Spy films have been a popular genre for decades. I'd like to discuss some of the most defining, or, prominent examples. This is very much a subjective list, and is by no means complete.
WHAT IS A SPY?
It may help to define some terms. An Intelligence Officer is employed by a Governmental Agency to collect intelligence which cannot be obtained by orthodox means. He does this by recruiting a number of agents, who have access to the target. Recruitment is done by bribery, flattery, or, blackmail. There are, more rarely, operatives of the agency who go undercover to penetrate a target entity, whether a terrorist group, criminal gang, or, hostile government. The agency will deploy support personnel for surveillance, electronic interception, source protection etc.
In fiction, whether espionage novels, or films, these roles are often blurred, and intelligence officers are often referred to as “agents” Also, these “agents” have a multitude of roles, and instead of being case-officers controlling a network, they are involved in sabotage and assassination.
The interesting thing is, that, in the UK, official espionage was founded because of the popularity of fictional spy novels.
STRANGER THAN FICTION Around the turn of the Twentieth Century a writer William Le Queux penned a number of novels describing how foreign powers would invade England. These captured the public imagination, and the newspapers started urging the Government to prepare for invasion. Another writer Erskine Childers wrote “The Riddle of the Sands” which featured , , based on his personal experience as a yachtsman. In fact Winston Churchill, who was running the Admiralty at the time, brought him on board to advise our navy.
All of this invasion fiction directly led to the founding of the Secret Service Bureau in 1909..
Riddle of the Sands was eventually made into a film.
Following WW-1 the popularity of the “Secret Agent” continued with books and films featuring the archetypical Bulldog Drummond...
WW-2
Wartime changed the nature of espionage, and made it even more important to national survival.
Filmed during the early days of the war, when Britain's back was to the wall, the remarkable “Went the Day Well” was a stark reminder of the threat of invasion, and pulled no punches, showing both the murder of a child and a cuddly old lady caving in a Nazi skull
By the way, this was the inspiration for a later book/film “The Eagle has Landed”....
Two other films deserve mention. The movie version of Geoffrey Household's classic “Rogue Male”
… which proposed a sole agent attempting to assassinate Hitler. Then there was the charming “Pimpernel Smith”
about a university professor who rescues prominent victims from Nazi Germany. Leslie Howard [later killed in the war] was perfect for the role of seemingly bumbling academic.
Wartime secrecy made the activities of the intelligence services taboo, but after hostilities, when memoirs started to appear, some great films showed the work of these brave men.... and women.
“Carve her name with pride” was the story of Violette Scazbo, who infiltrated occupied France several times as an agent of the Special Operations Executive.
This was a true story, but such activities fired the imagination of fiction writers, and such films as “13 Rue Madelaine” gave an exciting, albeit fictional, look at the American equivalent...
COLD WAR
The threat of nuclear devastation kept the struggle between the West and the Soviets “cold” This meant that much of the conflict was carried out by the various intelligence services. The classic such thriller was “The Spy who came in from the Cold” written by John Le Carre, who had served in both MI-5 and the SIS.
. Len Deighton created the character
Harry Palmer, who became the epitome of the working class spy. Introduced in “The Ipcress File”...
Michael Caine, owned the role.
Berlin was the flashpoint where both sides faced each other across the Wall. Harry Palmer continued spying in “Funeral in Berlin”
before director Ken Russell made such a mess of the third film, that it stopped the franchise. [Palmer was briefly resurrected later with two pretty bad films, best forgotten]
Adam Hall's book was made into a film “The Quiller Memorandum”
Quiller was a loner, who refused to work in a team, and never carried a firearm. Although set in Berlin, it was concerned with resurgent-Nazis, rather than the Communists. John Barry supplied one of his great soundtracks. Villain Max Von Sydow later gave another brilliant performance as a freelance assassin in “Thee Days of the Condor”
The film that regularly tops the list of classic spy films in “The Third Man”
Set in Vienna in the immediate aftermath of the war, it is atmospheric, bleak and beautifully filmed, capturing the Zeitgeist of a that shattered city. The only problem, there are no spies. The story is about a newspaper reporter seeking an old friend, Harry Lime, who turns out to be a black marketeer. However, it feels like a spy film, and maybe that's enough.
