Spy film

This article is about the genre. For other uses, see Spy (disambiguation).

The spy film genre, also known sometimes as an espionage film, 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, with leading British directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed making notable contributions and many films set in the British Secret Service.

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 comedies 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.

History

The spy film genre began in the silent era, with the paranoia of invasion literature and the onset of the Great War. These fears produced the British 1914 The German Spy Peril, centered on a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, and 1913's O.H.M.S., standing for "Our Helpless Millions Saved" as well as On His Majesty's Service (and introducing for the first time a strong female character who helps the hero).

In 1928, Fritz Lang made the film Spies which contained many tropes that became popular in later spy dramas, including secret headquarters, an agent known by a number, and the beautiful foreign agent who comes to love the hero. Lang's Dr. Mabuse films from the period also contain elements of spy thrillers, though the central character is a criminal mastermind only interested in espionage for profit. Additionally, several of Lang's American films, such as Hangmen Also Die, deal with spies during World War II.

Alfred Hitchcock did much to popularise the spy film in the 1930s with his influential thrillers The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Sabotage (1937) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). These often involved innocent civilians being caught up in international conspiracies or webs of saboteurs on the home front, as in Saboteur (1942). Some, however, dealt with professional spies as in Hitchcock's Secret Agent (1936), based on W. Somerset Maugham's Ashenden stories, or the Mr. Moto series, based on the books of John P. Marquand.

In the 1940s and early 1950s there were several films made about the exploits of Allied agents in occupied Europe, which could probably be considered as a subgenre. 13 Rue Madeleine and O.S.S. were fictional stories about American agents in German-occupied France, and there were a number of films based on the stories of real-life British S.O.E. agents, including Odette and Carve Her Name With Pride. A more recent fictional example is Charlotte Gray, based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks.

Also during the period, there were many detective films (The Thin Man Goes Home and Charlie Chan in the Secret Service for example) in which the mystery involved who stole the secret blue-prints, or who kidnapped the famous scientist.

The peak of popularity of the spy film is often considered to be the 1960s when Cold War fears meshed with a desire by audiences to see exciting and suspenseful films. The espionage film developed in two directions at this time. On the one hand, the realistic spy novels of Len Deighton and John le Carré were adapted into relatively serious Cold War thrillers which dealt with some of the realities of the espionage world. Some of these films included The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), The Deadly Affair (1966), Torn Curtain (1966), and the Harry Palmer series, based on the novels of Len Deighton.

In another direction, the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming were adapted into an increasingly fantastical series of tongue-in-cheek adventure films by producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, with Sean Connery as the star. This direction was inspired by novelist Edgar Wallace's 1950s era British and German krimi genre, they featured secretive and flamboyant, super-villains, an archetype which would later become a staple of the explosion of spy movies in the mid-to-late 1960s. The phenomenal success of the Bond series lead to a deluge of imitators, such as the eurospy genre and several from America. Notable examples include the two Derek Flint films starring James Coburn, The Quiller Memorandum (1966) with George Segal, and the Matt Helm series with Dean Martin. Television also got into the act with series like The Man from U.N.C.L.E and I Spy in the U.S., and Danger Man and The Avengers in Britain. Spies have remained popular on TV to the present day with series such as Callan, Alias and Spooks.

Spy films also enjoyed something of a revival in the late 1990s, although these were often action films with espionage elements, or comedies like Austin Powers. Some critics identify a trend away from fantasy in favor of realism, as observed in Syriana, the Bourne film series and the James Bond films starring Daniel Craig since Casino Royale (2006).

