Spy film

This article is about the genre. For films titled "Spy", see Spy (disambiguation) § Film. For the recent film, see Spy (2015 film).

The spy film genre, which is often considered a subgenre of thriller and/or action, deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way (such as the adaptations of John le Carré) or as a basis for fantasy (such as James Bond). Many novels in the spy fiction genre have been adapted as films, including works by John Buchan, le Carré, Ian Fleming (Bond) and Len Deighton. It is a significant aspect of British cinema, with leading British directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Carol Reed making notable contributions and many films set in the British Secret Service.

Spy films show the espionage activities of government agents and their risk of being discovered by their enemies. From the Nazi espionage thrillers of the 1940s to the James Bond films of the '60s and to the high-tech blockbusters of today, the spy film has always been popular with audiences worldwide. Offering a combination of exciting escapism, technological thrills, and exotic locales, the spy film combines the action and science fiction genres, presenting clearly delineated heroes for audiences to root for and villains for them to hiss.

James Bond is the most famous of film spies. Bond, in his various incarnations, flippantly beat up Russian spies, but there were also more serious, probing works like The Spy Who Came in from the Cold which also emerged from the Cold War. As the Cold War ended, the newest villain became terrorism and more often involved the Middle East.

History

The spy film genre began in the silent era, with the paranoia of invasion literature and the onset of the Great War. These fears produced the British 1914 The German Spy Peril, centred on a plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, and 1913's O.H.M.S., standing for 'Our Helpless Millions Saved' as well as On His Majesty's Service (and introducing for the first time a strong female character who helps the hero).

In 1928, Fritz Lang made the film Spies which contained many tropes that became popular in later spy dramas, including secret headquarters, an agent known by a number, and the beautiful foreign agent who comes to love the hero. Lang's Dr. Mabuse films from the period also contain elements of spy thrillers, though the central character is a criminal mastermind only interested in espionage for profit. Additionally, several of Lang's American films, such as Hangmen Also Die, deal with spies during World War II.

Alfred Hitchcock did much to popularise the spy film in the 1930s with his influential thrillers The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), Sabotage (1937) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). These often involved innocent civilians being caught up in international conspiracies. Some, however, dealt with professional spies as in Hitchcock's Secret Agent (1936), based on W. Somerset Maugham's Ashenden stories.

In the 1940s and early 1950s there were several films made about the exploits of Allied agents in occupied Europe, which could probably be considered as a subgenre. 13 Rue Madeleine and O.S.S. were fictional stories about American agents in German-occupied France, and there were a number of films based on the stories of real-life British S.O.E. agents, including Odette and Carve Her Name With Pride. A more recent fictional example is Charlotte Gray, based on the novel by Sebastian Faulks.

Also during the period, there were many detective films (The Thin Man Goes Home and Charlie Chan in the Secret Service for example) in which the mystery involved who stole the secret blue-prints, or who kidnapped the famous scientist.

The peak of popularity of the spy film is often considered to be the 1960s when Cold War fears meshed with a desire by audiences to see exciting and suspenseful films. The espionage film developed in two directions at this time. On the one hand, the realistic spy novels of Len Deighton and John le Carré were adapted into relatively serious Cold War thrillers which dealt with some of the realities of the espionage world. Some of these films included The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), The Deadly Affair (1966), Torn Curtain (1966), and the Harry Palmer series, based on the novels of Len Deighton.

At the same time, the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming were adapted into an increasingly fantastical series of tongue-in-cheek adventure films by producers Harry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli, with Sean Connery as the star. The phenomenal success of the Bond series lead to a deluge of imitators, such as the eurospy genre and several from America. Notable examples include the two Derek Flint films starring James Coburn, The Quiller Memorandum (1966) with George Segal, and the Matt Helm series with Dean Martin. Television also got into the act with series like The Man from U.N.C.L.E and I Spy in the U.S., and Danger Man and The Avengers in Britain. Spies have remained popular on TV to the present day with series such as Callan, Alias and Spooks.

Spy films also enjoyed something of a revival in the late 1990s, although these were often action films with espionage elements, or comedies like Austin Powers. Today, spy films have trended away from fantasy elements in favor of realism. This trend can be seen in Syriana, the Bourne film series and the more recent James Bond films Casino Royale (2006) Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.

