The 25 Best Spy Movies — And How to Watch Them Online
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When it comes to film, no genre is cooler than spy movies. There is just something about a secret agent going undercover — on a mission that could decide the fate of the world — that no other type of movie can hope to compare to.
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But what are the absolute best spy movies ever made? With over a century of material to choose from, it can feel impossible to know which espionage adventures are best, especially with how much the genre has changed over the years. Fortunately, we’re here to help.
Your mission — should you choose to accept it — is to watch the 25 greatest spy movies ever made. Codenames and disguises are optional but encouraged.
From Russia, with Love (1964)
MI16 Agent James Bond (Sean Connery) is sent to Istanbul to retrieve a Soviet cryptography device, but it turns out the entire mission is a trap set by the international criminal organization SPECTRE to get revenge against the secret agent. Despite only being the second Bond film, it’s considered by many to be the best of the entire franchise, thanks to dynamite action, a smart and suspenseful script, and an iconic lead performance from Connery.
Watch From Russia With Love on Max.
Burn After Reading (2008)
After discovering a disk that contains the memoirs of a former CIA analyst, two gym employees attempt to leverage the situation to their financial advantage with some good old-fashioned blackmail. Given that this is a Coen Brothers movie, things do not go according to plan and before you know it, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Frances McDormand, and John Malkovich are trapped in the most hilariously dumb game of espionage ever captured on film.
Watch Burn After Reading on Prime Video.
Spy (2015)
After her partner is killed in action, CIA employee Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) is forced to go undercover to complete the mission despite having never worked in the field before. More often than not, spy comedies deliver more groans than laughs — but in this case, McCarthy’s complete commitment to the fish-out-of-water performance makes it one of the funniest films of the last decade.
Watch Spy on Max.
North by Northwest (1959)
After being mistaken as a government agent, Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) finds himself being hunted down by the relentless spy Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) and forms a tentative bond with Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) while attempting to clear his name. Alfred Hitchcock is responsible for several classic spy movies, but North by Northwest remains his undisputed masterpiece in the genre.
Watch North by Northwest on Max.
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Sergeant Raymond Shaw (Laurence Harvey) and Captain Bennett “Ben” Marco (Frank Sinatra) return home as heroes after being captured by Soviet and Chinese soldiers during the Korean War. However, Marco finds that Shaw has been brainwashed as part of an international conspiracy to assassinate a presidential nominee. More than 60 years after its release, The Manchurian Candidate is still one of the more inventive and bold undercover movies ever made.
Watch The Manchurian Candidate on Tubi.
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
Joe Turner (Robert Redford) is a mild-mannered CIA analyst who goes out to lunch only to return and find that his co-workers have been killed. Turner soon discovers that the murders were part of a massive conspiracy within the CIA and that nobody can be trusted. As he evades being captured and killed, Turner tries to uncover the truth and expose those who are responsible.
Watch Three Days of the Condor on Prime Video.
Mission Impossible – Ghost Protocol (2011)
IMF agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is framed for a deadly bombing of the Kremlin, forcing him to go on the run from authorities while also attempting to clear his name and figure out who was really behind the attack. The first three Mission: Impossible films are great spy adventures in their own right, but Ghost Protocol was really when the franchise officially became America’s answer to James Bond.
Watch Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol on Paramount Plus.
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965)
At the height of the Cold War, British MI6 agent Alec Leamas (Richard Burton) is tasked with going undercover as a defector to infiltrate the East German Intelligence Service. But Leamas dives deeper into the deception, he;s forced to reckon with questions of duty, loyalty, and if the ends truly justify the means when it comes to international espionage.
Watch The Spy Who Came in From the Cold on Kanopy.
Spy Kids (2001)
Carmen (Alexa Vega) and Juni (Daryl Sabara) Cortez are shocked to learn that their seemingly boring parents are secret spies who were captured on a mission. The siblings decide to rescue their parents, who they believe have been kidnapped by children’s TV host Fegan Floop (Alan Cumming). For parents looking to get their kids into the spy genre, Spy Kids is a great family-friendly starting point.
Watch Spy Kids on Paramount Plus.
The Good Shepherd (2006)
After the disastrous Bay of Pigs, CIA senior officer Robert Wilson (Matt Damon) works to uncover a mole who is suspected to be working with the Cuban government. Starring Damon, Angelina Jolie, and Robert de Niro, who also directed the film, The Good Shepherd is one of the most compelling spy films of the 21st Century.
Watch The Good Shepherd on Netflix.
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
When it is discovered that a Soviet ballistic missile submarine known as Red October is heading towards the United States, CIA analyst Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) tries to figure out the motive of Red October captain Marko Ramius (Sean Connery). The film flows like a brilliant, life-or-death game of chess, with Ryan and Ramius attempting to outsmart the other to remain one step ahead.
Watch The Hunt for Red October on Max.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
Before creating The Dating Game and hosting The Gong Show, the CIA recruited Chuck Barris (Sam Rockwell) to become an assassin. At least, according to Barris. Based on Barris’s 1984 “unauthorized autobiography” of the same name, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind has fun with Barris’ slightly absurd claim he actually was an assassin for the CIA. (The agency has denied Barris had any involvement with them.) What’s the truth? The film argues that the answer doesn’t matter — just enjoy the ride.
Watch Confessions of a Dangerous Mind on Paramount Plus.