Films

Some of the most popular films include:

Movie series (franchises)

• James Bond (1962–present) – 25 films
• Bulldog Drummond series (1922–1969) – 24 films
• The Saint series (1938–1943) – 8 films
• Dick Barton series (1948-1950) – 3 films
• Harry Palmer (1965–1996) – 5 films
• Austin Powers (1997–2002) – 3 films
• Johnny English (2003–2018) – 3 films
• Kingsman (2014–present) – 3 films
• Mr. Moto series (1937–39, 1965) – 9 films
• Matt Helm series (1966–1969) – 4 films
• Jack Ryan (1990–2014) – 5 films
• Mission: Impossible series (1996–present) – 8 films
• Charlie's Angels (2000–2019) – 3 films
• Spy Kids series (2001–2011) – 4 films
• Fast & Furious (spy films: 2011–present) – 5 spy films
• The Bourne series (2002–2016) – 5 films
• XXX (2002–2017) – 3 films
• OSS 117 series (1956–2021) – 10 films
• Francis Coplan (1957–1968) – 6 films
• The Gorilla (1959–1962) – 3 films
• The Black Monocle (1961–1964) – 3 films
• Lupin III (1974 – present) – 13 films and 28 TV specials
• Carl Hamilton (1989–present) – 10 films
• Infernal Affairs (2002-2003) – 3 films

