good and bad spy flicks

Off the top of my head,

Good spy flicks:

The Ipcress File (1965)
The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
A Dandy in Aspic (1968)
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1965)
Destiny of a Spy (1969 - TV)

Not so good:

Scorpio (1973)
The Executioner (1970)
The Eiger Sanction (1975)
The Double Man (1967)
The Looking Glass War (1969)
The Mackintosh Man (1973)
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

In the Year of the Golden Pig, the Great and Powerful Miki Kocic
declared:
> This is just a list of examples to get a discussion started.
>
> Good spy flicks:
>
> - _The Good Shepherd_
> - _The 39 Steps_
>

North by Northwest
The Satan Bug
Our Man Flint
In Like Flint
Ice Station Zebra
Hunt for Red October
Decision before Dawn
The Manchurian Candidate
Pickup on South Street

> Bad spy flicks:
>
> - the whole James Bond series since _Dr. No_

Come on, From Russia with Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service
are great.

If you want bad spy films, look at Topaz and The Mackintosh Man

--
Sean O'Hara <http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com>
Matisse was born in 1869. John Denver in 1943. Donna Summer in 1948.
You call this progress?
--Leo Laporte
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

I'll trade On Her Majesty's Secret Service for Goldfinger. Admittedly,
all Bonds are on a downhill slide thereafter.
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

Madman wrote:
> On Oct 20, 11:12 am, Miki Kocic <em... DeleteThis @munged.com> wrote:
>> This is just a list of examples to get a discussion started.
>>
>> Good spy flicks:
>>
>> - _The Good Shepherd_
>> - _The 39 Steps_
>>
>> Bad spy flicks:
>>
>> - the whole James Bond series since _Dr. No_
>> - the whole Jason Bourne series
>>
>> Special mention:
>>
>> _The Nude Bomb_ (a 1980s Maxwell Smart movie)
>
> One of the most intriguing spy movies to come out recently is Breach.
> Theres little action, which I suspect is a spy's true life, but heavy
> on the puzzle of the Catholic Spy turned traitor that's a true story.
> After you see Chris Cooper in this, you will know how subtle acting is
> done. Academy, PLEASE remember this movie and just hand the Best Actor
> award to Chris Cooper.
>
> As far as the others go, the Bond and Bourne movies are just fun to
> watch, not real spy movies.
>

If _Breach_ is on DVD I'll look it up. But when you say "Catholic Spy,"
do you mean an agent working for the Vatican or just one who is Catholic
by religion?

Miki
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

El Klauso wrote:
> I'll trade On Her Majesty's Secret Service for Goldfinger. Admittedly,
> all Bonds are on a downhill slide thereafter.
>

I recall it as _*In* Her Majesty's Secret Service_. It's a standard
weekday 2:00 a.m. TV staple around here, but I haven't bothered to watch
it for some time.

Miki
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

On Oct 20, 11:12 am, Miki Kocic <em... DeleteThis @munged.com> wrote:
> This is just a list of examples to get a discussion started.
>
> Good spy flicks:
>
> - _The Good Shepherd_
> - _The 39 Steps_

A recent one that was really good is The Lives of Others (german)
about an East German playwright who has his place bugged by the
Stasi.

Also, The Conversation
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

On Oct 21, 1:19 am, El Klauso <Klau....RemoveThis@Verizon.net> wrote:
> I'll trade On Her Majesty's Secret Service for Goldfinger. Admittedly,
> all Bonds are on a downhill slide thereafter.

I think the recent Casino Royale remake was the best Bond film since
OHMSS; there is hope for the franchise now that they've taken all of
Bond's toys away except for his gun and his wits and he isn't battling
some ubervillian who is trying to take over or destroy the world.

I thought Munich was a pretty good spy film.

Another underrated spy film was Clint Eastwood's Firefox.
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

"The Mask of Demetrios"
One of his backstories is his career as a spy. He entraps a pathetic
clerk in the defence ministry and blackmails him into stealing
secrets. You wouldn't know it to watch James Bond, but that is what a
spy does. He steals secrets by using vulnerable people ruthlessly, and
the number of movies actually showing this are in the low single
digits.
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

On Oct 21, 7:41 pm, Howard Brazee <how....RemoveThis@brazee.net> wrote:
> On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:59:03 -0400, Sean O'Hara <seanoh....RemoveThis@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> >> I'll trade On Her Majesty's Secret Service for Goldfinger.
>
> >Goldfinger is highly overrated. Have you ever paid attention to
> >Bond's accomplishments in the film:
>
> >o Gets two girls killed
> >o Gets captured and spends over half the movie that way
> >o Convinces Pussy Galore to betray Goldfinger
> >o Jimmies the nuke open and almost detonates it by pulling the wrong
> >wire
>
> >Turning Pussy Galore is his only positive achievement in the movie.
>
> But it had such fun bad guys.

And Shirley Bassey singing Goldfinger
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

In the Year of the Golden Pig, the Great and Powerful El Klauso
declared:
> I'll trade On Her Majesty's Secret Service for Goldfinger.

Goldfinger is highly overrated. Have you ever paid attention to
Bond's accomplishments in the film:

o Gets two girls killed
o Gets captured and spends over half the movie that way
o Convinces Pussy Galore to betray Goldfinger
o Jimmies the nuke open and almost detonates it by pulling the wrong
wire

Turning Pussy Galore is his only positive achievement in the movie.

--
Sean O'Hara <http://diogenes-sinope.blogspot.com>
Murphy: I'm concerned that you stood up in front of three hundred
people in a black church and told them that they were not a factor
and never would be as long as we remain in the pocket of the
insurance lobby!
-Bulworth
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

On Sun, 21 Oct 2007 18:59:03 -0400, Sean O'Hara <seanohara.TakeThisOut@gmail.com>
wrote:

>> I'll trade On Her Majesty's Secret Service for Goldfinger.
>
>Goldfinger is highly overrated. Have you ever paid attention to
>Bond's accomplishments in the film:
>
>o Gets two girls killed
>o Gets captured and spends over half the movie that way
>o Convinces Pussy Galore to betray Goldfinger
>o Jimmies the nuke open and almost detonates it by pulling the wrong
>wire
>
>Turning Pussy Galore is his only positive achievement in the movie.

But it had such fun bad guys.
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks 

Michael O'Connor <mpoconnor7 DeleteThis @aol.com> burped up warm pablum in
news:1193005197.619743.308830@q3g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

> I think the recent Casino Royale remake was the best Bond film since
> OHMSS; there is hope for the franchise now that they've taken all of
> Bond's toys away except for his gun and his wits...

and his poison control kit.

--
Tris Orendorff
[ Anyone naming their child should spend a few minutes checking rhyming slang and dodgy sounding
names. Brad and Angelina failed to do this when naming their kid Shiloh Pitt. At some point, someone at
school is going to spoonerise her name.
Craig Stark]
 >> Stay informed about: good and bad spy flicks