Movies like The Defector
If you like "The Defector" you are looking for exciting, rough and serious movies about / with spy, cold war, espionage, renegade, military, hitman and kgb themes of Drama and Thriller genre shot in France or West Germany.
Find your next favorite and similar movies in two steps:
1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
2. Look for them in the presented list.
The Defector (1966)
781
Original name: L'espion
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, West Germany
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Professor Bower, an American physicist, is effectively blackmailed by a shady CIA agent named Adams to help the CIA obtain secret microfilm from a defecting Russian scientist. The reluctant Bower travels to East Germany undercover as an antiques collector where he encounters Heinzmann, an East German fellow physicist, who is also a secret agent. Heinzmann is aware of Bower's meeting with Adams and his intention to steal the microfilm, however their mutual respect for one another's tactics complicate the proceedings.
Style:
exciting, rough, serious, realistic, suspenseful, eurospy, microfilm
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
spy, cold war, espionage, renegade, military, hitman, kgb, undercover, conspiracy, secret agents, escapades, political intrigue, working undercover, political conspiracy, culture clash, race against time, government agency, dishonesty, state affairs, border guard, escape, scientist, car chase, underground, german shepherd ...
Time:
60s, 1960s
Place:
germany, europe, west berlin west germany, east berlin, west germany, german democratic republic
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to The Defector
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out serious, realistic, suspenseful and exciting films with plots about undercover, espionage, spy, danger, secret agents, state affairs and dishonesty mostly in Thriller, Drama and Action genres. Some movies like The Defector: The Serpent (1973), The Ipcress File (1965), The Executioner (1970), To Commit a Murder (1967), The Naked Runner (1967). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
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Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Italy, West Germany
Duration: 124 min.
Story:
Vlassov is a Soviet spy who defects in France. He is whisked to the U.S, where Allan Davies takes over the case. After polygraph tests and cross-examinations, Vlassov names several Western European agents who are also spying for the Soviets. Davies ...
Style:
serious, realistic, psychological, suspenseful, eurospy
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
spy, cold war, undercover, soviet spy, kgb, double agent, violence, dishonesty, mind game, rivalry, manhunt, race against time ...
Time:
70s
Place:
france, russia, europe, langley virginia, belgium ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
95%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 109 min.
Story:
This espionage thriller represents a landmark in spy movies introducing the sly, dry intelligence agent Harry Palmer. The story, centers on Palmer's investigation into British Intelligence security. He's soon enmeshed in a world of ...
Style:
atmospheric, suspenseful, exciting, tense, enigmatic ...
Plot:
espionage, cold war, spy, conspiracy, double agent, brainwashing, politics, undercover, investigation, british, political intrigue, suspense ...
Time:
60s, 20th century
Place:
london, albania, england, berlin germany, europe ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
77%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
A British intelligence agent must track down a fellow spy suspected of being a double agent.
Style:
realistic, serious, talky, exciting, rough ...
Plot:
spy, cold war, espionage, assassin, mole, secret agents, dishonesty, undercover, government agency, heroes, betrayal, rivalry ...
Time:
60s, 20th century
Place:
england, greece
⇓ similarity ⇓
70%
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: France, West Germany, Italy
Duration: 93 min.
Story:
A writer gets wrapped up in espionage.
Style:
exciting, serious, realistic, rough, suspenseful ...
Plot:
spy, espionage, kidnapping, scientist, heroes, state affairs, dishonesty, rescue, undercover, fall in love, graphic violence, knife fight ...
Time:
20th century, 60s
Place:
china
⇓ similarity ⇓
68%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
Sam Laker is an American industrialist, working in Britain, who has just been awarded an international award for industrial design. He is planning to travel to East Germany to attend a trade show and show off his invention, taking his 10 year old ...
Style:
serious, suspenseful, realistic, atmospheric, microfilm
Plot:
spy, espionage, assassination, invention, intelligence, on the run, holiday, undercover, secret agents, child in peril, arrest, kidnapping ...
Time:
60s, 20th century
Place:
germany, europe, london, copenhagen, east germany
⇓ similarity ⇓
66%
Also search:
Movies like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: France, Italy
Duration: 117 min.
