Hopscotch

1980
Directed By Ronald Neame


SYNOPSIS


When aging CIA agent Miles Kendig (Walter Matthau) is put out to pasture, he quits. In order to get back at his boss (Ned Beatty,) he vows to write his memoirs which will reveal critical secrets of all the major world powers. Kendig sends his book out one chapter at a time to all the involved parties and tries to stay one step ahead of them... who will stop at nothing to keep him from publishing the book.

MY THOUGHTS

A very entertaining and fun cat and mouse spy tale.
 
The script of Hopscotch moves with the intelligence and suspense of the best of James Bond films, though it is a very different animal.
It's that different animal because of Walter Matthau. The film offers him a great opportunity to display his unique skills to their fullest. Matthau was equally adept with comedy and drama. His wholly original mix of charisma, charm and gruffness is used to perfect effect here. He handles the mix of high comedy and high drama far better than, and with far more sophistication and subtlety, than Roger Moore's James Bond.

Hopscotch also benefits from Matthau's genuine chemistry with Glenda Jackson, playing an old flame. The two make for a quirky but realistic couple.

The film is also filled with many other great actors in supporting roles which flesh out the world and Kendig's character like Herbert Lom as Kendig's Russian counterpart and a young Sam Waterston as Kendig's protege who's forced to go after him, yet admiring and rooting for him the whole way.

Matthau is great with comedy and drama and Hopscotch is perfectly able to balance them. The comedy never lets you forget that Kendig is in serious and life-threatening trouble... or destroys the realism the film is able to maintain. Yet at the same time, the drama never gets too heavy handed and is often broken up at just the right time by a one-liner or crazy situation. It never gets too silly or overly dramatic to be believable and that is a very difficult balance to maintain.

A perfect film for lovers of Walter Matthau or fans of spy films looking to laugh.