[.ca] Hopscotch (Widescreen)

From Amazon.com:
Walter Matthau is in peak form in Hopscotch, a featherweight spy-game comedy in which he plays a CIA agent who's way smarter than his dimwitted superiors. That's the fantasy part--this amusing cat-and-mouse game is so lopsided that you can't take it seriously. The movie's charm is derived from the sardonic pleasure with which Matthau makes his pursuers look like idiots, after they've targeted him for "termination" for publishing a tell-all memoir about his tenure in "the Company." He's no stool pigeon, however; it's his boss (played with blustery thick-headedness by the great Ned Beatty) who's abusing his power, so Matthau recruits an old lover (Glenda Jackson) to join him in a globetrotting game of clandestine cleverness. Under Ronald Neame's too-casual direction, this is a not-so-wild goose chase, but Matthau and Jackson (reuniting after they had fun making the 1978 comedy House Calls) have an easygoing chemistry that's nicely balanced with Matthau's cantankerous shenanigans. --Jeff Shannon

He's about to expose the CIA, the FBI, the KGB...and himself:
Off the top of your head, how many funny spy films can you think of? The James Colburn 'Flint' films of the 60's? The Austin Powers movies perhaps? Or that incredibly lame Leslie Nielsen film...Spy Hard (1996)? Over-the-top silliness seems to be a common theme in these films, but Hopscotch (1980), based on a book written by Brian Garfield, also a comedy involving spies, manages to rise above, avoiding the slapsticky and crude humor, rather providing a charming and intelligent story that entertains throughout. Directed by Ronald Neame (Prudence and the Pill, The Poseidon Adventure, The Odessa File), the film stars a wonderful and accomplished cast of actors including Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Sam Waterston, Herbert Lom, and Ned Beatty. Matthau plays Miles Kendig, one of the CIA's top field agents who suddenly finds himself relegated to a desk job after control of the department he works for is taken over by a petty, vindictive, and less than capable man named Myerson (Beatty) who seems to harbor a personal grudge against Kendig. Unable to deal with riding his career out behind a desk, Kendig leaves the agency, and, after much thought, decides to write his memoirs, detailing all kinds of juicy, sensitive stuff about not only his own agency, but also intelligence agencies throughout the world. After being in the biz for thirty years, he certainly has the inside scoop on all kinds of things, causing his former boss to put out the order for his termination, elimination, liquidation, extermination, what have you...with the aid of a wealthy widow and love interest named Isobel who was also once in the game, played by Jackson, Kendig begins leading his former colleagues on a chase that spans halfway around the globe, always managing to stay one or two steps ahead. Will he be able to finish his book before his old agency or that of a foreign power catches up to him? Even if he does, will he live to see his work published? Hopscotch is a wonderfully witty, light comedy with a dash of sophistication that nearly everyone can enjoy. Matthau plays his role so perfectly that after seeing the film, you could imagine no one else in the part. He's certainly got that whole irascible charm thing down, and it fits with the character very well here. I loved how his character never seemed to lose his calm composure, constantly outwitting and outsmarting his former co-workers in leisure like fashion, given that he probably wrote the book and trained half the men now chasing him. The element of Kendig using the notion of a book for revenge at first, but then once removed from the work he participated in for so long and seeing just how nasty it is from an outside perspective decides to follow through with his initial threat of finishing the book and getting it published. Jackson plays so very well off Matthau, and they create a level of chemistry that's pretty rare, in my opinion, between on screen couples. They just seem to fit so naturally together, creating a level of believability to counteract the somewhat unrealistic element that the CIA are a mostly a bunch of bumbling buffoons. Did anyone else think her hair was a bit too short, giving her the appearance of a young boy? Maybe it was just me... I really enjoyed a young looking Waterston (Law and Order) as Cutter, Kendig's competent and intelligent protégé now responsible for finding and eliminating his former mentor. I read that he'd actually come into shooting late due to the film he was working on prior, Heaven's Gate (1980) ran past its' shooting schedule, and is the reason why Waterston looks so very tired in some of the scenes in Hopscotch. Herbert Lom is also very good as a Soviet agent named Yaskov, one "who's seen Casablanca one too many times", although I felt he deserved a bit more screen time. Ned (Squeal like a pig for me, boy) Beatty is a riot as Myerson, constantly exasperated by his group's futile attempts to put a lid on the loose cannon he himself let loose due to his own petty dislikes for Kendig. Imagine someone you work with that no one likes, and then that person finally getting a little bit of power, lording over certain individuals, power tripping here and there, but mostly tripping over his own feet, and you basically have Myerson. The direction by Neame was most excellent, keeping the viewer (me) engaged throughout, with a smooth, steady pace as the story unfolded, which is a bit light in some parts, but did nothing to reduce my enjoyment of this charming, funny film. Criterion provides a superior high-definition digital transfer here in wide screen format and a cleaned up soundtrack. The quality of the picture is really fabulous, especially when compared to my old VHS copy. As far as special features are concerned, there's not as much as I would have thought from a Criterion release, but what's here is very worthy. There's liner notes on the insert inside the DVD case by Bruce Eder, a video introduction by writer Brian Garfield and director Roland Neame along with interviews, a separate audio track, a clean version created for television broadcast along with the original version (there's very little profanity in the film, but what this is comes from Ned Beatty's character Myerson) and an original theatrical trailer along with a teaser trailer for the film. If you're looking for a smartly funny engaging comedy that only gets better after repeated viewings, then Hopscotch is for you. Cookieman108

