The best spy film of all time according to spies themselves

Express ^ | Sun, Aug 10, 2025 | Maria Leticia Gomes

[edwinland]

Thanks for the tip. I had never heard of that series.

[nwrep]

The list suffers from recency bias since everyone they interviewed was 50 or younger. Most people know TDOTC as the greatest spy film ever made.

[GingisK]

Ben!! ;-D

[GingisK]

I liked “Three Days of the Condor” and “Gotcha”.

[FateAmenableToChange]

Spy movies need (1) intricate intellectual plots, (2) engaging and developing characters, and (3) a very moderate amount of intense action.

3 Days of the Condor meets all of those and may be the best spy movie ever as long as you can watch Robert Redford. But a friend of mine in the late 1990s was working in post-soviet Russia and almost literally lived the plot of that movie and ultimately got out after a car chase to the US embassy. I wish they’d make a movie about him.

[dfwgator]

Gotcha! was a great movie.

And yes, I would have killed or died to make love to Sasha.

[mairdie]

Get Smart - Secret Agent Man - Johnny Rivers
https://youtu.be/IQlMoDNHT38

Get Smart - If You Want to Sing Out - Cat Stevens
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22FLK9iWoos

Get Smart - Operator - Jim Croce
https://youtu.be/nu1y1VWjM54

Get Smart - Part of the Plan - Dan Fogelberg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_skPOdOti64

Get Smart - Poisoning Pigeons In The Park - Tom Lehrer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgWsWvxzJa0

Get Smart - El Condor Pasa - Simon & Garfunkel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q5MbxMZtKM

[FateAmenableToChange]

Tinker, Tailor is my favorite spy movie.

+1. First spy novel I ever read, and the tension and intrigue are unbeatable.

[rktman]

Roger that! 😂😂😂😂👍

[FateAmenableToChange]

YES! I already commented on this below, but this was the first spy movie I showed my kids when they were 12 and only 6 years into the rigorous training their mother developed for them. Both of them now take photos of empty streets and winter trees, along with maps of US interests in Middle East oil producers as hobbies.

[Political Junkie Too]

For a different kind of spy film, I just recorded 36 Hours, starring James Garner.

I saw it once before, but I want to watch it again.

-PJ

[Dr. Sivana]

Maxwell Smart’s The Nude Bomb wasn’t considered?

I wanted to make a Maxwell Smart reference, but that movie was frustratingly disappointing and unfunny. Of course, the "Get Smart" TV show doesn't qualify because it wasn't a movie.

These days, I often work in a data center whose security is NOT unlike the entry doors in Control, only throw in badges, pins and iris scans in various combinations, and much more space between the half dozen security check points between the entrance and the systems. No phone booth, though.

[FateAmenableToChange]

Nailed it. Even though it’s Robert Redford, only Gene Hackman could possibly compete with the feeling of Cold War spy movies.

[dfwgator]

The Lives Of Others

[edwinland]

I still need to read the book.

[WhattheDickens?]

Ping

[BikerJoe]

I’ve always liked “Funeral in Berlin”.

[jerod]

This is the best...

When you can turn a vacuum cleaner into an atomic bomb... And convince your superiors that you're telling the truth... That's spy craft.

[FateAmenableToChange]

If you’re responding to my Tinker Tailor, that’s an absolutely amazing book. OTOH, if you’re commenting on 3 days of the condor, the book is titled “6 Days of the Condor” and is unbelievably badly written.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Bkmrk