Movies like Telefon (1977)
The best movies like Telefon (1977) are The Kremlin Letter (1970), The November Man (2014) and The Gray Man (2022). If Telefon hooked you with its thriller and action, these 30 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedThe Wages of Fear (1953)8.0/10 from 1,153 votes
- NewestA Working Man (2025)Released 2025
The Kremlin Letter (1970)
After an unauthorized letter suggesting U.S. support for a Russian attack on China is sent to Moscow, a former naval officer and his team go undercover to retrieve it. Their plans are disrupted when a cunning politician raids their hideout.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
SnoozefestMovies like thisThe November Man (2014)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Gray Man (2022)
When a shadowy CIA agent uncovers damning agency secrets, he's hunted across the globe by a sociopathic rogue operative who's put a bounty on his head.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAmerican Assassin (2017)
Following the murder of his fiancée, Mitch Rapp trains under the instruction of Cold War veteran Stan Hurley. The pair then is enlisted to investigate a wave of apparently random attacks on military and civilian targets.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisCanary Black (2024)
Top level CIA agent Avery Graves is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive and help locate the coveted intelligence that the kidnappers want.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisSalt (2010)
As a CIA officer, Evelyn Salt swore an oath to duty, honor, and country. Her loyalty will be tested when a Russian defector accuses her of being a Russian sleeper spy. She goes on the run, using all her skills and years of experience as a covert operative to elude capture, protect her husband, and stay one step ahead of her colleagues at the CIA. Her efforts to prove her innocence only serve to cast doubt on her motives, as the hunt to uncover the truth behind her identity continues and the question remains: "Who is Salt?"
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Fourth Protocol (1987)
Led by Kim Philby, Plan Aurora is a plan that breaches the top-secret Fourth Protocol and turns the fears that shaped it into a living nightmare. A crack Soviet agent, placed under cover in a quiet English country town, begins to assemble a nuclear bomb, whilst an MI5 agent attempts to prevent its detonation.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKandahar (2023)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisA Working Man (2025)
Levon Cade left behind a decorated military career in the black ops to live a simple life working construction. But when his boss's daughter, who is like family to him, is taken by human traffickers, his search to bring her home uncovers a world of corruption far greater than he ever could have imagined.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisKill 'em All 2 (2024)
Phillip and Suzanne are retired from the spy game, living peacefully off the grid. That's until their whereabouts are discovered by Vlad, the vengeful brother of their target from the first film.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGod Is a Bullet (2023)
Vice detective Bob Hightower finds his ex-wife murdered and daughter kidnapped by a cult. Frustrated by the botched official investigations, he quits the force and infiltrates the cult to hunt down the leader with the help of the cult’s only female victim escapee, Case Hardin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller & action
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisPatriot Games (1992)
When CIA Analyst Jack Ryan interferes with an IRA assassination, a renegade faction targets Jack and his family as revenge.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisGorky Park (1983)
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.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisRed Sparrow (2018)
Prima ballerina Dominika Egorova faces a bleak and uncertain future after she suffers an injury that ends her career. She soon turns to Sparrow School, a secret intelligence service that trains exceptional young people to use their minds and bodies as weapons. Dominika emerges as the most dangerous Sparrow after completing the sadistic training process. As she comes to terms with her new abilities, she meets a CIA agent who tries to convince her that he is the only person she can trust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThree Days of the Condor (1975)
When bookish CIA researcher Joe Turner finds all his co-workers dead, he, together with a woman he has kidnapped, must work together to outwit those responsible until he determines who he can really trust.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisChild 44 (2015)
Set in Stalin-era Soviet Union, a disgraced MGB agent is dispatched to investigate a series of child murders -- a case that begins to connect with the very top of party leadership.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisShining Through (1992)
Spirited New Yorker Linda Voss goes to work for international lawyer and secret Office of Strategic Services operative Ed Leland just before World War II. As they fall in love, the United States enters the fight against Hitler, and Linda volunteers to work for Ed spying undercover behind Nazi lines. Assigned to uncover information about a German bomb, Linda also has personal motives to fulfill: discovering the fate of her Jewish family members in Berlin.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisAll the Old Knives (2022)
When the CIA discovers one of its agents leaked information that cost more than 100 people their lives, veteran operative Henry Pelham is assigned to root out the mole with his former lover and colleague Celia Harrison.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisNineteen Eighty-Four (1984)
Winston Smith is a government employee whose job involves the rewriting of history in a manner that casts his fictional country's leaders in a charitable light. His trysts with Julia provide his only measure of enjoyment, but lawmakers frown on the relationship -- and in this closely monitored society, there is no escape from Big Brother.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Ghost Writer (2010)
A writer stumbles upon a long-hidden secret when he agrees to help former British Prime Minister Adam Lang complete his memoirs on a remote island after the politician's assistant drowns in a mysterious accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers · both thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLive and Let Die (1973)
James Bond must investigate a mysterious murder case of a British agent in New Orleans. Soon he finds himself up against a gangster boss named Mr. Big.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Girl From Hong Kong (1973)
Frank Boyd comes to Hong Kong to visit a friend, but unfortunately he was murdered a few days ago. The father of his fiancee puts $ 10,000 reward for the capture of the murderer and Frank wants to earn this money.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both action & thriller
Under Your Bed (2019)
Naoto was ignored by other people. During his school days, Chihiro was the first person who called his name. Naoto dreams of seeing her again and tries to find her. Finally, after 11 years, he locates her, but she is a totally different person now. Naoto becomes obsessed with her. Naoto sneaks into her house and stays under her bed.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Jackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Name of the Rose (1986)
14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence; which is considerable.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Wages of Fear (1953)
In a run-down South American town, four men are paid to drive trucks loaded with nitroglycerin into the jungle through to the oil field. Friendships are tested and rivalries develop as they embark upon the perilous journey.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisBlade Runner (1982)
In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Absolute CinemaMovies like thisThe 39 Steps (1935)
Richard Hanney has a rude awakening when a glamorous female spy falls into his bed - with a knife in her back. Having a bit of trouble explaining it all to Scotland Yard, he heads for the hills of Scotland to try to clear his name by locating the spy ring known as The 39 Steps.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Worth the HypeMovies like thisBurning Rainbow Farm (TBA)
Tom Crosslin and Rollie Rohm, a couple in rural Michigan, build a peaceful, pot-friendly utopia called Rainbow Farm. When the two run afoul of local authorities and their young son is taken from them, a standoff ensues leading to one of the largest and most dramatic sieges America has ever seen.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Cape of Pleasures (TBA)
In a near future in Brazil, a totalitarian regime forces the elderly into residences where they extract memories from their brains to train an AI system. Horrified by this new reality, one man escapes one of the residences and joins a guerrilla cell led by fellow dissidents over 75.
Why it matches: Similar story and style · both thriller
Like Telefon and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like Telefon?
The closest matches to Telefon are The Kremlin Letter (1970), The November Man (2014) and The Gray Man (2022). Below are 27 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after Telefon?
Start with The Kremlin Letter (1970), the closest match to Telefon.
What is the highest-rated movie like Telefon?
The Wages of Fear (1953), rated 8.0/10 by 1,153 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like Telefon?
A Working Man (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like Telefon?
Yes: The Kremlin Letter (1970), The November Man (2014) and The Gray Man (2022).
How are movies similar to Telefon chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside Telefon, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.