Top 10 CIA Movies

Ever notice how movies almost always make the Central Intelligency the bad guy? Ridley Scott's new Body of Lies is no different. TIME looks back at some of the most memorable flicks starring the secretive organization.

The Good Shepherd (2006)

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Matt Damon is at his most blank-faced in this tale detailing the founding of the Central Intelligence Agency. He's literally a cipher. His wife doesn't know him, his odd-faced son doesn't know him, and we don't know him. Damon gives nothing away—his face as stone-cold immobile here as it is in the Bourne films, which pretty much means he's perfect for the role.

Directed by Robert De Niro, Shepherd has an all-star cast of gravelly-voiced, suspicious-looking men: Alec Baldwin, Joe Pesci, William Hurt, John Turturro, and De Niro himself. The movie is swaddled in hushed-tone secret telling, and everyone's face looks drawn tight with the sheer effort of keeping mum. Slow-moving and grim, The Good Shepherd makes the list through sheer definitiveness.

From the TIME archives, Richard Corliss' Top Ten Films of 2006.

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