Spy: 166

Get Smart, Again! (1989) is an American made-for-television comedy film based on the 1965–1970 NBC/CBS sitcom Get Smart!. The film follows the story of Maxwell Smart, who was a protocol officer after the disbandment of CONTROL in the 1970s. However, he is called back into action as a counterintelligence agent by Commander Drury of the United States Intelligence Agency. This time, KAOS – which was thought to be dissolved – has resurfaced due to a corporate takeover. Their latest plan involves using a forgotten American scientist and his weather control machine to demand a whopping $250 billion from the US government. Commander Drury believes that ...

Licence to Kill (1989) became the sixteenth installment in the James Bond series, produced by Eon Productions and starring Timothy Dalton for the last time. The film was directed by John Glen and also marked the final appearance of Robert Brown as M. While travelling to his wedding in Key West, MI6 agent James Bond and CIA agent Felix Leiter were enlisted by DEA agents to help capture drugs lord Franz Sanchez. Using a Coast Guard helicopter and a hook and cord, Bond and Leiter successfully bring down ...

The Bourne Identity (1988), based on Robert Ludlum’s 1980 novel of the same name, is an American miniseries. It was written by Carol Sobieski and directed by Roger Young for Warner Bros. Television. The lead role of Jason Bourne was played by Richard Chamberlain, while Jaclyn Smith also starred. The series closely follows the plot of the book and has a duration of 185 minutes. With commercials included, it ran for a total of four hours and first premiered on ABC split ...

The Fourth Protocol (1987), a British spy film set during the Cold War, boasts a star-studded cast with Michael Caine and Pierce Brosnan. John Mackenzie directed this adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s 1984 novel bearing the same title. In 1968, world powers establish an agreement to halt nuclear proliferation, which includes the Fourth Protocol that strictly prohibits unconventional delivery of nuclear weapons to targets. However, when MI5 officer John Preston discovers ...

The Living Daylights (1987) is a spy film, the fifteenth entry in the James Bond series by Eon Productions, and the first of two to feature Timothy Dalton as MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by John Glen, it is named after Ian Fleming’s short story and is loosely based on its plot. This was also the last film to use an Ian Fleming title until Casino Royale in 2006. Agent Bond’s mission is to assist KGB ...

The American spy comedy film Spies Like Us (1985), directed by John Landis and starring Chevy Chase, tells the story of two men who dream of becoming secret agents. Austin Millbarge, a code breaker stationed in the dark basement of the Pentagon, longs to leave his unappreciated job behind. Meanwhile, Emmett Fitz-Hume, a wisecracking diplomat’s son, takes the foreign service exam under pressure from his peers. Despite attempting to bribe his way to success, Fitz-Hume resorts to cheating during the test after all else fails. Millbarge, on the other hand, was caught ...

A View to a Kill (1985) is the fourteenth installment in the iconic James Bond film series. It marks the final appearance of Roger Moore as MI6 agent 007. While the title is based on Ian Fleming’s short story From a View to a Kill, the movie features an original screenplay. Bond’s latest mission takes him to Siberia, where he must locate a fallen agent and retrieve a valuable Soviet microchip. After analyzing the chip, Q reveals that it was created by Zorin Industries to withstand electromagnetic pulse attacks. To gather more information, ...

The American spy drama film, The Little Drummer Girl (1984), directed by George Roy Hill and adapted from John le Carré’s novel of the same name, takes place in Europe and the Middle East. It follows the Mossad’s covert mission to expose a PLO bomber known as Khalil. In order to eliminate Khalil, they initially abduct (and ultimately execute) his brother, who is delivering speeches in a ski mask about the suffering and losses of Palestine under military control. Charlie, an American actress in London with anti-Zionist views, is lured to Greece under false ...

Directed by Irvin Kershner, the spy film Never Say Never Again (1983) is adapted from Ian Fleming’s 1961 James Bond novel Thunderball, with inspiration from Kevin McClory, Jack Whittingham, and Fleming. Following a failed training exercise, MI6 agent James Bond is ordered by his superior M to undergo physical rehabilitation at a health clinic outside London. While there, he witnesses nurse Fatima Blush inflicting ...

Octopussy (1983), the thirteenth film in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, marks the sixth time Roger Moore portrayed MI6 agent James Bond. The title of the film is derived from a short story in Ian Fleming’s collection Octopussy and The Living Daylights. While the overall plot is original, it does include an encounter with twin assassins Mischka and Grishka in East Berlin and the death of British agent 009, who was dressed as a circus clown and carrying a fake Fabergé egg. This incident leads MI6 to suspect Soviet ...

