In this week’s Disc Dive we’re on the run from both the CIA and the KGB with Hopscotch.
Title: Hopscotch
Director: Ronald Neame
Released: September 26, 1980 (Theatrical – United States)
Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes
Disc Format: Criterion Blu-ray
Miles Kendig (Walter Matthau) is a veteran CIA agent. While on assignment in Munich, Kendig and his team prevent the transfer of a microfilm and apprehend those involved. Well, almost everyone involved.
Yaskov (Herbert Lom), the European head of the KGB, was behind the operation that Kendig and crew broke up. Kendig is waiting for Yaskov as he exits the building. The two talk and then Kendig lets him go. Turns out the two have a bit of a professional friendship and mutual respect for one another.
Kendig’s superior, Myerson (Ned Beatty) is livid that Yaskov was not arrested on the spot in Munich. As punishment, Myerson replaces Kendig with his protégé, Joe Cutter (Sam Waterston) and assigns Kendig to desk duty. Kendig is perturbed by the situation and rather than riding a desk, he decides to take matters into his own hands.
He shreds his personnel file, sets off to see his old flame, Isobel (Glenda Jackson), and sits down to write his memoirs. He’s going to air all of the CIA’s dirty laundry, exposing their ineffectiveness under Myerson’s leadership. This sets off an international manhunt to find Miles Kendig before he can publish this memoir.
The CIA wants him stopped. The KGB wants their secrets kept.
Kendig just wants to write a good book.
Hopscotch was a blind-buy on my part. I wasn’t familiar with it at all other than Walter Matthau was the lead. That was good enough for me.
If you go into this expecting a tense thriller, you’ll be disappointed. If you go into it expecting laugh-out-loud comedy, you’ll be disappointed. But if you’re able to meet Hopscotch on its level, you’re in for a treat.
Sure, it starts out as a thriller. And it retains certain aspects of a thriller throughout. But things shift into more of a comedic lane around the time Kendig decides to write his memoirs. From then on, Hopscotch is a game of cat-and-mouse between Kendig and the CIA/KGB.
Matthau is the glue holding it all together. His ability to play it straight while also sprinkling in some comedy is on full display here. Whether obtaining and traveling with a variety of assumed identities or buying Myerson’s home and using it to bait agents into opening fire on, he’s an absolute delight. The supporting cast all do what is required of them, with Waterston being the standout.
The writing is smart and clever. Things move at a quick pace, jokes are punchy, and there’s enough tension to keep you engaged. This is based on a novel of the same name by Brian Garfield, one that’s now on my want-to-read list.
If Hopscotch has previously evaded you, don’t let it happen again.