NFT: Your favorite Secret Agent/Spy

by Alec Guinness.

Are we still doing phrasing?

So many good ones.

If I have to choose, Jason Bourne in the Bourne Identity is the best character in a single movie.

Ethan Hunt,

Ethan Hunt is right there after him. Sorry for the previous post, hit submit by accident.

In comment 14851051 Ira said:

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by Alec Guinness.

Absolutely. We watch the six episodes of each series (Tinker, Tailor & Smiley's People) about every other year. I'm currently re-reading Tinker, Tailor for perhaps the fourth time.

Mata Hairi

You guys in your 50's and 60's will remember!

of course..
Secret Agent Man - ( New Window )

Ace Ventura

In comment 14851090 HMunster said:

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I'd rather have Agent 99

In comment 14851072 Alan in Toledo said:

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In comment 14851051 Ira said: Quote: by Alec Guinness. Absolutely. We watch the six episodes of each series (Tinker, Tailor & Smiley's People) about every other year. I'm currently re-reading Tinker, Tailor for perhaps the fourth time.

I prefer Karla or Bill Haydon. :-)

In comment 14851152 Reb8thVA said:

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In comment 14851072 Alan in Toledo said: Quote: In comment 14851051 Ira said: Quote: by Alec Guinness. Absolutely. We watch the six episodes of each series (Tinker, Tailor & Smiley's People) about every other year. I'm currently re-reading Tinker, Tailor for perhaps the fourth time. I prefer Karla or Bill Haydon. :-)

I can read Tinker, Tailor, and Smiley's People over and over but I have never been able to get through the Honorable Schoolboy

She kicked so much ass she could do it in her sleep

The only one you need.

has to be James Bond.

LOL

Vince Ricardo.
Link - ( New Window )

Gabriel Allon, ex-Mossad agent and current Art restoration dealer.

ANNA the Russian agent currently showing on HBO who plays both sides against the middle and wins.

In comment 14851208 DCGMan said:

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That was a fun movie! Not great, but fun.

I'd also like to give a shout out to two on complete opposite ends of the movie spy spectrum - Damon in the Good Shephard and Vin Diesel in XXX.

in Homeland was pretty awesome. Does Jack Ryan count?

Of SHIELD

Some forgotten ones:
- Edward Fox in the Day of the Jackal
- Lawrence Harvey in The Manchurian Candidate
- Richard Burton in The Spy who came in from the Cold

Honestly I prefer Bourne to most of the Bond movies but one has to give credit to the franchise and Connery and Craig.

with all deference to the great Alec Guiness, I prefer Gary Oldman's turn in Tinker Tailor

Just watched Anna last night. Was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it.

Of course her being smoking hot did not hurt.

And say I'm not too impressed with Bourne. The movies are well executed, but apart from being a combination of the Terminator and the Energizer Bunny, nothing about his character stands out to me.

I'm old-school so folks like Bond and Harry Palmer are more my speed, occasional cheesiness and all. For a more realistic take, most of Le Carre's spies are up there (Smiley's already been mentioned, but I'd also include Philip Seymour Hoffman's Bachmann in "A Most Wanted Man"), as well as Robert Redford in "3 Days of the Condor."

I think the spy was actually nameless in the books and picked up the Harry Palmer name when made into movies. At least that's how I remember them.


Le Carre's Smiley is a great character but his Alec Leamas from "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" is my favorite of his.

Graham Greene's agent in the book "The Confidential Agent".
Not quite a spy like the others mentioned here and not a typical hero. The character is still a favorite of mine. A history geek pressed in to service by his country, he stumbles his way through and actually gets the girl in the end.

.

The movie American Assassin was terrible but the book character is so much better. A true crime what they did to the book and character. If they produced the first one correctly, they could have had a nice run like the Bourne series