SPY Movies

Twenty-eight-year-old idealist Bob Jones is contemplating leaving his position as a Russian translator at Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) as those at the top have issued a new whistle blowing policy, encouraging employees to report any suspicious behavior, in light of the highly publicized case of Ramsay Dodgson, a Soviet spy who was working undetected in the organization for ten years before being caught. Bob does not like the idea of being at the mercy of work colleagues, most, like Dodgson, who he did and does not know. In private, he confides to his father, widowed businessman and retired Navy officer Frank Jones, that part of his want to leave the job, which also entails eavesdropping on private conversations between Soviet officials on a multitude of everyday topics, is that he believes the British, and by association Americans, are just as corrupt as the Russians in how they infiltrate institutions most of the public see as commonplace, this belief to which conservative, patriotic Frank takes offense. After a specific incident, Bob wants to use that whistle blowing policy to report against the operations of the GCHQ, but not knowing to whom. Shortly thereafter, Frank learns that Bob has died from an apparent fall off of his building roof. Frank begins to think that Bob's death was not an accident, but has something to do with whatever Bob was planning on exposing. Knowing no one in high places, Frank, with Bob's girlfriend Cynthia Goodburn helping, goes on a mission of discovery, at his own peril, to find out why his son was killed, which may forever change his view of what he has believed in all his life.

Following the death of his family in an airplane crash, a man plots an elaborate revenge scheme on those responsible. By setting himself up as a criminal, he plans to get close to a certain tycoon who has been approached by the culprits to help them retrieve the cargo of the lost plane.

K.G.B. Agent Major Valeri Petrofsky has been reassigned at the request of the K.G.B. Chairman for a secret mission wherein he is sent to England to establish a residence near an American military base and receive various items from couriers from the U.S.S.R. John Preston is the top British spy catcher, currently at odds with his superior because he doesn't lick his boots. After he conducts an operation without his superior's permission which caused his superior some embarrassment, he is reassigned to the menial task of overseeing airports and ports. One day, one the couriers Petrofsky was expecting comes off of a freighter and has an accident which leaves him dead. Preston is informed by the pathologist that the man is not a seaman, so Preston goes through his things and finds that he was carrying something which he is told is an atomic bomb component. Preston now suspects that someone is bringing in parts for an atomic bomb, his superior doesn't want to let Preston be proven right, so he doesn't authorize further action and suspends Preston. But a man who works with Intelligence approaches Preston saying he might be right because a sleeper transmitter went active twice, once probably to alert Moscow that he is in place, and the second sent after the man's death probably to inform that the component he was delivering wasn't received. So the man offers to let Preston find the man who is bringing in the bomb. Back in the U.S.S.R., Petrofsky's boss is so disgruntled, that Petrofsky and so much of his department's resources are being taken by the Chairman for his op, that he calls his old friend, the Vice Chairman of the K.G.B., to find out what's going on, because he believes that the Chairman wouldn't be able to do any of these things without his friend's input. But his friend is just as incredulous as he is. So he tries to find out what the Chairman is up to.

Noel Holcroft is a foreign-born American citizen working in New York City as an architect. In Geneva, he meets with a respected Swiss banker who tells him he has been designated to be executor of a huge four and a half billion dollar trust fund designed to make reparations for the war crimes of the Nazis. Holcroft's father, who committed suicide in 1945, was a key Hitler financial advisor, who became conscience-stricken about German war atrocities, turned against the Führer, and covertly diverted Nazi funds to a secret Swiss account. Under the terms of the covenant, Holcroft must locate the sons of his father's two associates so they can jointly activate their fathers' account. They battle the sinister forces seem to be trying to prevent them from signing the document, as it is believed that it will be used to establish a Fourth Reich.

In the English Channel, John Sands (Charlton Heston), from a small rescue ship, finds the freighter Mary Deare drifting. Although there's only a little fire, the whole crew seems to have left the ship. John's already looking forward to a large salvage fee, but then he finds First Officer Gideon Patch (Gary Cooper) still on board. Sands can't get back to his tug boat and stays with Patch while Patch grounds the Mary Deare. Although he doesn't understand yet what happened on the Mary Deare, Sands allows Patch to persuade him not to talk about what he saw on-board, and to drag out the official investigation of the incident.