The popular Cold War thrillers included “Callan”
then, from the same writer “Innocent Bystanders”
“The Kremlin Letter” was a good book, but, for the movie, they chose a wooden actor for the leading character. However, the film is redeemed by the great Richard Boone...
Michael Winner made some decent films. His spy thriller was notable for a riveting performance from Burt Lancaster in the main role...
LICENCE TO KILL
The Cold War saw the creation of the most famous secret agent in history, James Bond. During WW-2 Ian Fleming served in Naval Intelligence, but he based Bond more on the Commando officers he met, rather that colleagues in the more sedate sections of intelligence collection.
For me the best early Bond film was “From Russia with Love” Robert Shaw, who played a villain, would have made an excellent Bond.
After that, the movies declined in credibility, although not in popularity. Gadgets and quips became the emphasis; leading to the franchise essentially being a pastiche of itself. As Roger Moore said “"My attitude is that it's completely unreal. Here you've got this secret agent who's recognized by every barman in the world. “ When Daniel Craig took over in “Casino Royale” the character became much more like the Fleming vision.
JUMPING ON THE BOND WAGON
The Bond franchise took off with massive popularity all over the world. Imitation being the flattest form of sincerity, copycats followed, such as the blatant “Licensed to Kill”
and, “The Liquidator”
An outright spoof, was the quite witty, “Our Man Flint”
NEW ENEMIES
After Ronald Reagan won the Cold War, the intelligence agencies needed new targets, and they weren't slow in coming. This was reflected in films such as “Spy Game”
John Le Carre, gave a terrific insight into the mechanism of recruitment, training and deployment of a deep cover agent into a terrorist gang in “The Little Drummer Girl”
The murky and lethal world of middle-east terrorism was also the theme of “Body of Lies”
TV Spies
We now know that much good drama is found on television, rather than the big screen. Espionage has been a staple of television since the early days, with shows and series ranging from embarrassing to outstanding.
The classic sixties show was “Danger Man” starring Patrick McGoohan as John Drake, who works for an unnamed British intelligence service...
McGoohan was actually proposed for the role as Bond at one stage.
“Special Branch” followed a team of officers foiling domestic subversion, whose efforts were often foiled by a shadowy figure from MI-5....
“The Sandbaggers” was very much Le Carre territory, and was, in fact created by a former SIS officer
"Man in a Suitcase" followed McGill, a former CIA officer, now gone private, in London
Gerald Seymour is a writer with a superb track-record. A former journalist he brings much detail and research to his books. “The Glory Boys” has a Palestinian terrorist, aided by an IRA member, attempting to assassinate an Israeli scientist in London. Anthony Perkins plays an MI-5 contract operative tasked with protecting the target. Perkins portrayal of a hard-bitten foot soldier in the war on terror was spot on
The whole history of CIA operations, from WW-2 through the Cold War was the theme to “The Company” which keeps the viewer guessing in the “wilderness of mirrors”
For me the finest espionage drama ever was Le Carre's “Tinker, Taiolor, Soldier, Spy”
The TV series at eight hours, really did justice to the complex plot. The more recent movie frankly failed in almost all departments.I can't think of a single actor in the film who equalled his TV counterpart, and these are some of my favourite actors. Some were absurd. For example Kathy Burke was grotesque as Connie, and even Stevie Graham, one of the best in the business, was forced to play a totally ludicrous mixture of two characters. I can understand the need to cut material to fit the two hour movie, but why add extraneous scenes?
So that's it. As I said, not a comprehensive list, but inclusive of many works which I've enjoyed, or, consider significant.