Films

Some of the most popular films include:

• Mata Hari (1932)
• British Agent (1934)
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934)
  • The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
• The 39 Steps (1935)
• Secret Agent (1936)
• Notorious (1946)
• My Favorite Spy (1951)
• OSS 117 series (1956–2009)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
  • The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
• James Bond series (1962–2015)
• The Prize (1963)
• Charade (1963)
• Hot Enough for June (1964)
• That Man from Rio (1964)
• Harry Palmer series (1965–1967)
• The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965)
• The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
• The Deadly Affair (1966)
• The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
• Torn Curtain (1966)
• Matt Helm series (1966–1969)
• Modesty Blaise (1966)
• Derek Flint series
  • Our Man Flint (1966)
  • In Like Flint (1967)
• The President's Analyst (1967)
• Dead Season (1968)
• The Kremlin Letter (1970)
• The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972)
• Enter the Dragon (1973)
• The Day of the Jackal (1973)
• The Odessa File (1974)
• Three Days of the Condor (1975)
• The Eiger Sanction (1975)
• Gunmaster G9 series
  • Surakshaa (1979)
  • Wardaat (1981)
• Eye of the Needle (1981)
• TASS Is Authorized to Declare... (1984)
• Top Secret! (1984)
• Spies Like Us (1985)
• The Falcon and the Snowman (1985)
• The Fourth Protocol (1987)
• Nikita aka La Femme Nikita (1990)
• The Russia House (1990)
• Jack Ryan series (1990–2014)
• The Patriots (1994)
• True Lies (1994)
• Spy Hard (1996)
• Mission: Impossible series (1996–2015)
• Conspiracy Theory (1997)
• The Saint (1997)
• Austin Powers series (1997–2002)
• Ronin (1998)
• Enemy of the State (1998)
• Spy Game (2001)
• Spy Kids series (2001–2011)
• The Tailor of Panama (2001)
• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)
• xXx (2002)
• Bourne series (2002–2012)
• The Recruit (2003)
• Agent Cody Banks (2003)
• Johnny English series
  • Johnny English (2003)
  • Johnny English Reborn (2011)
• Spartan (2004)
• Walk on Water (2004)
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005)
• Munich (2005)
• Syriana (2005)
• The Good Shepherd (2006)
• Black Book (2006)
• The Good German (2006)
• The Lives of Others (2006)
• Breach (2007)
• Body of Lies (2008)
• Taken series
  • Taken (2008)
  • Taken 2 (2012)
  • Taken 3 (2015)
• Traitor (2008)
• Get Smart (2008)
• Burn After Reading (2008)
• Duplicity (2009)
• Farewell (2009)
• Salt (2010)
• The American (2010)
• Fair Game (2010)
• The Debt (2010)
• Knight and Day (2010)
• Red series
  • Red (2010)
  • Red 2 (2013)
• The Tourist (2010)
• Unknown (2011)
• Hanna (2011)
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)
• Haywire (2012)
• Safe House (2012)
• Argo (2012)
• Two Lives (2012)
• Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
• Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
• A Most Wanted Man (2014)
• The November Man (2014)
• Non-Stop (2014)
• Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
• Bridge of Spies (2015)

Television series

Some of the most popular television series include:

• Danger Man (1960–1968)
• The Avengers (1961–1969)
• The Saint (1962–1969)
• The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968)
• I Spy (1965–1968)
• The Wild Wild West (1965–1969)
• Get Smart (1965–1970)
• Mission: Impossible (1966–1973)
• The Prisoner (1967–1968)
• Stawka większa niż życie (1967–1968)
• Callan (1967–1972)
• It Takes a Thief (1968–70)
• Search (1972–73)
• Seventeen Moments of Spring (1973)
• The Bionic Woman (1976–1978)
  • Bionic Woman (2007)
• The Sandbaggers (1978–1980)
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979)
• Smiley's People (1982)
• Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983)
• Aeon Flux (1991–1995)
• La Femme Nikita (1997–2001)
  • Nikita (2010–2013)
• Alias (2001–2006)
• 24 (2001–2014)
• Spooks (2002–2011), aka MI-5
• L/R: Licensed by Royalty (2003)
• Burn Notice (2007–2013)
• The Company (2007)
• Chuck (2007–2012)
• The Middleman (2008)
• M.I. High (2007–2011)
• Fringe (2008–2013)
• Human Target (2010–2011)
• Covert Affairs (2010–2014)
• Night Raid 1931 (2010)
• Archer (2010–present)
• Homeland (2011–present)
• Person of Interest (2011–present)
• Page Eight (2011)
• Missing (2012)
• Hunted (2012)
• The Americans (2013–present)
• The Blacklist (2013–present)
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–present)
• Legends (2014–present)
• The Game (2014–present)
• K.C. Undercover (2014)
• Agent Carter (2015–present)
• London Spy (2015)

See also

• Parodies of James Bond
• List of films based on spy books
• Eurospy film

External links

• 10 best Spy films of the decade