It is the early 60s in France. The remaining survivors of the aborted French Foreign Legion have made repeated attempts to kill DeGaulle. The result is that he is the most closely guarded man in the world. As a desperate act, they hire The Jackal, the code name for a hired killer who agrees to kill French President De Gaulle for half a million dollars. We watch his preparations which are so thorough we wonder how he could possibly fail even as we watch the French police attempt to pick up his trail. The situation is historically accurate. There were many such attempts and the film closely follows the plot of the book.

Colonel Stok, a Soviet Intelligence Officer responsible for security at the Berlin Wall, appears to want to defect, but the evidence is contradictory. Stok wants the British to handle his defection and asks for one of their agents, Harry Palmer, to smuggle him out of East Germany.

The film is based on the actual events of the Portland Spy Ring trial in the U.K. A disgruntled Navy Clerk is transferred to a secret research establishment and is subsequently black-mailed/paid by Czech intelligence to procure secrets for them. He seduces the secretary who controls the most secret documents, and they enjoy the fruits of their treachery until the British authorities begin to close in on them.

Two British agents are murdered by a mysterious Neo-Nazi organization in West Berlin. The British Secret Service sends agent Quiller to investigate. Soon Quiller is confronted with Neo-Nazi chief "Oktober" and involved in a dangerous game where each side tries to find out the enemy's headquarters at any price.

After security officer Charles Dobbs has a friendly chat with Samuel Fennan from the Foreign Office, the man commits suicide. An anonymous typed letter had been received accusing Fennan of being a Communist during his days at Oxford and their chat while walking in the park was quite amiable. Senior officials want the whole thing swept under the rug and are pleased to leave it as a suicide. Dobbs isn't sure as there are a number of anomalies that simply can't be explained away. Dobbs is also having trouble at home: his beloved wife keeps having affairs. He's also pleased to see an old friend, Dieter Frey, whom he recruited after the war. With the assistance of a colleague and a retired policeman, Dobbs tries to piece together just who is the spy and who assassinated Fennan.

A thief (Duke Anderson) just released from ten years in jail, takes up with his old girlfriend (Ingrid) in her posh apartment. He makes plans to rob the entire building. What he doesn't know is that his every move is recorded on audio and video tape, although he is not the subject of any surveillance.

A British agent's son is kidnapped and held for a ransom of diamonds. The agent finds out that he can't even count on the people he thought were on his side to help him, so he decides to track down the kidnappers himself.

Lew Harper is a Los Angeles based private investigator whose marriage to Susan Harper, who he still loves, is ending in imminent divorce since she can't stand being second fiddle to his work, which is always taking him away at the most inopportune of times. His latest client is tough talking and physically disabled Elaine Sampson, who wants him to find her wealthy husband, Ralph Sampson, missing now for twenty-four hours, ever since he disappeared at Van Nuys Airport after having just arrived from Vegas. No one seems to like Ralph, Elaine included. She believes he is cavorting with another woman. Harper got the case on the recommendation of the Sampsons' lawyer and Harper's personal friend, milquetoast Albert Graves, who is unrequitedly in love with Sampson's seductive daughter, Miranda Sampson. Miranda, whom Harper later states throws herself at anything "pretty in pants", also has a decidedly cold relationship with her stepmother, Elaine. As Harper begins his investigation, he is often joined by one or two new sidekicks, Miranda, and/or Allan Taggert, Ralph Sampson's private pilot who was the last person to see him before his disappearance. Living on the Sampson estate, Taggert is also Miranda's casual boyfriend, although his heart lies elsewhere. (Harper nicknames Taggert "Beauty" for the latter's preppy good looks.) It is finally confirmed that Sampson has been kidnapped after a ransom note is received. As Harper follows leads, he ends up in the underbelly of Los Angeles, which includes encounters with Betty Fraley (a junkie lounge singer), Fay Estabrook (an ex-movie ingénue now an overweight alcoholic), and Claude (a religious cult leader). At each of Harper's stops, people seem to want to beat him up and/or kill him. The case takes a turn after they decide to pay the $500,000 ransom to see where it leads.