Ughhh! What a Waste of Major Talents!:
Rarely have such major talents (Matthau, Jackson and Beatty) been wasted in a film. Matthau plays a CIA station chief who is called back to Washington when - against CIA instructions - he allows the KGB's top agent to go free after catching him dead to rights in an espionage sting. How does Kendig (Matthau's character) deal with being "taken out of the game"? Against CIA policy, he proceeds to sell out U.S. national security interests by writing a best-selling expose of CIA covert operations. Ha, Ha! Real funny! What a laugh riot! The entire movie is standard liberal Hollywood fare - the CIA is stupid, the FBI is stupid, the iconoclast is irrascible and superior (he must be, he loves opera), yada, yada, yada. And what, do you ask, is Kendig's stated motive in disclosing U.S. secrets in a best-selling book? To expose CIA wrong-doing? Uh, no. Is it to expose a rogue agent in the upper reaches of the CIA? No, not that either. To quote the film, it's payback because his boss "emasculated" him. I do not kid. That's what he says. Wow! What a riot! Get back at your boss by selling out your country! I was in the last PATH train to be diverted from the World Trade Center PATH stop and watched the buildings go down - not on TV. I have subscriptions to the Metropolitan Opera and the City Opera. I DID NOT FIND THE PREMISE OF THIS FILM THE LEAST BIT FUNNY.

Light but loaded with comic charm:
Ned Beatty is a C.I.A. boss who is not as bright, or as honest, as he should be; Walter Matthau is a veteran C.I.A. agent who is brighter, more honest, and ready to tell all in a book that will be his retirement fund, or his swan-song if Beatty has his way. The C.I.A., under the unscrupulous Beatty, turns against Matthau, who deftly outwits them as they chase him from country to country. To add the romantic twist, Glenda Jackson plays Matthau's former girlfriend, who rejoins him to help him flee his unjust pursuers. This storyline could have been done seriously, a la John Grisham, but this film is pure spoof, pure chuckle, and pure charm, thanks to Matthau's bassett-hound-faced rogue-of-a-good-guy main character. Sit back, don't expect seriousness or complexity, and just smile.

Hopscotch...Good Title:
was suprised to see criterion release hopscotch, but glad they did. here matthau is repremanded for allowing a wanted KGB agent to walk. matthau's integrity is too precious to take guff from even the CIA. subsequently, he does not take the news of being reassigned to the job of file clerk very well so he begins to write his memoires, leaking secret information to the opposition. the ensuing chase is slapstick, a spy vs. spy comedy with great international locations. frankly, using the cold war as a catalyst for comedy was long overdue by 1980.

"Hopscotch"..."Good Title":
was suprised to see criterion release hopscotch, but glad they did. here matthau is repremanded for allowing a wanted KGB agent to walk. matthau's integrity is too precious to take guff from even the CIA. subsequently, he does not take the news of being reassigned to the job of file clerk very well so he begins to write his memoires, leaking secret information to the opposition. the ensuing chase is slapstick, a spy vs. spy comedy with great international locations. frankly, using the cold war as a catalyst for comedy was long overdue by 1980.