Best movies like The Operative

A unique, carefully handpicked, selection of the best movies like The Operative Starring Brian Bosworth, John Tench, Rachel Hayward, Jerry Wasserman, and more. If you liked The Operative then you may also like: 12 Strong, The Objective, The Russia House, The Assignment, Bridge of Spies and many more popular movies featured on this list. You can further filter the list even more or get a random selection from the list of similar movies, to make your selection even easier.

Caught behind the Iron Curtain at the close of the Cold War, CIA agent Alec Carville (Brian Bosworth) has spent 11 years held captive by the KGB in a mental institute. But he's finally offered a shot at freedom by an old nemesis -- if he steals a much-coveted formula for unlimited energy, a formula sought to ignite a global war. Now, he'll have to run his own covert mission to outmaneuver the enemy.

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12 Strong

A team of special forces head into Afghanistan in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks in an attempt to dismantle the Taliban.

The Objective

A team of US Special Ops forces is dispatched to a remote mountain region of Afghanistan with orders to locate an influential Muslim cleric. While on the mission they find themselves lost in a Middle Eastern 'Bermuda Triangle' of ancient evil and faced with an enemy that none of them could have imagined.

The Russia House

Barley Scott Blair, a Lisbon-based editor of Russian literature who unexpectedly begins working for British intelligence, is commissioned to investigate the purposes of Dante, a dissident scientist trapped in the decaying Soviet Union that is crumbling under the new open-minded policies.

The Assignment

Jack Shaw has experienced the terror first-hand. He's a top CIA agent who's tracked international killer-for-hire Carlos "The Jackal" Sanchez for over twenty years and barely survived Carlos' devastating bombing of a Parisian cafe. Now, he finally gets a break when he discovers Carlos' dead ringer: American naval officer and dedicated family man Annibal Ramirez.

Bridge of Spies

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union captures U.S. pilot Francis Gary Powers after shooting down his U-2 spy plane. Sentenced to 10 years in prison, Powers' only hope is New York lawyer James Donovan, recruited by a CIA operative to negotiate his release. Donovan boards a plane to Berlin, hoping to win the young man's freedom through a prisoner exchange. If all goes well, the Russians would get Rudolf Abel, the convicted spy who Donovan defended in court.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

At the height of the Cold War, a mysterious criminal organization plans to use nuclear weapons and technology to upset the fragile balance of power between the United States and Soviet Union. CIA agent Napoleon Solo and KGB agent Illya Kuryakin are forced to put aside their hostilities and work together to stop the evildoers in their tracks. The duo's only lead is the daughter of a missing German scientist, whom they must find soon to prevent a global catastrophe.

The November Man

An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his former pupil in a deadly game involving high level CIA officials and the Russian president-elect.

Braddock: Missing in Action III

When Colonel James Braddock is told that his Asian wife and 12-year-old son are still alive in Communist Vietnam, he mounts a one-man assault to free them. Armed with the latest high-tech firepower, Braddock fights his way into the heart of the country and ends up battling his way out with several dozen abused Amerasian children in tow! Struggling to keep them alive while outmaneuvering a sadistic Vietnamese officer, Braddock ignites the jungle in a blazing cross-country race for freedom.

A Dandy in Aspic

Double-agent Alexander Eberlin is assigned by the British to hunt out a Russian spy, known to them as Krasnevin. Only Eberlin knows that Krasnevin is none other than himself! Accompanying him on his mission is a ruthless partner, who gradually discovers his secret as Eberlin tries to maneuver himself out of a desperate situation.

Deadly Harvest

An Iron Curtain defector who has been living for years as a California winegrower learns that Soviet agents are stalking him.

Avalanche Express

CIA agent Harry Wargrave is sent to aid Gen. Marenkov, a senior Russian official, who is defecting to the west. Wargrave decides they should travel to safety on a train across Europe, the "Atlantic Express". During the journey, they must survive attacks by terrorists and an avalanche, all planned by Russian spy-catcher Nikolai Bunin.

Kandahar

After his mission is exposed, an undercover CIA operative stuck deep in hostile territory in Afghanistan must fight his way out, alongside his Afghan translator, to an extraction point in Kandahar, all whilst avoiding elite enemy forces and foreign spies tasked with hunting them down.

Anna

Beneath Anna Poliatova's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of the world's most feared government assassins.

Spies Like Us

Two bumbling government employees think they are U.S. spies, only to discover that they are actually decoys for nuclear war.

Gorky Park

Police Inspector Renko tries to solve the case of three bodies found in Moscow's Gorky Park but finds his attempts to solve the crime impeded by his superiors. Working on his own, Renko seeks out more information and stumbles across a conspiracy involving the highest levels of the government.

Enigma

Five highly-trained KGB agents are sent to the west to assassinate several Soviet dissidents. In order to stop the diabolical plot, an American agent must infiltrate Soviet intelligence and obtain information from a Russian computer.

Telefon

Nicolai Dalchimski, a mad KGB agent steals a notebook full of names of "sleeping" undercover KGB agents sent to the U.S. in the 1950's. These agents got their assignments under hypnosis, so they can't remember their missions until they're told a line of a Robert Frost poem. Dalchimski flees to the U.S. and starts phoning these agents who perform sabotage acts against military targets.

