20 Spy Movies You Must See Before You Die
2. North By Northwest (1959)
North by Northwest, Alfred Hitchcock's 1959 masterpiece, could very well be the best movie in his canon - and that includes Psycho, Rear Window, and Vertigo.
That the film is an extension of themes and characters first explored in The 39 Steps and later Notorious, two spy films which also made this list, only serves to make it all the richer as an experience: by this time, Hitch was working at the height of his powers, and he took everything he'd learned so far and put it into this.
Cary Grant assumes the role of "the wrong man" here as normal bloke Roger Thornhill, who is mistaken by James Mason's baddie, Vandamm, for an enemy spy and relentlessly pursued. The rest of the film tracks Grant's hero as he escapes to the country, trying desperately to avoid death and prove his innocence.
The set-pieces are stuff of legend, of course: there's the moment in the fields with the crop-duster in pursuit, and later the big fight atop Mount Rushmore.
And indeed, this is a film that is essentially all about its set-pieces. What could have felt episodic, however, is anything but. Hitchcock offers up a masterclass in stringing scenes together by way of an endlessly witty script and deft transitions, resulting in what is probably the most fun and frenzied spy film ever produced.