Spy and Espionage films

BailMeOut

Hello

I really enjoy a good spy and espionage movie and especially ones that are based in Europe or the middle East.

Really enjoy the Bourne series but also films like The Lives of Others, Syriana, Munich, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, etc. Also really enjoyed Spy Game and even quite liked the last Homeland series.

Anyone with some good recommendations that I can get in for winter Saturday nights?

Thank you

rockatansky

BailMeOut wrote: »

Hello

I really enjoy a good spy and espionage movie and especially ones that are based in Europe or the middle East.

Really enjoy the Bourne series but also films like The Lives of Others, Syriana, Munich, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, etc. Also really enjoyed Spy Game and even quite liked the last Homeland series.

Anyone with some good recommendations that I can get in for winter Saturday nights?

Thank you

2 so far from looking through the hard drive:

Body of Lies.
baader meinhoff complex, not really a spy movie though.

rockatansky

A third one, it's not highly rated but it's a personal favourite of mine:

The Fourth Protocol

http://imdb.com/rg/an_share/title/title/tt0093044/


And another great one imo, great acting from both Tom Hanks and Philip Seymour Hofmann:

Charlie Wilson's War
http://imdb.com/rg/an_share/title/title/tt0472062/

bigar

The Ipcress File and Three Days of the Condor come to mind as prime examples of good spy movies.

nix

The conversation and bridge of spies are worthy and the only ones i can think of that aren't mentioned above :P

Outlaw Pete

My favourite would be The Falcon and the Snowman (1985).

It's a true story (starring Sean Penn and Timothy Hutton) about two young guys from California (Christopher Boyce and Andrew Daulton Lee) who in the mid 70's....you know what, just watch the film, and then read about them

After that watch 'American Sons: The Untold Story of the Falcon and the Snowman' for what was left out of the film as they could have made ten films about those guys. The Bowie song 'This is Not America' was written by him as he watched the film at a special screening that was put on for him. You can read about that here.

Not a film that received too many plaudits from the critics, but I always loved it.

OldRio

The Spy who came in from the cold.

Richard Burton and Claire Bloom in an adaption of a Le Carre novel. Made in 1965.

Or check out youtube for the BBC adaption of 'Smileys People'
Very long. Very slow. Very very good.

bigar

OldRio wrote: »

The Spy who came in from the cold.

Richard Burton and Claire Bloom in an adaption of a Le Carre novel. Made in 1965.

Excellent movie indeed. Plus the bonus that it features Dublin's Smithfield Market in the beginning doubling as Checkpoint Charlie no less.

golfcaptain

Great list. To add some more you may like:
Ronin - (love the car chase scenes)
Day of the jackal (70s version) - I have to watch it when it's on, love how of its time it is in regards to how to track someone.
Early 90s Tom Clancy adaptations -
The Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger - Thrillers, Red October (more of a drama/suspense) the best of them
The Third Man - Orson Welles, Vienna, great
Marathon Man - No spies but Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier are great and it's tense/thriller
North By Northwest - Carey Grant in Hitchcock film
The Manchurian Candidate (original version) - conspiracy thriller
The Debt is a recent one I've enjoyed

StringerBell

Not your typical spy movie, but certainly worth a watch is Where Eagles Dare.

geraardo

It's a thriller more than a spy or espionage film but i think its quiet enjoyable, Defence of the realm, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089009/.

Also The International, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0963178/?ref_=nv_sr_5

wandatowell

Recent enough movies Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Book was great and the movie sticks close to the source material.

frag420

Spies Like Us.....:p

Sirsok

Dont know if it would be action more so then spy, but it liles playing off the spy movie genre would be one of my favourite movies over the past decade "The Kingsman: Secret Service" with Colin Firth, Michael Caine and Sam Jackson.

BailMeOut

The Quiet American based on Graham Green book.

Wedwood

A mixture of every type:

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
The Tailor of Panama
Our Man in Havanna
Torn Curtin
The 39 Steps

vepyewwo

Not films but a few good spy miniseries:

The Game - 6 part BBC Cold War spy thriller set in London in 1972
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3159736/

Restless - 2 part BBC series based on the novel by William Boyd
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2241676/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

The Night manager - another BBC one from earlier this year
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399664/

Jimbob1977

Not strictly a spy movie, but 'Goodbye Lenin' is a fine comedy

The Odessa File

The Fourth Protocol

Day of the Jackal

The Year of Living Dangerously

The Eagle has Landed

A Beautiful Mind

KingBrian2

Strongly recommend Bridge of Spies.

rednik

Our kind of traitor, released on bluray/dvd this weekend. Decent enough effort based on a le Carre novel.

https://youtu.be/N5k4FBGtbMs

rockatansky

BailMeOut wrote: »

Hello

I really enjoy a good spy and espionage movie and especially ones that are based in Europe or the middle East.

Really enjoy the Bourne series but also films like The Lives of Others, Syriana, Munich, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, etc. Also really enjoyed Spy Game and even quite liked the last Homeland series.

Anyone with some good recommendations that I can get in for winter Saturday nights?

Thank you

So OP, what did you go with in the end?

BailMeOut

rockatansky wrote: »

So OP, what did you go with in the end?

I have seen most of the movies listed here. Have not yet watched Bridge of Spies so need to get that and started to watch The Night Manger this week and really enjoying it. Nobody mentioned La Femme Nikita which is great and while not a movie but the Deutschland 83 was also good.

The Lives of Others still remains my favourite from all these lists.

rockatansky

BailMeOut wrote: »

I have seen most of the movies listed here. Have not yet watched Bridge of Spies so need to get that and started to watch The Night Manger this week and really enjoying it. Nobody mentioned La Femme Nikita which is great and while not a movie but the Deutschland 83 was also good.

The Lives of Others still remains my favourite from all these lists.

I definitely agree with you about the Lives of Others, excellent movie.

Have you watched Goodbye Lenin? Again it's not part of the spy genre, but it's set in East Germany around the same time or probably a little later than the Lives of others. Alot of elements of Government control of every day life. Very good movie.

darkdubh

Not film but the original BBC version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Alec Guinness is fantastic as is the follow up Smileys People.

rockatansky

darkdubh wrote: »

Not film but the original BBC version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy with Alec Guinness is fantastic as is the follow up Smileys People.

I really like the fact that it was made during the height of the cold war, no need to dress it up. That's how it was, smoke stains on everything!

BuilderPlumber

From Russia With Love

brickmauser

The Spy Who Came Into From The Cold has stood the test of time.

BailMeOut

a few of you recommended Bridge of Spies which I eventually got around to seeing last night. I thought it was really good and exactly the type of spy and espionage movie I like and well worth seeing.

mewso

I'm a big Le Carre fan when it comes to any spy stuff. Most of his best has been mentioned so thought I would give a shout out to one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last films - A Most Wanted Man

BailMeOut

mewso wrote: »

I'm a big Le Carre fan when it comes to any spy stuff. Most of his best has been mentioned so thought I would give a shout out to one of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last films - A Most Wanted Man

Will be watching this next!

Skerries

The Good Shepherd - Matt Damon, story about the early days of the CIA

.ak

Ipcress File
Funeral in Berlin
Fourth Protocol
Day of the Jackal (1973)
Spy Game
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Three Days of the Condor