Secret Agent Man

Secret Agent Man

Spy thrillers are one of my favorite genres, and I read as many as I can work into a busy schedule.

Because I also like lists, I've been thinking about what a Top 10 Fictional Spies list would look like. But after jotting down ten names in ten minutes, I've decided that this isn't going to be easy. You'll find my initial ten in the following paragraphs.

But, it's only a start. And, a modest one at that. So, I could use some help. Check out my admittedly tentative suggestions and then weigh in with your own ideas. Perhaps together we can come up with a definitive list.

My son, an Army captain, likes Jack Ryan (Tom Clancy's intelligent hero), John Wells (Alex Berenson's skeptical hero), and Mitch Rapp (Vince Flynn's indestructible hero). I love my son, so I'll have to try to find them a place. I have no problem with Jack Ryan: the early Clancy novels were thoroughly engrossing. Wells is intriguing; the novels are fun; but the action is too improbable. Rapp is the spy on steroids.

My son and I also agree on Jason Bourne: Robert Ludlum's amnesic assassin and actor Matt Damon's signature role.

We'll have to wedge James Bond in there somewhere, but the Hollywood version—suave sophisticate, babe magnet, AND cold-blooded killer who cracks jokes in the face of almost-certain death—is thin gruel. The latest incarnation—courtesy of director Martin Campbell and actor Daniel Craig—is a big step in the right direction.

George Smiley (John le Carre's Cold Warrior) will need a spot. So, too, the delectable "La Femme Nikita" (Peta Wilson). And, Joseph Conrad's Mr. Verloc from the classic The Secret Agent.

I also like little-known spies like the reluctant secret agent Alicia Huberman (played by Ingrid Bergman) in Alfred Hitchcock's "Notorious."

I imagine that Alden Pyle will be found somewhere near the top of my list. Pyle is the naïve American spy in Graham Greene's The Quiet American. Pyle represents what's good—the optimism and idealism—of American foreign policy and what's not—the naïve arrogance, especially.

Greene's novel should be on everyone's must-read list. Hollywood has adapted the novel for the big screen twice: an unfortunate 1958 rendering directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Audie Murphy and Michael Redgrave. (I plan to blog on Audie Murphy one day: An unlikely World War II hero—including the Medal of Honor—and a troubled movie star.)

Hollywood tried again in 2002 with Phillip Noyce directing and Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser starring. This one is a noticeable improvement, but it still fails to capture the brilliance of the novel. Not everyone, of course, agrees with my lukewarm opinion of the movie. See critic David Sterritt's enthusiastic review in The Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1122/p14s02-almo.html

Count 'em. I'm already at ten and I've hardly warmed up. I warned you that this isn't going to be easy. Anyway, post your suggestions and I'll see what I can do about that Top 10 list.