Smiley’s People (1982) is a British six-part spy drama by the BBC, directed by Simon Langton and produced by Jonathan Powell. It is an adaptation of John le Carré’s 1979 novel of the same name and a sequel to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, excluding the second book in the trilogy, The Honourable Schoolboy, which was not filmed due to budget constraints. Starring Sir Alec Guinness, Michael Byrne,

The British spy film Eye of the Needle (1981), directed by Richard Marquand, follows Henry Faber, a German sleeper agent nicknamed ‘the Needle’ for his preferred method of killing with a stiletto. While in England, he obtains crucial information about the Allies’ plans to invade Normandy instead of Pas de Calais as expected by Nazi Germany High Command. However, due to circumstances beyond his control, he is unable to transmit this information. MI5 is aware that Faber’s knowledge could jeopardize D-Day and closely monitors his actions. In an attempt to rendezvous with a U-boat in Scotland, Faber ...

For Your Eyes Only (1981), a spy film produced by Albert R. Broccoli and directed by John Glen (in his feature directorial debut), is the twelfth installment in the James Bond franchise from Eon Productions. The script, written by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, is adapted from two Ian Fleming short stories – For Your Eyes Only and Risico. The British Ministry of Defence’s ...

The Nude Bomb (1980) is a comedic spy film based on the popular television series, Get Smart, which originally aired from 1965 to 1970. In this movie, Agent Maxwell Smart (also known as Agent 86) is brought out of retirement to thwart the plans of infamous KAOS clothing designer, Jonathan Livingston Seigle. Seigle intends to detonate a bomb that would leave the entire world without any clothes. In exchange for not setting off the bomb, KAOS demands a hefty ransom of $10 billion per month from the United Nations. Smart’s government agency, PITS (Provisional Intelligence Tactical Service), is similar to CONTROL from the TV show. He teams up with a new ...

The BBC’s seven-part spy drama, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (1979), is an adaptation of John le Carré’s novel of the same name. Directed by John Irvin and produced by Jonathan Powell, the series follows George Smiley, a retired deputy from the British Secret Intelligence Service. Smiley was forced into retirement after a failed mission in Czechoslovakia known as Operation Testify. The operation, orchestrated by the head of the Circus (the British Secret Intelligence Service), resulted in the capture and torture of ...

Moonraker (1979) is a spy-fi film, the eleventh in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. It features Roger Moore as MI6 agent James Bond and was directed by Lewis Gilbert. Based on a screenplay manuscript originally devised by author Ian Fleming in 1954, the story follows Bond as he investigates the hijacking of a Drax Industries Moonraker Space Shuttle. M, head of MI6, assigns Bond to the case after the shuttle’s carrier aircraft is destroyed with no trace of the shuttle itself. During his ...

The British thriller film, The Thirty Nine Steps (1978), directed by Don Sharp, follows the story of a retired British Intelligence officer, Colonel Scudder. In 1914 London, Imperial German spies are lurking everywhere. As important British politicians fall victim to mysterious assassinations, Scudder realizes that his life and his enigmatic black notebook are at risk. Seeking help, he turns to Richard Hannay, a mining engineer visiting Great Britain for a short time before returning to the Union of South Africa. Ironically enough, Hannay is staying in the same building as Scudder’s flat. Scudder reveals a plot ...

The tenth film in the James Bond series, The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), was released by Eon Productions. Starring Roger Moore as MI6 agent James Bond, it takes its title from Ian Fleming’s novel of the same name. However, the film deviates from the plot of the book. When a British and Soviet submarine disappear, Bond is called upon to investigate. During his journey to receive his briefing, Bond manages to shake off an attack by a group of Soviet agents while skiing in Austria, eliminating one and eluding the rest. The plans for a revolutionary submarine ...

The Eiger Sanction (1975), an American action film, features both Clint Eastwood as director and leading actor. Adapted from the 1972 novel of the same name by Trevanian, it follows the story of Jonathan Hemlock – an art professor and skilled mountaineer who also happens to be a retired government assassin. Despite having left his previous profession behind, he is suddenly called back for two more ‘sanctions’ – or officially sanctioned killings. Throughout his time with the secretive government agency known as ‘C2’, Hemlock had amassed ...

The American political thriller film, Three Days of the Condor (1975), directed by Sydney Pollack, follows Joe Turner – a bookish CIA analyst with the codename ‘Condor’. He works undercover at the American Literary Historical Society in New York City. The team’s job is to analyze books, newspapers, and magazines from all over the world to compare them to real CIA operations or gather new ideas. One day, while on lunch duty, Turner comes across a strange thriller novel that he reports back to CIA headquarters despite its low sales and translations into various languages. Upon returning from his ...