10 Best Spy Films That AREN'T James Bond

The Hunt for Red October might be a submarine thriller, but its story - adapted from the Tom Clancy novel of the same name - is rooted in espionage. Set during the twilight of the Cold War, Die Hard director John McTiernan's film centres around a defecting Soviet naval officer, Marko Ramius, who has been commissioned on a state-of-the-art "first strike" Nuclear submarine capable of eluding NATO detection. The catch? His would-be ally, the United States, has no way of determining whether Ramius' actions are a move to defect or are in fact an attempt to launch a rogue strike on her territory.

CIA analyst and Naval Historian Jack Ryan is the fish out of water attempting to prove that Ramius has noble intentions, but he's in a race against time to prove that theory, with the Soviet Navy in hot pursuit of the Captain and the US between two minds about whether to resolve the threat with prejudice (i.e., blow the Red October straight out of the water).

It's the perfect stage for McTiernan, who brings the human qualities of an apocalyptic story to the surface in much the same way he did on Die Hard, once again ably aided by cinematographer Jan de Bont, who turns in his most impressive work behind the camera. (The pull-back as Ryan pursues Loginov in the Red October's missile bay is breathtaking in its scale and depth of colour, deep reds colliding with shadow and scant lighting, all while Basil Poledouris' operatic score blares overhead.)

Binding this all together is the cast, led by Alec Baldwin as Ryan and Sean Connery as Ramius. The two convey such an instant affection and warmth in their few scenes together that it feels borderline romantic, so potent is the sense of relief McTiernan conjures once the tension of the preceding two hours is released. Both actors are complemented by the likes of Scott Glenn, Sam Neill, and James Earl Jones, the latter of whom returned in two further Jack Ryan films directed by Philip Noyce - Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger - in which Baldwin was replaced as Ryan by Harrison Ford.

Ford is solid in those two films - particularly the second, which swaps the outlandishness of the former for something much more grounded and politically intriguing - but neither holds a candle to McTiernan's sole Clancy adaptation. Releasing in 1990 at the cusp of the Cold War's conclusion, The Hunt for Red October feels like a punchy, closing statement to an era of spy cinema, as the old world was torn up, and nuclear armageddon - however briefly - relented. No film better typifies the genre's non-Bond potential than it.