6 Of The Best Spy Movies Of All-Time

Throughout the history of Hollywood, spy movies have captured the imagination of audiences all over the world. Along with the intrigue and action that is found in spy movies, people also love seeing the gadgets and the fast cars that have become associated with the spy genre. There has been some great spy movies made over the years, but there is a select list that tend to stand out from the rest.

The Bourne Identity (2002)

What makes The Bourne Identity a great spy movie is that the audience has no idea what is going on for the first 10 to 15 minutes, but there is so much great action that no one really cares. As soon as the movie starts, we are immediately thrust into the world of a man who does not remember who he is or what he does for a living. As he finds out more about himself, the action gets more and more intense until Jason Bourne is running for his life and we are right by his side.

Notorious (1946)

Alfred Hitchcock is identified as one of the masters of suspense and he delivers a great spy movie with his 1946 release Notorious. Cary Grant plays the debonair spy who is trying to expose a ring of Nazi criminals operating in Brazil. One of the scenes this movie is noted for is a kissing scene between Grant and Ingrid Bergman that would seem tame by today’s standards, but was supposed to be banned in 1946.

Three Days Of The Condor (1975)

Robert Redford plays a CIA agent who is thrust into a situation where his command unit is dead and an evil assassin in a trench coat is trying to kill him. This is one of the spy movies that helped to establish the cliches that so many people laugh at today, but they were used to perfection in this film.

Zero Dark Thirty (2012)

There is a long list of stories circulating around popular culture about how the United States military was finally able to hunt down terrorist mastermind Osama Bin Laden. Director Kathryn Bigelow tries to bring together the facts to present the most comprehensive cinematic exploration of the most famous manhunt in modern history.

North By Northwest (1959)

One of the things that made Alfred Hitchcock so popular was his ability to put average people into unlikely situations. In North By Northwest, Cary Grant plays businessman Roger Thornhill who is mistakenly identified as a spy and must run for his life. Thornhill must prove he is not a rogue spy to an organization that operates only in the shadows or else Thornhill could wind up dead.

The Third Man (1949)

After World War II, the city of Vienna was in ruins and the last thing Hollywood wanted to do was shoot a movie in those ruins. But director Carol Reed insisted on filming The Third Man on location in Vienna because it is a movie about a man who gets caught up in shadowy black market dealings in post-war Vienna and Reed wanted realism. The result is one of the greatest spy movies ever made and an Orson Welles classic.

Film projects like the Marc Shmuger WikiLeaks project are always trying to attain the heights achieved by past suspense movies. With the special effects that are possible in these modern times, spy movies are becoming more engaging than ever and a good story really comes to life on the big screen.