“Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” And boy have I got some tangled webs for you. I love a good spy movie and I’ve rounded up some of my favorite double, triple, even quadruple agents for you to enjoy. After all its not paranoia if they’re really out to get you.
- No Way Out– Gene Hackman and Kevin Costner play an amazing game of cat-and-mouse in this oft-overlooked thriller involving an affair, a murder, the Pentagon, and a soviet spy. Anything else and I’ll be spoiling it for you.
- Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy- The adaptation of John Le Carre’s famous novel has one of those casts that you could only dream about. It’s like all the best actors in England said: “Yeah, I’m free that weekend.” Let their subtle, nuanced performances sweep you up into an atmosphere of intrigue and deceit.
- The 39 Steps– One of Alfred Hitchcock’s early films and it certainly shows that he was a master of suspense from the get-go. A classic that not enough of you have seen.
- Three Days of the Condor- Political thrillers were all the rage in the ‘70s but this one starring Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway is probably the best of the bunch. The C.I.A.’s crazy man. Don’t let anyone tell you different.
- The Lives of Others– One of my personal favorites. A very intimate movie about an East Berlin couple and the Stassi officer secretly spying on them. One of the great films of the last twenty years.
- The Spy Who Came in From the Cold– Another le Carre adaptation, this one featuring acting legend Richard Burton. You’ll be hard-pressed to keep track of what is a lie and what is the truth in this one, which is the mark of any great spy story.
- The Tailor of Panama- Sultry, sexy, and twisty. This spy thriller has Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush playing games with each other that neither one of them can really control. Oh, and keep an eye out for very, very young pre-Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe.
- North by Northwest- Alfred Hitchcock directs Cary Grant. That’s it. That’s all you need to know.
- The Man Who Knew Too Much- Alfred Hitchcock directs Jimmy Stewart. That’s it. That’s all you need to know…… Okay, one more thing. This is the film in which Doris Day famously sings “Que Sera, Sera”.
- Ice Station Zebra- Hey, it’s a spy movie that doesn’t involve Alfred Hitchcock or John le Carre! Okay, so this is not a great movie. But it is a guilty please and cult classic movie. And don’t you deserve that? Don’t we all deserve that right now?