One-shots, sequels and remakes

• The General (1926)
• Spione (1928)
• The Mysterious Lady (1928)
• Three Faces East (1930)
• Dishonored (1931)
• A Woman of Experience (1931)
• In the Employ of the Secret Service (1931)
• Mata Hari (1931)
• Under False Flag (1932)
• The Invisible Front (1932)
• Spies at Work (1933)
• After Tonight (1933)
• On Secret Service (1933)
• The Lady of Lebanon (1934)
• Madame Spy (1934)
• Stamboul Quest (1934)
• British Agent (1934)
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
• The 39 Steps (1935)
• The Crouching Beast (1935)
• Second Bureau (1935)
• Rendezvous (1935)
• The House of a Thousand Candles (1936)
• Till We Meet Again (1936)
• Secret Agent (1936)
• Sabotage (1936)
• Dark Journey (1937)
• Espionage (1937)
• Secret Lives (1937)
• Street of Shadows (1937)
• Knight Without Armour (1937)
• Midnight Menace (1937)
• The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937)
• The Silent Battle (1937)
• Lancer Spy (1937)
• Under Secret Orders (1937)
• Invisible Enemy (1938)
• The Lady Vanishes (1938)
• Gibraltar (1938)
• Q Planes (1939)
• The Silent Battle (1939)
• The Spy in Black (1939)
• British Intelligence (1940)
• Contraband (1940)
• Night Train to Munich (1940)
• Virginia City (1940)
• Saboteur (1942)
• Above Suspicion (1943)
• Background to Danger (1943)
• Journey into Fear (1943)
• Action in Arabia (1944)
• Candlelight in Algeria (1944)
• The Conspirators (1944)
• Hotel Reserve (1944)
• The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
• Ministry of Fear (1944)
• Storm Over Lisbon (1944)
• Confidential Agent (1945)
• The House on 92nd Street (1945)
• O.S.S. (1946)
• I See a Dark Stranger (1946)
• Notorious (1946)
• Cloak and Dagger (1946)
• 13 Rue Madeleine (1947)
• A Southern Yankee (1948)
• Sleeping Car to Trieste (1948)
• Conspirator (1949)
• The Third Man (1949)
• Odette (1950)
• Decision Before Dawn (1951)
• My Favourite Spy (1951)
• Valley of Eagles (1951)
• 5 Fingers (1952)
• The Atomic City (1952)
• The Devil Makes Three (1952)
• Diplomatic Courier (1952)
• Springfield Rifle (1952)
• Walk East on Beacon (1952)
• Alarm in Morocco (1953)
• The Man Between (1953)
• The Man from Cairo (1953)
• Rough Shoot (1953)
• Canaris (1954)
• Captain Wronski (1954)
• Night People (1954)
• A Bullet for Joey (1955)
• Mr. Arkadin (1955)
• Rommel's Treasure (1955)
• The Scarlet Coat (1955)
• Foreign Intrigue (1956)
• The House of Intrigue (1956)
• The Lebanese Mission (1956)
• The Man Who Never Was (1956)
• Spy for Germany (1956)
• Les Espions (1957)
• Stopover Tokyo (1957)
• Carve Her Name with Pride (1958)
• The Silent Enemy (1958)
• The Two-Headed Spy (1958)
• The Quiet American (1958)
  • The Quiet American (2002)
• The Black Chapel (1959)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Our Man in Havana (1959)
• Rommel Calls Cairo (1959)
• The Scarlet Baroness (1959)
• Foxhole in Cairo (1960)
• Man on a String (1960)
• Mistress of the World (1960)
• Who Was That Lady? (1960)
• The Secret Ways (1961)
• Who Are You, Mr. Sorge? (1961)
• The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
• The Devil's Agent (1962)
• The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)
• The Road to Hong Kong (1962)
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• Casablanca, Nest of Spies (1963)
• Charade (1963)
• The Prize (1963)
• The Reluctant Spy (1963)
• Hide and Seek (1964)
• Hot Enough for June (1964)
• Mata Hari, Agent H21 (1964)
• That Man from Rio (1964)
• Une ravissante idiote (1964)
• 36 Hours (1965)
• The Dirty Game (1965)
• The Liquidator (1965)
• Masquerade (1965)
• Mirage (1965)
• Operation Crossbow (1965)
• Pleins feux sur Stanislas (1965)
• The Satan Bug (1965)
• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
• That Man in Istanbul (1965)
• Train d'enfer (1965)
• Trunk to Cairo (1965)
• Arabesque (1966)
• Blindfold (1966)
• The Deadly Affair (1966)
• The Defector (1966)
• Dimension 5 (1966)
• The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
• Kiss Kiss...Bang Bang (1966)
• Modesty Blaise (1966)
• Our Man in Marrakesh (1966)
• The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
• Requiem for a Secret Agent (1966)
• The Spy with a Cold Nose (1966)
• To Skin a Spy (1966)
• Torn Curtain (1966)
• Triple Cross (1966)
• Where the Spies Are (1966)
• Derek Flint series
  • Our Man Flint (1966)
  • In Like Flint (1967)
• Casino Royale (1967)
• Caprice (1967)
• Danger Route (1967)
• Dead Run (1967)
• The Double Man (1967)
• Fathom (1967)
• The Man Outside (1967)
• The Peking Medallion (1967)
• The President's Analyst (1967)
• The Road to Corinth (1967)
• To Commit a Murder (1967)
• The Venetian Affair (1967)
• Assignment K (1968)
• A Dandy in Aspic (1968)
• Dead Season (1968)
• Goa Dalli CID 999 (1968)
• Hammerhead (1968)
• House of Cards (1968)
• Ice Station Zebra (1968)
• Jedara Bale (1968)
• The Limbo Line (1968)
• A Man Called Dagger (1968)
• Subterfuge (1968)
• Where Eagles Dare (1968)
• The Assassination Bureau (1969)
• The Chairman (1969)
• Fräulein Doktor (1969)
• Justine (1969)
• Operation Jackpot Nalli C.I.D 999 (1969)
