Top Ten Spy Movies Chosen by Real-Life Former Spies

With all the hype surrounding the next James Bond movie, the public seems more focused on spies than ever before so when Burke Liburt, Chief Executive Officer of the Long Island Spy Museum, asked me to write an article whereby I would interview real life former spies asking them for the top ten list of spy movies, I was intrigued and, like the rest of us, curious as to what the thoughts of my former brethren would be regarding the depiction of spies in the movies.

I interviewed Former Intelligence officers from Military Special Operations, former case officers from the State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research and former luminaries who served with Central Intelligence, Clandestine Service, National Security Agency and Geospatial Intelligence agency to name a few. If you are wondering, how hard it is to contact former “spooks,” it is made much easier having been one yourself; like any affinity group, we have associations for retired former operatives just as in any other profession.  What I will say is that spies love movies!

I should point out while most former spies enjoy the Bourne identity and James Bond franchises, both are collectively considered great entertainment but are so far removed from real-life spying I did not include them on the top ten list. Jason Bourne and James Bond more closely resemble  “tip of the spear” Special Forces Operators then espionage case officers. That being said, both of those franchises are great recruiting vehicles for spy agencies worldwide.

Read on to see the top ten ranked spy movies:

1.  Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (The Original Only) based on a spy novel by author John le Carré, a former British secret service operative who wrote under the penname David John Moore Cornwell.. The movie features the main character and hero of the piece- George Smiley, played by Alec Guinness, whom you may know as the Star Wars hero Obi Wan Kenobi. Smiley is a taciturn, middle-aged, soon-to-be-divorced intelligence agent who has been forced into retirement. He is recalled to hunt down a Soviet mole in the "Circus," the highest echelon of the British Secret Intelligence Service. In keeping with Le Carré's work, the narrative begins with a dramatic betrayal and capture of a western spy. The reason that real-life spies seem to love this movie is due to the fact that the plot is focused on recruitment of assets, betrayal and subterfuge; this is the “bread and butter” of real spies- several of the former spies I interviewed called it the “thinking man’s spy movie.” 

2.  Munich – A controversial historically based movie directed by Steven Spielberg the plot of which is the Israeli government’s response to The Black September Organization, the Palestinian terrorist group founded in 1970 responsible for the kidnapping and murder of eleven Israeli athletes and officials and the fatal shooting of a West German policeman, during the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.  The movie focuses on the Mossad spy team dispatched to locate and terminate the leaders that were responsible for the killings. Like real-life spying, the movie is slow and steady with moments of gripping underlying tension and moments of pure “dynamite” particularly when moral dilemmas present themselves.

3.  Ronin - Ronin is a 1998 thriller film directed by John Frankenheimer and written by David Mamet. It stars Robert De Niro and Jean Reno as two of several former intelligence agents who team up to steal a mysterious, heavily guarded suitcase while navigating a maze of shifting loyalties and alliances. It turns out that they are both still working for their respective governments which heightens the tension towards the end. Almost every spy I interviewed stated that De Niro’s portrayal was the best example of a NOC officer (non-official cover officer) ever depicted on the silver screen. NOC officers do not have the protection of diplomatic immunity so when they find themselves in “hot water” in foreign lands, it usually results in incarceration, death or severe bodily harm!

4.  39 Steps: This movie, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, tells the story of a man in London who tries to help a counterespionage agent but when the agent is killed and he stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring trying to steal top-secret information.

5.  Eye of the Needle: A ruthless German spy during World War II tries to get out of Britain with vital information about D-Day. The movie is loosely based on a real-life German spy. Donald Sutherland flawlessly plays the role of the sociopathic German spy working under cover in England.

6.  Three Days of the Condor: A CIA researcher, superbly portrayed by a young Robert Redford, finds all his co-workers dead and must outwit those responsible until he figures out who he can and cannot really trust in the Agency.  There is an underlying cynicism at the core of the movie but it is compelling to watch

7.  The Spy Who Came In From the Cold:  Based on a best-selling Cold War spy novel by John le Carré.  Richard Burton as Alec Leamas, the burnt-out protagonist spy brought back into the fold to operate under deep cover for Queen and country, gives a spellbinding performance as he constantly deals with moral dilemmas and betrayal of those around him.

8.  Body of Lies is a 2008 American spy movie directed by Ridley Scott. Set in the Middle East, it follows the attempts of the CIA and Jordanian Intelligence to catch a Jihadist terrorist. Frustrated by their target's elusiveness, differences in their approaches strain relations between a CIA operative, his superior, and the head of Jordanian Intelligence. This movie superbly illustrates contemporary tension between Western and Arab societies and the comparative effectiveness of hi-tech technology versus human counter-intelligence methods. Leonardo Di Caprio’s portrayal of the burnt-out former “true believer” brings a smile to the face of any self-respecting spook!

9.  The Good Shepherd: Although this is a fictional movie based on real events, it recounts the untold story of the birth of counter-intelligence in the Central Intelligence Agency. The film's main character, Edward Wilson (portrayed by Matt Damon), is based on James Jesus Angleton and Richard M. Bissell. Robert De Niro plays a great supporting role as Wild Bill Donovan. A must for any true fan of espionage movies.

10.  Tailor of Panama: A comedy-drama thriller film directed by John Boorman and starring Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis. It is based on the 1996 spy novel of the same name by John le Carré, who wrote the screenplay with Boorman and Andrew Davies. Spies love Brosnan’s betrayal of the “loose canon” spy who gets stationed in the middle of nowhere and creates all kinds of mayhem by tweaking the intelligence that he is sending back to headquarters. Any real field operative will tell you that you need a good sense of humor which is why I believe that this movie appeals so much to spies.

This article was written by one of the Long Island Spy Museum's founders, a Princeton resident and former spy who served as an intelligence officer in the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. He also served in the Defense Intelligence Agency in the Strategic Support Branch (SSB) as part of the agency's human intelligence operations. In that role he sent DIA personnel into the field and recruited human assets to provide intelligence.