Company Business

An aging agent is called back by "the Company" to run a hostage trade of a Soviet spy for an American agent.

Icon

A former US Operative, who lived in Russia in his earlier years and had been married there with a child, comes out of retirement to face down a former enemy, now running as a candidate for President in modern Russia. Working with a Russian policewoman, they work to uncover a plot to use biological weapons against certain factions of the Russian people to commit genocide. The virus would also be released in other populations, but would be treated making the candidate a hero. A side plot has the agent being reunited with his long lost daughter.

Madame Sin

A CIA agent is used as a pawn in an insane woman's plan to steal a Polaris submarine.

The Spy Next Door

Former CIA spy Bob Ho takes on his toughest assignment to date: looking after his girlfriend's three kids, who haven't exactly warmed to their mom's beau. And when one of the youngsters accidentally downloads a top-secret formula, Bob's longtime nemesis, a Russian terrorist, pays a visit to the family.

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

British agent Alec Leamas refuses to come in from the Cold War during the 1960s, choosing to face another mission, which may prove to be his final one.

Torn Curtain

During the Cold War, an American scientist appears to defect to East Germany as part of a cloak and dagger mission to find the formula for a resin solution, but the plan goes awry when his fiancee, unaware of his motivation, follows him across the border.

Bullet to Beijing

When long-time British agent Harry Palmer loses his job because the Cold War is over, he's promptly approached by a Russian bossman, Alex. In St. Petersburg Alex tells Harry of his plan for Russia's future, which is threatened because a deadly biochemical weapon called the Red Death has been stolen from him. He'll pay Harry handsomely to retrieve it. An ex-spy friend tips Harry off that it's being sent to Beijing by train, aboard which we begin to learn whose side everyone's really on.

Spy Games

A romantic suspense-comedy about CIA agent Harry (Bill Pullman) and SVR agent Natasha (Irene Jacob) fighting to save the world, their lives and secret love in the post cold war Helsinki

The Iron Petticoat

Captain Vinka Kovalenko defects from Russia, but not for political reasons. She defects because she feels discriminated against as a woman. Captain Chuck Lockwood gets the order to show her the bright side of capitalism, while she tries to convince him of the superiority of communism. Naturally, they fall in love, but there's still the KGB, which doesn't like the idea of having a defected Russian officer running around in London.

The Sell Out

This action drama centers on a former CIA operative who grudgingly rejoins the spy game due to the machinations of his one-time student - a screw up who goes to work for the Soviets. As his job drags him deeper into a dangerous and under-handed world, the student wants out of the agency and oout of the U.S.S.R. But the man's choices have made him a target and now both the United States and Russia want him dead, sending their mos able hit men to do it.

Agent of Influence

This story of espionage and counter-espionage is based on the novel by Ian Adams. Suspicious circumstances surrounded the mysterious death of a Canadian diplomat. At the height of The Cold War in October 1964, John Watkins, Canada's former ambassador to Moscow and a close friend of Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, is kidnapped and held in a hotel for questioning by the RCMP at the urging of the CIA. Several days into the interrogation he died. The official obituary claimed that he suffered a heart attack in the company of friends during a farewell supper celebrating his illustrious career.

The Enemy

A CIA agent and a geneticist battle to keep a deadly biological weapon from falling into the wrong hands when the weapon's inventor is kidnapped.

Sofia

A former OSS agent is assigned to rescue two atomic scientists from the dastardly Russians and spirit them away from behind the Iron Curtain.

Comrades in Arms

Men from Russia and the United States join forces to prevent a powerful drug ring from achieving global domination.

No Dead Heroes

Left for dead in Vietnam, Lieutenant Cotter became a guinea pig for KGB baddie Mitovitch. Implanted with a mind control microchip, he is turned into a mindless killer. His colleague Lieutenant Sanders goes looking for him in Cambodia, then in El Salvador, where they kill pretty much everyone they meet.

Black Sea Raid

Renegade CIA agent Rick Halsey assembles a team of special forces operatives to rescue a Russian nuclear scientist held in a fortified mental institution behind enemy lines.

The True Story of Charlie Wilson

A playboy congressman, an outcast CIA operative, and a socialite steer over $300 million of the United States Government’s money — in an era when Reagan couldn’t raise $19 million for the Contras — to fund a covert war intended to turn Afghanistan into “Russia’s Vietnam.” Is this a joke? Is this some improbable work of fiction? Who are these wildly eccentric figures? How did they pull it off? In this special presentation from THE HISTORY CHANNEL® discover the intricate details of this incredible, fascinating and completely true series of events. Learn how Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson allied with CIA agent Gust Avrakotos and Houston philanthropist Joanne Herring to secretly bankroll the Afghan Mujahideen’s resistance to the Soviet Union. Retrace the behind-the-scenes machinations that led to the CIA’s largest and most successful campaign ever. And understand the wide-ranging and long-lasting implications of this little-known episode.

The Flying Saucer

The CIA sends playboy Mike Trent to Alaska with agent Vee Langley, posing as his "nurse," to investigate flying saucer sightings. At first, installed in a hunting lodge, the two play in the wilderness. But then they sight a saucer. Investigating, our heroes clash with an inept gang of Soviet spies, also after the saucer secret.

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