• Topaz (1969)
• John Smith series
  • The Spy Killer (1969)
  • Foreign Exchange (1970)
• Children of Mata Hari (1970)
• Darling Lili (1970)
• The Executioner (1970)
• Hauser's Memory (1970)
• The Kremlin Letter (1970)
• The Looking Glass War (1970)
• Mrs. Pollifax-Spy (1971)
• To Catch a Spy (1971)
• Zeppelin (1971)
• Embassy (1972)
• The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)
• Innocent Bystanders (1972)
• Madame Sin (1972)
• The Salzburg Connection (1972)
• The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972)
  • The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1974)
• The Day of the Jackal (1973)
  • The Jackal (1997)
• The Mackintosh Man (1973)
• Night Flight from Moscow (1973)
• Scorpio (1973)
• The Black Windmill (1974)
• Callan (1974)
• Caravan to Vaccarès (1974)
• The Odessa File (1974)
• S*P*Y*S (1974)
• The Tamarind Seed (1974)
• The Eiger Sanction (1975)
• The Killer Elite (1975)
• Permission to Kill (1975)
• Rosebud (1975)
• Russian Roulette (1975)
• Three Days of the Condor (1975)
• The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
• Marathon Man (1976)
• The Next Man (1976)
• Black Sunday (1977)
• Telefon (1977)
• The Boys from Brazil (1978)
• Brass Target (1978)
• Operation Diamond Racket (1978)
• Avalanche Express (1979)
• Charlie Muffin (1979)
• The Human Factor (1979)
• The Riddle of the Sands (1979)
• Gunmaster G9 series
  • Surakshaa (1979)
  • Wardat (1981)
• Hopscotch (1980)
• The Sea Wolves (1980)
• The Amateur (1981)
• Condorman (1981)
• Eye of the Needle (1981)
• Teheran 43 (1981)
• Enigma (1982)
• Espion, lève-toi (1982)
• Firefox (1982)
• The Soldier (1982)
• Wrong Is Right (1982)
• Agent 000 and the Deadly Curves (1983)
• The Jigsaw Man (1983)
• The Osterman Weekend (1983)
• TASS Is Authorized to Declare... (1984)
• To Catch a King (1984)
• Top Secret! (1984)
• Code Name: Emerald (1985)
• The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
• Gotcha! (1985)
• The Holcroft Covenant (1985)
• The Man with One Red Shoe (1985)
• Spies Like Us (1985)
• Target (1985)
• The Whistle Blower (1986)
• The Fourth Protocol (1987)
• Ishtar (1987)
• The Package (1989)
• Scandal (1989)
• Night of the Fox (1990)
• The Russia House (1990)
• Company Business (1991)
• Blue Ice (1992)
• Sneakers (1992)
• Shining Through (1992)
• Mike Graham series
  • Death Train (1993)
  • Night Watch (1995)
• Doomsday Gun (1994)
• The Patriots (1994)
• True Lies (1994)
• Bad Company (1995)
• Face/Off (1996)
• The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
• The Secret Agent (1996)
• Spy Hard (1996)
• Air Force One (1997)
• Conspiracy Theory (1997)
• Home Alone 3 (1997)
• The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997)
• The Peacemaker (1997)
• The Saint (1997)
• The Avengers (1998)
• Ronin (1998)
• Enemy of the State (1998)
• Mercury Rising (1998)
• Swasthik (1998)
• Wild Wild West (1999)
• Spy Game (2001)
• The Tailor of Panama (2001)
• Undercover Brother (2002)
  • Undercover Brother 2 (2019)
• Bad Company (2002)
• I Spy (2002)
• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
• The Recruit (2003)
• Spy Sorge (2003)
• Agent Cody Banks (2003)
  • Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004)
• A Different Loyalty (2004)
• Secret Agents (2004)
• Spartan (2004)
• Walk on Water (2004)
• The Interpreter (2005)
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
• Munich (2005)
• Syriana (2005)
• Black Book (2006)
• Fay Grim (2006)
• The Good German (2006)
• The Good Shepherd (2006)
• The Lives of Others (2006)
• Breach (2007)
• Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
• Body of Lies (2008)
• Traitor (2008)
• Get Smart (2008)
  • Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd: Out of Control (2008)
• Burn After Reading (2008)
• Eagle Eye (2008)
• Vantage Point (2008)
• Duplicity (2009)
• Farewell (2009)
• The International (2009)
• The Limits of Control (2009)
• Totally Spies! The Movie (2009)
• Whiteout (2009)
• The Spy Next Door (2010)
• The American (2010)
• Fair Game (2010)
• The Debt (2010)
• Knight and Day (2010)
• Salt (2010)
• Red (2010)
  • Red 2 (2013)
• Hanna (2011)
• Cars 2 (2011)
• Page Eight (2011)
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
• The Double (2011)
• The Cold Light of Day (2012)
• Haywire (2012)
• Jack Reacher (2012)
  • Jack Reacher: Never Go Back (2016)
• Safe House (2012)
• Ek Tha Tiger (2012)
• Argo (2012)
• A Most Wanted Man (2014)
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
• The November Man (2014)
• Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
• Bang Bang! (2014)
• Blackhat (2015)
• Spy (2015)
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
• Bridge of Spies (2015)
• Our Kind of Traitor (2016)
• 24 Hours to Live (2017)
• Atomic Blonde (2017)
• Tiger Zinda Hai (2017)
• Spyder (2017)
• The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)
• Red Sparrow (2018)
• Goodachari (2018)
• Anna (2019)
• The Operative (2019)
• Spies in Disguise (2019)
• War (2019)
• Spy Intervention (2020)
• The Courier (2020)
• Tenet (2020)
• Black Widow (2021)
• The 355 (2022)

