This article is a ranked list from Collider, compiled by writer Jeremy Urquhart, of the seven best spy films released during the 1970s. The piece notes that the decade is generally considered weaker for spy cinema than the 1960s, with many tense, paranoia-driven thrillers of the era (such as The Day of the Jackal and All the President's Men) not quite fitting the genre, and the 1970s James Bond entries being divisive among fans.

Films highlighted at the lower end of the ranking include Scorpio (1973), starring Alain Delon as a hitman-turned-spy hired by the CIA to eliminate his own mentor, and Sam Peckinpah's The Killer Elite (1975), a chaotic mix of espionage, gang warfare and martial arts that departs from Peckinpah's more typical Western fare.

– Ranks seven notable spy films from the 1970s, a decade seen as weaker for the genre
– Scorpio (1973) reunites Alain Delon and Burt Lancaster from The Leopard
– The Killer Elite (1975) is a chaotic Sam Peckinpah espionage film