Top notch Spy dramas
by gustav-nyqvist | created - 8 months ago | updated - 8 months ago | PublicMy favorite movies and TV-series in the world of spies and intelligense services/agencys. Cold war, new wars, world wars. Clandestine services, counter intelligence, anti terrorism.
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1. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)
TV-14 | 45 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
In the bleak days of the Cold War, espionage veteran George Smiley is forced out of semi-retirement to uncover a Soviet agent within MI6's echelons.
Stars: Alec Guinness, Michael Jayston, Anthony Bate, George Sewell
Votes: 9,627
2. Smiley's People (1982)
TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, Mystery
The murder of a Soviet defector forces his old handler, British spymaster George Smiley, out of retirement. His investigation leads to an old nemesis, the Soviet spymaster known only as "Karla". This will be their final dance.
Stars: Alec Guinness, Eileen Atkins, Bill Paterson, Vladek Sheybal
Votes: 4,765
3. A Perfect Spy (1987)
374 min | Thriller
The rise and fall of Magnus Pym and his career through intelligence. From chance meetings with people will be important to him in the future to a life in Czechoslovakia, Pym weaves his way through the complicated world of espionage.
Stars: Ray McAnally, Rüdiger Weigang, Alan Howard, Peter Egan
Votes: 999
4. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
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 | Stars: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, Mark Strong
Votes: 212,565 | Gross: $24.15M
5. A Spy Among Friends (2022)
TV-MA | 55 min | Drama, Thriller
In England in 1963, Nicholas Elliott works for MI6 but is left in turmoil when he learns his close friend and colleague Kim Philby had been secretly working as a double agent for the KGB and has defected to the Soviet Union.
Stars: Guy Pearce, Damian Lewis, Anna Maxwell Martin, Adrian Edmondson
Votes: 6,226
6. Reilly: Ace of Spies (1983)
TV-MA | 720 min | Crime, Drama
A dramatization of the missions and adventures of the greatest spy in British history.
Stars: Sam Neill, Michael Bryant, Norman Rodway, Tom Bell
Votes: 1,692
7. Cambridge Spies (2003)
59 min | Drama, History
The true story of a group of Cambridge University Students who are recruited to spy for the Soviet Union in the early 1930s.
Stars: Tom Hollander, Toby Stephens, Rupert Penry-Jones, Samuel West
Votes: 2,207
8. The Company (2007)
TV-14 | 48 min | Drama, History, Romance
Real-life figures from the Cold War-era mix with a fictional story based on a group of C.I.A. operatives and their counterparts in the K.G.B., MI6, and the Mossad.
Stars: Chris O'Donnell, Alfred Molina, Michael Keaton, Rory Cochrane
Votes: 4,968
9. The Ipcress File (2022)
Not Rated | 60 min | Drama, Thriller
As the Cold War rages, ex-smuggler turned reluctant spy Harry Palmer finds himself at the centre of a dangerous undercover mission, on which he must use his links to find a missing British nuclear scientist.
Stars: Joe Cole, Lucy Boynton, Tom Hollander, Ashley Thomas
Votes: 5,429
10. The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
Approved | 112 min | Drama, Thriller
Instead of coming in from the Cold War, British agent Alec Leamas chooses to face another mission.
Director: Martin Ritt | Stars: Richard Burton, Oskar Werner, Claire Bloom, Sam Wanamaker
Votes: 18,824
11. Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
R | 157 min | Drama, History, Thriller
A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011.
Director: Kathryn Bigelow | Stars: Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Chris Pratt, Mark Strong
Votes: 319,001 | Gross: $95.72M
12. The Looming Tower (2018)
TV-MA | 41 min | Drama, History
A look at how the rivalry between the CIA and FBI inadvertently set the stage for the tragedy of 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan.
Stars: Jeff Daniels, Tahar Rahim, Wrenn Schmidt, Bill Camp
Votes: 17,545
13. Homeland (2011–2020)
TV-MA | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
A bipolar CIA operative becomes convinced a prisoner of war has been turned by al-Qaeda and is planning to carry out a terrorist attack on American soil.
Stars: Claire Danes, Mandy Patinkin, Damian Lewis, Rupert Friend
Votes: 361,038
14. Prisoners of War (2009–2012)
50 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
After 17 years in captivity, Israeli soldiers Nimrode Klein, Uri Zach and Amiel Ben Horin return to the country that made them national icons. They work to overcome the trauma of torture and captivity.
Stars: Ishai Golan, Yoram Toledano, Yaël Abecassis, Mili Avital
Votes: 2,686
15. The Sandbaggers (1978–1980)
TV-14 | 60 min | Thriller
The missions of an elite British Intelligence covert operations unit.
Stars: Roy Marsden, Ray Lonnen, Jerome Willis, Bob Sherman
Votes: 932
16. Argo (2012)
R | 120 min | Biography, Drama, History
Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1979.
Director: Ben Affleck | Stars: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman, Alan Arkin
Votes: 639,279 | Gross: $136.03M
17. The Good Shepherd (2006)
R | 167 min | Drama, History, Thriller
The tumultuous early history of the Central Intelligence Agency is viewed through the prism of one man's life.
Director: Robert De Niro | Stars: Matt Damon, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro, Alec Baldwin
Votes: 108,613 | Gross: $59.95M
18. Syriana (2005)
R | 128 min | Drama, Thriller
A politically charged epic about the state of the oil industry in the hands of those personally involved in and affected by it.
Director: Stephen Gaghan | Stars: George Clooney, Matt Damon, Amanda Peet, Kayvan Novak
Votes: 134,288 | Gross: $50.82M
19. Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
R | 102 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Votes: 124,925 | Gross: $66.66M
20. Fauda (2015–2022)
TV-MA | 60 min | Action, Drama, Thriller
The human stories on both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Stars: Lior Raz, Itzik Cohen, Neta Garty, Rona-Lee Shimon
Votes: 37,960
21. The Bureau (2015–2020)
TV-MA | 50 min | Drama, Thriller
A very unique and captivating series about the "bureau des légendes", the mythical powerhouse within the French Secret Service and its dare devil ghost agents.
Stars: Mathieu Kassovitz, Florence Loiret Caille, Jonathan Zaccaï, Sara Giraudeau
Votes: 14,214
22. Slow Horses (2022– )
TV-MA | Drama, Thriller
Follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve as a dumping ground department of MI5 due to their career-ending mistakes.
Stars: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rosalind Eleazar
Votes: 71,126
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