Spy Game (2001)
In Spy Game, the CIA learns that one of its operatives, Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt), has been captured at a People’s Liberation Army prison in China and will be executed in 24 hours unless the U.S. Government meets the PLA’s demands. Veteran case officer Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) makes it his final mission to rescue Bishop. Redford and Pitt are both phenomenal in this underrated spy thriller directed by the great Tony Scott.
Watch Spy Game on Starz.
The Conversation (1974)
Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is a surveillance expert who stumbles upon a possible murder plot through one of his recordings. As Caul tries to alleviate his guilt by uncovering the truth and stopping the potential killing, he becomes increasingly convinced that he is being followed and tracked by those behind the murderous plan. Hackman’s intensity is channeled into a heightened paranoia, while director Francis Ford Coppola explores the uneasy tension in the film’s ambiguity.
Watch The Conversation on Pluto TV.
The Lives of Others (2006)
In 1984, East German officer Gerd Wiesler (Ulrich Mühe) begins spying on a couple whom he suspects may not be loyal to the Communist Party. But as he listens in on their lives, he begins to sympathize with the couple, which leads to unintended consequences for all three of them.
Rent The Lives of Others on Prime Video.
Casino Royale (2006)
Is it cheating to put two James Bond movies on this list? Maybe but if anyone is deserving two spots, it’s 007. By the time Daniel Craig took on the role of Bond, it had been handed off to a variety of actors, each bringing their own flavor to the womanizing spy. But nobody made the role their own quite like Craig, whose first Bond film brings a grounded urgency to the franchise that had been missing for decades.
Watch Casino Royale on Prime Video.
Bridge of Spies (2015)
In Bridge of Spies, the Soviets capture a U.S. pilot, who faces a decade in prison unless lawyer James Donovan (Tom Hanks) can reach an agreement to ensure his release. Spy movies are usually heavy on spectacle, but director Steven Spielberg instead focuses on the minutiae and unrecognized hard work that goes into international espionage. This leads to one of Hanks’ best performances in years, as he brings a quiet workman competence to the character that doesn’t usually exist in the spy genre.
Watch Bridge of Spies on Apple TV.
True Lies (1994)
Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) may seem like your run-of-the-mill statuesque computer salesman, but he’s actually an impossibly jacked secret agent for Omega Sector, a counterterrorism agency. While helping keep the world safe from baddies, Harry must keep his double life a secret from his wife Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis), who has grown increasingly frustrated with her husband’s elusive nature. Enjoy the often-overlooked gem in James Cameron’s filmography.
Watch True Lies on Hulu.
Operation Mincemeat (2021)
As Britain prepares to invade Sicily in 1943, Lieutenant Commander Ewen Montagu (Colin Firth) and intelligence officer Charles Cholmondeley (Matthew Macfayden) come up with a bold plan to deceive the Germans. The duo proposes planting fake documents on the corpse of an officer who washes ashore in Spain that imply a British plan to invade Greece instead of Sicily. Firth and Macfayden are fantastic in this real-life spy story that helped the Allies defeat the Nazis.
Watch Operation Mincemeat on Netflix.
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
In 1967, British spy Austin Powers (Mike Myers) agrees to cryogenically freeze himself to face off against his arch nemesis Dr. Evil (Myers). But when the two are woken up 30 years later, Powers struggles to adjust to the modern world. Comedies often tend to age poorly but this spoof of James Bond remains absolutely hilarious, as Myers’ goofy yet razor-sharp sense of humor is on full display.
Rent Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery on Prime Video.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
Former intelligence officer George Smiley (Gary Oldman) is called out of retirement by the British Secret Service to help find the identity of a Soviet double agent working inside the agency. This intentionally unsexy spy film weaves a dense and complex web of conspiracy and anxiety that results in perhaps the most intelligent espionage film ever made.
Rent Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy on Prime Video.
Atomic Blonde (2017)
Days before the Berlin Wall is set to collapse, British spy Lorraine Broughton (Charlize Theron) must track down a list of double agents and identify a traitor known only as “Satchel.” Atomic Blonde may not be the most cerebral spy movie on this list but it is certainly among the most fun, as it is a blast watching Theron kick the ass of anyone dumb enough to get in her way.
Rent Atomic Blonde on Prime Video.
The Courier (2021)
Greville Wynne (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a British businessman who was recruited by the CIA and MI6 to go to the USSR under the guise of doing business to get information from a high-ranking Soviet official in the hopes of preventing nuclear war. This real-life spy story shows how an ordinary man helped de-escalate one of the most tense moments of the Cold War.
Watch The Courier on Prime Video.
Wasp Network (2019)
In the early 90s, pilot René González (Édgar Ramírez) seemingly abandons his wife and daughter in Cuba to start a new life in Miami. However, it turns out that González was actually working with the Cuban government to secretly infiltrate anti-Castro groups of Cuban exiles that had begun carrying out violent attacks on Cuba.
Watch Wasp Network on Netflix.
Charlie Wilson’s War (2007)
Congressman Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) spent his entire political career avoiding legislating in favor of partying but in 1980, he has a change of heart and decides to team up with CIA operative Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to create Operation Cyclone, a program that offered support and funding to the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan War. Charlie Wilson’s War is not a perfect movie but offers a fascinating glimpse into how America’s short-sighted foreign intervention during the Cold War created many of the problems the country now faces today. Plus, Hoffman is absolutely brilliant.
Watch Charlie Wilson’s War on Max.
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