Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "soviet-defector"

1. The Hunt for Red October (1990)

PG | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

In November 1984, the Soviet Union's best submarine captain violates orders and heads for the U.S. in a new undetectable sub. The American CIA and military must quickly determine: Is he trying to defect or to start a war?

Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Sean Connery, Alec Baldwin, Scott Glenn, Sam Neill

Votes: 215,037 | Gross: $122.01M

2. The Living Daylights (1987)

PG | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Thriller

James Bond is sent to investigate a KGB policy to kill all enemy spies, and uncovers an arms deal that potentially has major global ramifications.

Director: John Glen | Stars: Timothy Dalton, Maryam d'Abo, Jeroen Krabbé, Joe Don Baker

Votes: 105,949 | Gross: $51.19M

3. Topaz (1969)

M/PG | 143 min | Drama, Thriller

A French Intelligence Agent becomes embroiled in the Cold War politics first with uncovering the events leading up to the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and then back to France to break up an international Russian spy ring.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock | Stars: Frederick Stafford, Dany Robin, John Vernon, Karin Dor

Votes: 19,570 | Gross: $8.37M

4. Smiley's People (1982)

TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, Mystery

The murder of a Soviet defector forces his old handler, British spymaster George Smiley, out of retirement. His investigation leads to an old nemesis, the Soviet spymaster known only as "Karla". This will be their final dance.

Stars: Alec Guinness, Eileen Atkins, Bill Paterson, Vladek Sheybal

Votes: 4,768

5. The White Crow (2018)

R | 127 min | Biography, Drama

The story of Rudolf Nureyev's defection to the West.

Director: Ralph Fiennes | Stars: Oleg Ivenko, Ralph Fiennes, Louis Hofmann, Adèle Exarchopoulos

Votes: 7,038 | Gross: $1.83M

6. The Serpent (1973)

PG | 113 min | Drama, Thriller

A Soviet diplomat hatches a complicated plan to enable him to defect to the West.

Director: Henri Verneuil | Stars: Yul Brynner, Henry Fonda, Dirk Bogarde, Philippe Noiret

Votes: 1,209

7. The Human Factor (1979)

R | 115 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

When a leak of information in the African section of British Intelligence is discovered, security man Daintry is brought in to investigate.

Director: Otto Preminger | Stars: Richard Attenborough, Nicol Williamson, Derek Jacobi, Joop Doderer

Votes: 1,579

8. Avalanche Express (1979)

PG | 88 min | Action, Thriller

Soviet KGB General Marenkov defects to the Americans and together with his CIA handler Harry Wargrave they plan an operation meant to reveal the KGB agents in Europe.

Directors: Mark Robson, Monte Hellman | Stars: Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw, Linda Evans, Maximilian Schell

Votes: 1,717

9. The Iron Curtain (1948)

Approved | 87 min | Biography, Crime, History

The story of Soviet cypher-clerk Igor Gouzenko who was posted to the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa,Canada in 1943 and defected in 1945 to reveal the extent of Soviet espionage activities directed against Canada.

Director: William A. Wellman | Stars: Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney, June Havoc, Berry Kroeger

Votes: 1,110

10. The Russian Five (2018)

Not Rated | 102 min | Documentary, Sport

In the late 1980s, the Detroit Red Wings worked to finally break their decades long Stanley Cup drought by extracting players from the Soviet Union, and in the process, changed the way North American hockey is played.

Director: Joshua Riehl | Stars: Scotty Bowman, Don Cherry, Michael Chovich, Jeff Daniels

Votes: 1,426 | Gross: $0.49M

11. Danger Route (1967)

Approved | 92 min | Action, Drama, Thriller

During the Cold War, a British secret agent is ordered to kill a Soviet-bloc defector held by the CIA in England but this straightforward mission turns into a convoluted plot involving double-agents.

Director: Seth Holt | Stars: Richard Johnson, Carol Lynley, Barbara Bouchet, Sylvia Syms

Votes: 512

12. Nureyev: Lifting the Curtain (2018)

109 min | Documentary

This striking and moving documentary from BAFTA nominated directors Jacqui and David Morris traces the extraordinary life of Rudolf Nureyev. From his birth in the 5th class carriage of a ... See full summary »

Directors: David Morris, Jacqui Morris | Stars: Siân Phillips, Dick Cavett, Grace Jabbari, Margot Fonteyn

Votes: 381 | Gross: $0.17M

13. The Dissidents (2017)

90 min | Action, Comedy

An upbeat comedy about three boys who escape from Soviet Estonia to Sweden via Finland in the 1980s to fulfill their dreams in the free world.

Director: Jaak Kilmi | Stars: Märt Pius, Karl-Andreas Kalmet, Veiko Porkanen, Esko Salminen

Votes: 1,128

14. Kim Philby: His Most Intimate Betrayal (2014– )

Not Rated | 118 min | Documentary, Drama, History

The story of Kim Philby, one of the famous Cambridge spies, who was a double agent for the KGB while working in a position of trust for the British secret service. The person he betrayed ... See full summary »

Stars: Ben Macintyre, David Oakes, William Beck, Mark Elliott

Votes: 81

15. My Father the Spy (2019)

85 min | Documentary

As a young Soviet student in 1978, Ieva could not have predicted that a holiday visit to her father, Imants Lesinskis, then working in the Soviet mission at the United Nations in New York ... See full summary »

Directors: Gints Grube, Jaak Kilmi | Stars: Natalija Knipse, Ieva Lesinska, Imants Lesinskis, Marta Lesinska

Votes: 136

16. Deadly Harvest (1972 TV Movie)

90 min | Drama, Thriller

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

Director: Michael O'Herlihy | Stars: Richard Boone, Patty Duke, Michael Constantine, Jack Kruschen

Votes: 64

17. Oxana (1965)

R | 77 min | Drama

The fictional account of a true incident in which a Russian sailor defected from Nikita Khrushchev's ship during his UN visit, met a girl named Oxana who gave him refuge, and fell in love.