Television series

Some of the most popular television series include:

Classic era

• Peter Gunn (1958–1961)
• Tightrope! (1959–1960)
• Danger Man (1960–1968)
• The Avengers (1961–1969)
• The Saint (1962–1969)
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968)
• I Spy (1965–1968)
• The Wild Wild West (1965–1969)
• Get Smart (1965–1970)
• Mission: Impossible (1966–1973)
• Hawk (1966)
• The Prisoner (1967–1968)
• Stawka większa niż życie (1967–1968)
• Callan (1967–1972)
• It Takes a Thief (1968–70)
• Search (1972–73)
• Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973)
• Kojak (1973–1978)
• The Six Million Dollar Man (1973–1978)
• The Bionic Woman (1976–1978)
  • Bionic Woman (2007)
• The Sandbaggers (1978–1980)
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)
• A Man Called Intrepid (1979)
• Danger Mouse (1981)
• Smiley's People (1982)
• Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983)
• Charters and Caldicott (1985)
• The Equalizer (1985–1989)
• MacGyver (1985–1992)

Modern era

• Æon Flux (1991–1995)
• Acapulco H.E.A.T. (1993–1999)
• La Femme Nikita (1997–2001)
  • Nikita (2010–2013)
• Alias (2001–2006)
• Charlie's Angels (2011)
• Totally Spies! (2001–2015)
  • The Amazing Spiez! (2009–2012)
• 24 (2001–2014)
• Kim Possible (2002–2007)
• Foyle's War (2002–2015)
• Spooks (2002–2011), aka MI-5
• L/R: Licensed by Royalty (2003)
• Cambridge Spies (2003)
• Burn Notice (2007–2013)
• The Company (2007)
• Chuck (2007–2012)
• The Middleman (2008)
• M.I. High (2007–2011)
• Archer (2009–present)
• Covert Affairs (2010–2014)
• Human Target (2010–2011)
• Night Raid 1931 (2010)
• Rubicon (2010)
• Strike Back (2010–2020)
• Homeland (2011–2020)
• Person of Interest (2011–2016)
• Missing (2012)
• Hunted (2012)
• The Americans (2013–2018)
• The Blacklist (2013–present)
• The Assets (2014)
• The Honourable Woman (2014)
• Legends (2014–2015)
• The Game (2014)
• Turn: Washington's Spies (2014–2017)
• Madam Secretary (2014–2019)
• K.C. Undercover (2015–2018)
• The Bureau (2015–present)
• Deutschland 83 (2015)
• Blindspot (2015–2020)
• London Spy (2015)
• Fauda (2015–present)
• X Company (2015–2017)
• Berlin Station (2016-2019)
• Counterpart (2017–2019)
• Condor (2018–present)
• Killing Eve (2018–present)
• The Looming Tower (2018)
• Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan (2018–present)
• The Family Man (2019–present)
• The Rook (2019)
• The Spy (2019)
• Treadstone (2019)
• Caliphate (2020)
• Tehran (2020)

See also

• Eurospy film
• List of James Bond parodies and spin-offs
• List of films based on spy books