Story:
Who is Anton Haliakov, who has just been abducted by the M.I.5 in London? A Soviet scientist apparently. But sixteen years before the man had another identity, Clément Tibère, and another nationality, French. So what led him to become Russian and ...
Style:
exciting, serious, realistic, rough, suspenseful ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
spy, espionage, heroes, undercover, escapades, dishonesty, rebellion, state affairs, manhunt, hospital, political intrigue, cons and scams ...
Time:
20th century, 70s
Place:
france, london, russia, england, alps ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
61%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK, France
Duration: 101 min.
Story:
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.
Style:
suspenseful, intense, serious, realistic, sexy ...
Plot:
cold war, spy, undercover, kgb, iron curtain, espionage, assassination, politics, dishonesty, journalism, rivalry, race against time ...
Time:
20th century, 80s
Place:
east germany, germany, russia
⇓ similarity ⇓
60%
19K
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 143 min.
Story:
A French intelligence agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missle Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.
Style:
tense, suspenseful, psychological, sexy, enigmatic ...
Plot:
spy, cold war, espionage, betrayal, suspense, secret agents, surveillance, undercover, cuban missile crisis, conspiracy, kgb, politics ...
Time:
20th century, 60s, year 1962
Place:
cuba, france, paris france, copenhagen, new york ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
57%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: France
Duration: 113 min.
Story:
Engaging, emotional and riveting, FAREWELL is an intricate and highly intelligent thriller pulled from the pages of history— about an ordinary man thrust into the biggest theft of Soviet information of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan called this piece ...
Style:
realistic, serious, tense, suspenseful, political ...
Plot:
cold war, espionage, spy, double agent, undercover, dishonesty, betrayal, state affairs, working undercover, kgb, father son relationship, agent ...
Time:
20th century, 80s
Place:
france, russia, ussr
⇓ similarity ⇓
56%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
Two British agents are murdered by a mysterious Neonazi organization in West Berlin. The British Secret Service sends agent Quiller to investigate. Soon Quiller is confronted with Neonazi chief "Oktober" and involved in a dangerous game ...
Style:
neo noir, exciting, realistic, serious, stylized ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
spy, espionage, british intelligence, cold war, neo nazi, undercover, secret agents, secret mission, gang, rivalry, heroes, racism ...
Time:
60s
Place:
berlin germany, germany, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
56%
Also search:
The Sum of All Fears similar movies
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Colonel Casey discovers what appears to be plans by General Lloyd to use fake military excercises to assist Jack Giddings in his plans to remove President Foster from office. Colonel Casey, and President Foster must find evidence that there is a ...
Style:
serious, suspenseful, tense, realistic, political thriller
Plot:
conspiracy, political conspiracy, terrorism, political corruption, betrayal, undercover, manhunt, government agency, race against time, state affairs, revolution, political intrigue ...
Time:
90s
⇓ similarity ⇓
56%
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 107 min.
Story:
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 ...
Style:
serious, realistic, rough, suspenseful, neo noir ...
Plot:
spy, berlin wall, espionage, undercover, cold war, secret agents, secret mission, double agent, photographer, homesickness, british intelligence, graphic violence ...
Time:
future, 20th century, 60s
Place:
west berlin west germany, berlin germany, east berlin, england, europe ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
56%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 141 min.
Story:
In Berlin in 1961, an American soldier and a German engineer join forces to build a tunnel under the Berlin Wall in order to smuggle out refugees, including the soldier's East German girlfriend.
Style:
realistic, serious, exciting, tense, suspenseful ...
Plot:
communism, cold war, escape, tunnel, new love, love letter, political unrest, against the odds, getting home, soldier, escapades, hopes ...
Time:
20th century, 60s
Place:
germany, berlin germany, europe, east berlin, east germany
⇓ similarity ⇓
55%
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
From the John le Carre novel about a British spy who sends a Polish defector to East Germany to verify missile sites.
Style:
talky, realistic, serious, clever, suspenseful ...
Plot:
spy, espionage, cold war, british intelligence, secret agents, undercover, politics, communism, iron curtain, political intrigue, weapon system, heroes ...