In July 1939, English big-game hunter Captain Alan Thorndike infiltrates Adolph Hitler's retreat Berchtesgaden in the Bavarian Alps and takes aim at Hitler with his high-powered rifle. Although Thorndike had intended to carry out a "sporting stalk" only, and does not have bullets in his gun, he loads the weapon after locating the target. A German soldier surprises him, however, and his bullet goes astray. Thorndike is brought to Gestapo Major Quive-Smith, to whom he explains that he did not intend to kill Hitler. Quive-Smith does not believe him, however, and orders him to confess that his assassination attempt was at the request of the British government. Although Quive-Smith promises him freedom, Thorndike refuses to sign the prepared confession and is tortured by the Gestapo. When Thorndike still refuses to sign, Quive-Smith arranges for him to be thrown off a cliff in what will look like an accident, but he falls into a river and survives. The next day, the Gestapo searches for Thorndike but he eludes his pursuers and reaches a harbor, where he boards a boat bound for Britain. An intrepid cabin boy named Vaner hides him while one of Quive-Smith's men, Mr. Jones, boards with Thorndike's passport. Vaner keeps Thorndike hidden during the journey, but once he is ashore, Thorndike realizes that Jones and other Gestapo agents are following him, and he ducks into an apartment to escape. He appeals to the apartment's resident, a young Cockney woman named Jerry Stokes, for aid, and she helps him get to his brother's house. Thorndike's brother, Lord Gerald Risborough, is an ambassador, who warns him that the German embassy is looking for him, and that England must acquiesce if Germany demands his extradition. Thorndike vows to disappear from England, then leaves with Jerry and sleeps on her couch. The next morning, Thorndike outlines his plans and does not notice that Jerry has fallen in love with him. She pouts until he takes her to buy a pin to replace the one she lost from her tam-o'-shanter, and she chooses a large chromium arrow. Jerry then accompanies Thorndike to the office of his solicitor, Saul Farnsworthy, where he tries to give her five hundred pounds. She refuses the money, and their squabbling is cut short when an assistant announces that Quive-Smith and Jones are on their way to the office. Thorndike and Jerry escape to the Underground, where Thorndike is chased by Jones. After a fight, Jones is electrocuted on the third rail, and, because he still carries Thorndike's passport, his corpse is identified as the hunter. Realizing that the British police are now after him as well, Thorndike instructs Jerry to write to him at Lyme Regis in three weeks with any news. After a tearful farewell, Jerry returns to her apartment, where Quive-Smith is waiting for her. Three weeks later, Thorndike, who has been living in a cave in the woods, goes to the post office to pick up Jerry's letter. When he returns to his cave, Thorndike discovers that the letter is from Quive-Smith, who has followed him and blocked the cave's opening. Through a small opening, Quive-Smith hands Thorndike Jerry's tam-o'-shanter and says that she was found dead on the street after jumping out her window. Enraged by Jerry's murder, Thorndike finally admits that he did intend to kill Hitler, although he did not realize it at the time. Stalling for time, Thorndike agrees to sign the confession and constructs a bow while Quive-Smith opens the entrance to the cave. As Quive-Smith reaches for the signed confession, Thorndike shoots him with the arrow from Jerry's hat. As he dies, Quive-Smith shoots Thorndike with a pistol, but before he collapses, Thorndike destroys the confession. Months pass as Thorndike recuperates and Europe is thrown into war. Once he has recovered, Thorndike joins the RAF, and on a reconnaissance mission over Germany, bails out with a high-powered rifle, intent on fulfilling his purpose this time.

Several leading Western scientists have been kidnapped only to reappear a fews days later. Unfortunately, each scientist has been brainwashed and is now completely useless. The British send Agent Harry Palmer to investigate. Palmer is surprised to be selected for such a mission (considering his past) and believes he has been chosen because he is expendable.

Joseph Rearden (Paul Newman) takes the fall for a robbery and winds up in the Scrubs. From there, he escapes in the company of a convicted spy and is taken to a remote manor at an unknown location where he is kept isolated. He overpowers his guard and flees, but nothing is quite what it seems in this drama of intrigue as Rearden pursues his quarry from Ireland to Malta.

An investigator on the Moscow police force relentlessly pursues the solution to a triple homicide which occurred in Moscow's Gorky Park. He finds that no one really wants him to solve the crime because it is just the tip of a complex conspiracy which involves the highest levels of the Moscow city government.

A network of older spies from the West recruits a young intelligence officer with a photographic memory to accompany them on a mission inside Russia. They must recover a letter written by the CIA that promises American assistance to Russia if China gets the atomic bomb.