The Sunday Morning Movie Presents: Hopscotch (1980) Run Time: 1H 45M

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Greetings gentle readers, welcome to another installment of The Sunday Morning Movie. Today it’s a light hearted Cold War comedy, Hopscotch, if such a thing can be said to exist.

Reviews:

roger-ebert.com says:

“Hopscotch” is a shaggy-dog thriller that never really thrills us very much, but leaves a nice feeling when it’s over. That’s partly because of the way Walter Matthau fools around with dialogue until he wears it well, and partly because the movie’s shot at a measured, civilized, whimsical pace. It’s a strange thing to say about a thriller, but “Hopscotch” is . . . pleasant.
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Once this basic situation is established, “Hopscotch” turns into a picaresque comedy disguised as a thriller. Matthau hops all over two continents, hiding out under false passports and assumed names, and adding insult to injury at one point by actually buying Ned Beatty’s summer cottage and moving into it. He also turns out to be devilishly clever at leading the CIA to expect one thing, and giving it another. His final deception, at the movie’s end, cheats us a little (how did he do it?), but so what.

rogersmovienation says:

“Hopscotch” thus becomes a comic thriller and travelogue, with Matthau in assorted Homberg hats, safari jackets and trenchcoats, merrily plotting this trick, that escape and the occasional humiliation, singing along, humming and on occasion conducting the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart every step of the way.

British cinematographer/producer/director Ronald Neame, who got his start shooting the films of David Lean in the ’40s, wasn’t known for comedy. “The Poseidon Adventure” and “The Prime of Miss Jean Brody” were his most famous films. But Mozart turns this bon bon of a movie into a bouncy little gambol of a Grand Tour.

Letterboxd says:

I like Hopscotch not simply because I love spy spoofs but because of the performances of Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson, both of whom seem to be enjoying themselves immensely. This is my second-favorite Matthau performance after Charade. In Stanley Donen’s masterpiece, he pretends to be a CIA agent. Here, he’s the real thing, though it doesn’t matter if his Miles Kendig is more convincing as a trickster than as a spy. Glenda doesn’t really have that much to do, but she and Walter have considerable chemistry in their second film together, after the much-lesser House Calls. My favorite scene is the first meeting between Kendig and Jackson’s Isobel as they pretend not to know each other while she acts as a wine snob before exclaiming, “Where have you been, you old goat?” I also like her correcting his pronunciation of “harassing.”

As always with Ronald Neame, the film is well directed, though some scenes, especially the shooting up of the Tybee Island, Georgia, home of Myerson (Ned Beatty), go on a little too long. After Ned’s experience in Deliverance, I’m surprised he returned to Georgia. Regardless, it’s all a lot of fun. My only regret is that the great Herbert Lom, reunited with Neame after Gambit, in which Herbie gives my favorite of his many fine performances, doesn’t have enough to do.

My take:
An entertaining, light hearted caper worth the hour and forty-five minutes of your life. Matthau is perfect, he plays his role with an airy aplomb. It’s a bit silly at times, some of the stunts he pulls off are patently ridiculous, but don’t let that dissuade you. Beatty and the rest of the crew, including a youthful Sam Waterson, play their roles well but it’s definitely Matthau’s show.

Director: Ronald Neame

Writers: Bryan Forbes, Brian Garfield

Notable Actors: Walter Matthau, Ned Beatty, Sam Waterson, Glenda Jackson

Plot (Spoilers!):

Old-hand CIA field agent Miles Kendig (Matthau) is pissed. After years of working in Europe, he is to be demoted to a desk job because he failed, with good reason, to arrest the head of the KGB in Europe. But he will have his revenge.

First he visits the CIA file room and shreds his personal file. Then it’s off to Germany to reunite with an old lover Isobel (Jackson). He is approached by the KGB head he let slip but refuses to be recruited. The KGB chief sarcastically asks him what he will do with his time, write his memoirs?

Kendig realizes this would be the perfect revenge on his boss Myerson (Beatty). He hammers out a first chapter, revealing a number of juicy secrets, and mails them off to spy chiefs around the world. Myerson assigns Kendig’s protégé Cutter (Waterson) to track him down. The KGB also begin a hunt for him.

And so begins a merry chase. Kendig fires off more chapters and informs them of his location but remains one step ahead. From Europe to the U.S. to Bermuda to London, he remains infuriatingly unstoppable. In London he approaches a publisher who expresses great interest in his manuscript.

Kendig’s clues lead his pursuers to a small airfield by Dover, England where he has set up a final escape by faking his own death. A misadventure in the form of a flat tire and the British police nearly derail his plans but he manages to escape using his old CIA bag of tricks. The KGB and the CIA join forces and arrive at the airfield via helicopter. A remote-controlled biplane and an aerial pursuit lead to the perception that Kendig has died a fiery death. In reality, he has escaped and reunites with Isobel. The two head off to the south of France and a life on the lam. At the finale, we see Kending disguised as a Sikh man buying a copy of his bestselling book in a London bookstore, to the gentle consternation of Isobel.