Time:
60s, 20th century
Place:
east germany, germany, berlin germany, german democratic republic, england ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
55%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
A psychological thriller; Mace Sowell, an ex-intelligence operative and whose past government activities catches up with him, faces his own mortality, in the shape of the onset of Alzheimer's disease. Holding the electronic key to secret ...
Style:
political, mind bending, exciting, realistic, psychological ...
Plot:
spy, alzheimer's disease, political conspiracy, conspiracy theory, home invasion, conspiracy, fighting the system, secret agents, life is a bitch, espionage, undercover, state affairs ...
Time:
90s
⇓ similarity ⇓
51%
Also search:
Movies like Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Jonas Wilde, a British secret agent licensed to kill, wants to resign from his murderous work, but his superiors pressure him into taking on a new assignment-the assassination of a defecting Soviet scientist. In the course of the dangerous mission, ...
Style:
realistic, serious, exciting, suspenseful, psychotronic ...
Plot:
spy, espionage, secret agents, undercover, cold war, ship, investigation, special agents, mind game, government agency, heroes, dishonesty ...
Time:
60s
Place:
london, russia, england, glasgow scotland, hungary ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
51%
Genre: Mystery, Action, Thriller
Country: Sweden, UK
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
In 1981, after the successful test of a submarine tracker device developed by the Swedish scientist Paul Mandell and sponsored by the US government through his representative Miller, his industry is totally burned and the laser device is stolen. ...
Style:
serious, realistic, exciting, suspenseful, rough
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
submarine, law enforcement, spy, secret agents, espionage, heist, working undercover, political conspiracy, missing person, rivalry, investigation, undercover ...
Time:
80s
Place:
sweden, eastern europe, stockholm sweden
⇓ similarity ⇓
49%
Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller
Country: Germany
Duration: 42 min.
TV show
Story:
A gripping coming-of-age story set against the real culture wars and political events of Germany in the 1980s. The drama follows Martin Rauch as the 24 year-old East Germany native is pulled from the world as he knows it and sent to the West as an ...
Style:
serious, tense, realistic, suspenseful, captivating ...
Plot:
cold war, espionage, stasi, spy, political intrigue, undercover, state affairs, rivalry, secret police, military, double agent, love and romance ...
Time:
20th century, year 1983, 80s
Place:
germany, west berlin west germany, east germany, german democratic republic, west germany
⇓ similarity ⇓
48%
Movie in collections
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Country: UK, USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
After years of meticulous planning, a terrorist operation is reaching its final stages. The authorities have received no intelligence; they are in a race against time but don't yet know it. As the operation unfolds, we see the working lives of ...
Style:
exciting, suspenseful, rough, serious, tense ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
radical, terrorism, firefighter, save the day, secret agents, political conspiracy, working undercover, special agents, government agency, race against time, undercover, counter terrorism ...
Place:
london, europe, england
⇓ similarity ⇓
47%
Genre: Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Philip Kimberly, the former head of the British Secret Service who defected to Russia, is given plastic surgery and sent back to Britain by the KGB to retrieve some vital documents. With the documents in hand, he instead plays off MI6 and the KGB ...
Style:
serious, realistic, suspenseful, political thriller
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
cold war, spy, espionage, law enforcement, kgb, traitor, plastic surgery, british intelligence, father daughter relationship, dishonesty, state affairs, secret agents ...
Time:
80s
Place:
russia, england, europe, london, scotland yard ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
45%
Also search:
Body of Lies related movies
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA, UK
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Tucker is a chronic underachiever and a loser. A Vietnam war veteran who just can't seem to keep out of trouble, in the years since his discharge. The only thing he got out of the war was his skill with a rifle. Now, serving a long stretch in ...
Style:
serious, realistic, suspenseful, rough, surprise ending ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
conspiracy, prison, vietnam war, prison escape, terrorism, paranoia, vietnam veteran, murder, assassination, secret organization, confined, heroes ...
Time:
70s
Place:
spain, europe, asia, vietnam, san francisco ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
44%
Genre: Thriller
Country: France, Italy, Greece
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
The widow of a murdered undercover NATO officer in Greece is the prime suspect in his killing. She finds herself embroiled in a bigger conspiracy about the sabotage of U.S. radar installations while trying to prove her innocence.
Style:
realistic, serious, exciting, bleak, rough ...
