 Fast X Justin Lin [22]
1982 Firefox Clint Eastwood [23]
1987 The Fourth Protocol John Mackenzie [24]
2015 Furious 7 James Wan [25]
1921 The Great Impersonation George Melford [26]
1935 The Great Impersonation Alan Crosland
1942 The Great Impersonation John Rawlins [27]
1980 Hopscotch Ronald Neame [28]
2005 Icon Charles Martin Smith [29]
2023 Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny James Mangold [30]
1965 The IPCRESS File Sidney J. Furie [31]
2016 Jason Bourne Paul Greengrass [32]
2023 John Wick: Chapter 4 Chad Stahelski [33]
1938 The Lady Vanishes Alfred Hitchcock [34]
1984 The Little Drummer Girl George Roy Hill [35]
2023 Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One Christopher McQuarrie [36]
2024 Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two Christopher McQuarrie [37]
1987 No Way Out Roger Donaldson [38]
2019 Official Secrets Gavin Hood [39]
1974 The Odessa File Ronald Neame [40]
1983 The Osterman Weekend Sam Peckinpah [41]
1959 Our Man in Havana Carol Reed [42]
1992 Patriot Games Phillip Noyce [43]
1966 The Quiller Memorandum Sidney J. Furie [44]
1990 The Russia House Fred Schepisi [45]
1934 The Scarlet Pimpernel Harold Young [46]
1936 Secret Agent Alfred Hitchcock [34]
1992 Shining Through David Seltzer [47]
2015 Spectre Sam Mendes [48]
1914 The Spy Otis Turner [49]
1965 The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Martin Ritt [50]
2002 The Sum of All Fears Phil Alden Robinson [51]
2001 The Tailor of Panama John Boorman [41]
1943 They Met in the Dark Carl Lamac [52]
1975 Three Days of the Condor Sydney Pollack [50]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Spying Game: British Cinema and the Secret State", 2009 Cambridge Film Festival, pp. 54–57 of the festival brochure.
  2. ^ "Spy movies - The guys who came in from the cold". The Independent. October 2, 2009. Archived from the original on 2022-05-24.
  3. ^ "Spy Film Movies and Films - Find Spy Film Movie Recommendations, Casts, Reviews, and Summaries - AllRovi". Archived from the original on 2012-01-17. Retrieved 2012-01-21.
  4. ^ Alfred Hitchcock: Thirty-seven years after '39 Steps' Smith, Cecil. Los Angeles Times 27 Feb 1972: v2.
  5. ^ Vanessa Thorpe (2008-11-30). "Hitchcock's inventions disappear in BBC's latest version of The 39 Steps". The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  6. ^ "Would You Believe an Industry Could Die?". Sunday Times. London, England. 15 June 1980. p. 63 – via The Sunday Times Digital Archive.
  7. ^ List of spy films at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  8. ^ "Top Grossers of 1948", Variety 5 January 1949 p 46
  9. ^ List of spy films at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  10. ^ "The Bourne Supremacy". British Film Institute. London. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  11. ^ "The Bourne Ultimatum". British Board of Film Classification. Retrieved March 3, 2015.
  12. ^ Eddie Dyja. "Carve Her Name With Pride (1958)". BFI. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
  13. ^ Mitchell, Robert (26 February 2022). "Charlotte Gray struggles to find box office gold". Screen International. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  14. ^ "Clear and Present Danger". Turner Classic Movies. Archived from the original on June 29, 2021. Retrieved March 23, 2016.
  15. ^ Joseph D'Onofrio. "Confessions of a Nazi Spy". tcm.com. Archived from the original on March 12, 2007. Retrieved January 23, 2006.
  16. ^ "AFI|Catalog - The Constant Gardener". catalog.afi.com. Retrieved 2020-02-23.
  17. ^ "Alexander Klein, 83; Wrote Spy Thriller (obituary)". New York Times. August 24, 2002. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
  18. ^ On Three War Fronts By A. H. WEILER. New York Times 9 Jan 1966: 69.