Director: Boris P. Berest | Star: Vera Allik

18. The Invisible Man (1975–1976)
Episode: Barnard Wants Out (1975)

60 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Defector Dr. Leon Barnard, Dan's former mentor, has grown dissatisfied with life behind the Iron Curtain, and it is up to the Klae Resource to bring him back to the US. But his daughter ... See full summary »

Director: Alan J. Levi | Stars: David McCallum, Melinda O. Fee, Craig Stevens, Nehemiah Persoff

Votes: 49

19. It Takes a Thief (1968–1970)
Episode: The Beautiful People (1969)

TV-PG | 51 min | Action, Adventure, Crime

The enemy agent impersonates the captured SIA chief to trick Mundy into locating a defecting Soviet.

Director: Jeannot Szwarc | Stars: Robert Wagner, John van Dreelen, Teri Garr, Ann Smyrner

Votes: 42

20. Magnum, P.I. (1980–1988)
Episode: From Moscow to Maui (1981)

Not Rated | 48 min | Action, Adventure, Crime

A defected Russian pilot named Yuri Dolgof hires Magnum to get his fiancée Nina, a member of the Soviet track team to defect as well.

Director: Michael Vejar | Stars: Tom Selleck, John Hillerman, Roger E. Mosley, Larry Manetti

Votes: 408

21. Smiley's People (1982)
Episode: Smiley's Lighter (1982)

TV-14 | 60 min | Drama, Mystery

The final confrontation between Smiley and Karla takes place. But in this game there are no victors, only losers.

Director: Simon Langton | Stars: Alec Guinness, Michael Lonsdale, Bernard Hepton, Rosalie Crutchley

Votes: 162

22. Slow Horses (2022– )
Episode: Old Scores (2022)

TV-MA | 44 min | Drama, Thriller

Lamb and Katinsky go head to head. Ho finds himself trapped on a train with a Russian assassin.

Director: Jeremy Lovering | Stars: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Jonathan Pryce

Votes: 1,556

23. Slow Horses (2022– )
Episode: From Upshott with Love (2022)

TV-MA | 49 min | Drama, Thriller

Lamb liaises with a Russian defector who may hold a clue to sleeper agents. River is on the trail of a ruthless assassin.

Director: Jeremy Lovering | Stars: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Rade Serbedzija

Votes: 1,407

24. Slow Horses (2022– )
Episode: Cicada (2022)

TV-MA | 45 min | Drama, Thriller

Louisa makes her move on Pashkin. Catherine makes moves of a different kind when she plays high-stakes chess with a sinister stranger.

Director: Jeremy Lovering | Stars: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Emily Bruni

Votes: 1,384

25. Slow Horses (2022– )
Episode: Boardroom Politics (2022)

TV-MA | 41 min | Drama, Thriller

Lamb orders his Slow Horses to walk into traps. River believes something alarming is heading toward London.

Director: Jeremy Lovering | Stars: Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden, Kristin Scott Thomas, Marek Vasut

Votes: 1,449

26. Kylmän sodan Suomi (2021–2022)
Episode: Vapautta vai lumetta? (2022)

30 min | Documentary, History

Add a Plot

Directors: Tommi Pietiläinen, Antti Seppänen | Stars: Jari Tervo, Antti Seppänen, Leonid Brezhnev, Mikhail Gorbachev

Votes: 11

27. Beyond the Myth: The SS Unveiled (2022– )
Episode: Unrepentant: The SS and its Myth After 1945 (2022)

Documentary, History, War

Drawing a line to the present, the atrocities of the SS are beyond all doubt, yet, there is a cult surrounding 'old comrades' today.

Director: Carsten Binsack | Stars: James Milano, Peter Hammerschmidt, Benjamin Ferencz, Bastian Hein

28. Mustard (2017– )
Episode: Why the F-15 Terrified the Soviets (2023)

14 min | Documentary

After decades without building a true fighter plane the challenges of Vietnam and the release of the Soviet's MiG-25 Foxbat lead to the development of the exceptional F-15 Eagle which in 50 years has never lost a dogfight..

29. The Americans (2013–2018)
Episode: Baggage (2015)

TV-MA | 46 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Elizabeth and Philip come together to deal with a mission gone wrong, but struggle to reconcile their ideologies; Stan welcomes a Soviet defector to America; Nina acclimates to her new living arrangements.

Director: Daniel Sackheim | Stars: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Lev Gorn, Annet Mahendru

Votes: 1,542

30. The Americans (2013–2018)
Episode: Dimebag (2015)

TV-MA | 45 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Philip faces a moral dilemma while developing an asset. Philip and Elizabeth's friction escalates. Stan develops a theory with serious reprecussions for national security. Paige makes a surprising birthday wish.

Director: Thomas Schlamme | Stars: Keri Russell, Matthew Rhys, Lev Gorn, Annet Mahendru

Votes: 1,505

31. Grantchester (2014–2025)
Episode: Episode #2.2 (2016)

TV-14 | 50 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Sidney and Geordie investigate a Cambridge lecturer's fatal fall from the college spires.

Director: Tim Fywell | Stars: James Norton, Robson Green, Morven Christie, Al Weaver

Votes: 457

32. What History Forgot (2015– )
Episode: Secret Weapons (2015)

TV-PG | 45 min | Documentary, History

We know what The Cold War, the Vietnam War and WWII were...but what are the unknown stories of some of the incredible plots, ploys and people behind America's secret weapons during these wars?

Stars: Joe Moniaci, Samuel Glen, James Konczyk

Votes: 5