Plot:
spy, murder, conspiracy, snitch, righting the wronged, whistleblower, disorder, mistaken identity, working undercover, false accusation, political intrigue, political corruption ...
Time:
60s
Place:
greece
⇓ similarity ⇓
44%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Fact-based story about a 90's espionage case that was chronicled as the worst case of espionage in US history
Style:
exciting, realistic, serious, suspenseful
Plot:
spy, espionage, kgb, cold war, government agency, state affairs, special agents, life is a bitch, dishonesty, undercover, alcohol abuse, alcoholic ...
Time:
90s
Place:
ussr, russia, langley virginia
⇓ similarity ⇓
43%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Germany, UK
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
A young engineer is sent to post-WWII Berlin to help the Americans in spying on the Russians. In a time and place where discretion is still a man’s best friend, he falls in love with a mysterious woman who will take him on the dark side of evil.
Style:
sexual, sexy, exciting, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
spy, cold war, espionage, couples, love affair, fall in love, infidelity, political conspiracy, undercover, secret agents, heroes, government agency ...
Time:
50s
Place:
germany, europe
⇓ similarity ⇓
42%
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Country: Italy
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Estranged by the degree of corporate influence within the largest U.S. listening station in the world, an aging NSA officer defects and mounts a clandestine counter-listening station high in the Italian alps.
Style:
suspenseful, rough, serious, realistic, tense
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
on the run, manhunt, secret agents, rivalry, espionage, working undercover, political conspiracy, life turned upside down, fighting the system, government agency, undercover, dishonesty ...
Place:
rome italy, europe, italy
⇓ similarity ⇓
42%
Also search:
Movies similar to The Day of the Jackal
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 60 min.
TV show
Story:
The Agency is a CBS television drama that followed the inner-workings of the CIA. The series was created by Michael Frost Beckner and was executive produced by Michael Frost Beckner, Shaun Cassidy Productions and Radiant Productions in association ...
Style:
realistic, rough, suspenseful, exciting, serious
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
spy, terrorism, espionage, cia, undercover, working undercover, state affairs, government agency, terrorist, conspiracy, secret agents, national security ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
41%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: West Germany, USA
Duration: 146 min.
Story:
A renegade USAF general, Lawrence Dell, escapes from a military prison and takes over an ICBM silo near Montana and threatens to provoke World War 3 unless the President reveals details of a secret meeting held just after the start of the Vietnam ...
Style:
political, disturbing, bleak, rough, suspenseful ...
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
nuclear threat, terrorism, vietnam war, conspiracy, general, military, cult, disaster, assassination, hostage, ransom demand, prison escape ...
Place:
montana, vietnam, asia, usa
⇓ similarity ⇓
41%
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
A Secret Service agent and his brother, a reckless ATF agent, try to stop a group of extreme right-wing U.S. military mercenaries, led by a fanatic Taiwanese vixen, who hijack the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner with the U.S. and Chinese presidents on ...
Style:
rough, suspenseful, serious, realistic
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
terrorism, hostage, daring rescue, rescue, confined, save the day, rivalry, race against time, undercover, special agents, escapades, government agency ...
Place:
china, asia
⇓ similarity ⇓
40%
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Country: UK
Duration: 112 min.
Story:
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.
Style:
political, realistic, talky, clever, bleak ...
Plot:
cold war, espionage, spy, double agent, berlin wall, british intelligence, iron curtain, suspense, politics, secret agents, loner, betrayal ...
Time:
60s, 20th century
Place:
berlin germany, east germany, london, england, europe ...
⇓ similarity ⇓
39%
Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller
Country: Canada, USA, Luxembourg, UK
Duration: 104 min.
Story:
British soldiers force a recently captured IRA terrorist to cooperate with them and then assign him to go undercover with a gang of terrorists and prevent them from killing the U.S. President. But the spy isn't in long before he realizes that ...
Style:
serious, realistic, exciting, suspenseful
Audience:
boys' night
Plot:
soldier, undercover, spy, irish republican army, anglo irish relations, ira, terrorism, assassination attempt, british monarchy, militant, hitman, government agency ...
Time:
90s
Place:
ireland, england
⇓ similarity ⇓
38%
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