  19. ^ "Top Box-Office Hits of 1952", Variety, January 7, 1953
  20. ^ Goodridge, Mike (23 April 2001). "Miramax buys UK, Manhattan close to US on Enigma". Screen International. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  21. ^ Roger Ebert (January 1, 1981). "Eye of the Needle". Retrieved February 27, 2015.
  22. ^ Lawrence, Derek (December 14, 2021). "'Fast & Furious 10' Moves Release Date to May 2023". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 16, 2021. Retrieved December 16, 2021.
  23. ^ "Firefox: Budget." Clint: The Life and Legend. Retrieved: June 2, 2013.
  24. ^ Forsyth, Frederick. "A shy spymaster who likes to hide behind protocol." Sunday Times [London, England] 22 Mar. 1987: 10. The Sunday Times Digital Archive. Web. 8 Apr. 2014.
  25. ^ "Fast & Furious 7". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  26. ^ Janiss Garza (2016). "Great-Impersonation - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Baseline & All Movie Guide. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved January 27, 2015.
  27. ^ "BFI | Film & TV Database | The GREAT IMPERSONATION (1942)". Ftvdb.bfi.org.uk. 2009-04-16. Archived from the original on 2009-02-09. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
  28. ^ Vaines, Colin (November 3, 1979). "US exhibitors win new deal". Screen International. p. 1.
  29. ^ "The Cold War goes on in Charles Martin Smith's made-for-TV tale of cops and communists". TV Guide. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  30. ^ Treese, Tyler (October 18, 2021). "Indiana Jones 5 Delay Pushes Sequel Back a Year". Archived from the original on October 18, 2021. Retrieved October 18, 2021.
  31. ^ The Times, 18 March 1965, page 9: Film review of The Ipcress File
  32. ^ "Jason Bourne (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. July 15, 2016. Archived from the original on July 16, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2016.
  33. ^ Jackson, Angelique (December 22, 2021). "'John Wick: Chapter 4' Pushed Back to 2023". Variety. Archived from the original on December 22, 2021. Retrieved December 23, 2021.
  34. ^ a b "Alfred Hitchcock Collectors' Guide: The Lady Vanishes (1938)". Brenton Film. Cite error: The named reference "HitchcockGuide" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  35. ^ "The Unstoppables". Spy. November 1988. p. 90.
  36. ^ Lang, Brent (January 21, 2022). "'Mission: Impossible 7' and '8' Postponed Until 2023 and 2024 Due to Pandemic". Variety. Retrieved January 22, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  37. ^ Lang, Brent (January 21, 2022). "'Mission: Impossible 7' and '8' Postponed Until 2023 and 2024 Due to Pandemic". Variety. Retrieved January 22, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  38. ^ Silver, Alain; Ward, Elizabeth; eds. (1992). Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style (3rd ed.). Woodstock, New York: The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-479-5
  39. ^ "Official Secrets". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 30 June 2021.
  40. ^ "All-time Film Rental Champs", Variety, 7 January 1976 p 46
  41. ^ a b List of spy films at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films Cite error: The named reference "afi" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  42. ^ "Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross.
  43. ^ "Patriot Games (15)". British Board of Film Classification. June 9, 1992. Archived from the original on March 6, 2018. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  44. ^ "Big Rental Films of 1967", Variety, 3 January 1968 p 25. Please note these figures refer to rentals accruing to the distributors.
  45. ^ "AFI|Catalog".
  46. ^ "The Scarlet Pimpernel". TCM. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
  47. ^ "Shining Through (15)". British Board of Film Classification. February 12, 1992. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
  48. ^ "AFI|Catalog". Archived from the original on 17 September 2018. Retrieved 17 September 2018.
  49. ^ The Spy at silentera.com
  50. ^ a b Erickson, Hal (2007). "The Spy Who Came In from the Cold (1965)". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 23 November 2007. Retrieved 22 March 2013. Cite error: The named reference "nytimes" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  51. ^ "The Sum of All Fears (12)". British Board of Film Classification. May 31, 2002. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  52. ^ "They Met in the Dark (1943) - Articles - TCM.com". Turner Classic Movies.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_spy_films&oldid=1132280042"