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“Hopscotch” will make you scratch your head or sleep rather than being ever so thrilled with it. However, though it is irrelevant, it does manage to bring forth a pleasant feeling after it is done. That is partially because of Walter Matthau who was able to correctly feign a dialogue to the point where he could no longer be identified, and partially because the movie itself drifts through time in a civilized and whimsical manner. Tersely speaking although not quite accurate, “Hopscotch” is . . . enjoyable now isn’t that a weird statement to make with respect to a thriller.
The movie is an adaptation from a book written by Brian Garfield, the man behind Death Wish, and his hero yet again seems to be an individual who single handedly afflicts a regime. While the Charles Bronson character from ‘Death Wish‘ goes out on a rampage, hunting and killing mercilessly every mugger in sight, the character of Walter Matthau in ‘Hopscotch’ only seeks to play with his foes around, mentally.
The CIA, however, wants everybody to kill him. Matthau portrays a seasoned intelligence agent who disrupts a Soviet operation in Munich and is able to catch the KGB chief, but lets him slip away. When the Soviet operation is subverted, Matthau is summoned back to Washington, only to find a new man in charge of the department’s division: Ned Beatty. Beatty is a “dirty tricks”: disinformation operatives of the CIA, and the movie suggests that he was the one who ordered the asinine act of sending poisoned cigars to Castro.
Anyhow, Beatty pulls Matthau out of the field and puts him in the filing room. Which is something Michael does not take very lightly. He goes ahead and deletes all his personal files, storms out of the agency, gets on a plane to Austria, and stooges the CIA into thinking he is ready to turn double agent against the Soviets. Afterward, he meets with an old lover (Glenda Jackson), hides in her estate, and begins to pen his memoirs that contain sensitive information on the CIA. After he finishes each section, he sends it out to the top spy agencies around the world.
That settles it! Beatty promises to ‘terminate’ Matthau. Sam Waterston, another CIA operator, claims that he knew from the very beginning that Matthau was just having some fun at Beatty’s expense. But Beatty does not strike me as someone who will laugh at himself.
As soon as this basic situation is established, ‘Hopscotch‘ becomes a sort of traveling comedy masquerading as a thriller. Matthau moves between two continents, always on the run, using various aliases and fake passports, while adding insult to injury by purchasing Ned Beatty’s summer house and actually moving into it. He is also a brilliant strategist when it comes to deceiving the CIA he gives them what they expect while leading them to what he wants them to believe. A part of me feels some resentment because of the ending of the movie because it does not reveal everything (and how it was all achieved), but then again, who cares.
Funny thing about the material; it is so neutral yet so familiar at the same time. It can be crafted into a good or bad movie from the basic story, and the material wouldn’t have taken any blame. In the film ‘hopscotch’ it is good primarily because of matthau . Glenda Jackson seems to have gotten the part because she was previously backwards with Matthau but she doesn’t have a lot to do. Most of the actors don’t either; it is amusing because there are funny scenes with waterston,beatty, herbert, and other actors but this is a one star movie otherwise.
Matthau, rather than taking any action, appears to be sarcastically scowling as his hair remains in his eyes, pouting, then begins to walk in that distinct arm swinging shamble which has become a trademark. It makes him fun to watch in the movie and he looks like he is enjoying himself.
“At the end of our flight, Lucy Saroyan remarks, ‘You remind me of my father.’ On her comment, he says, ‘That has always been my issue.’ As he says this, he waddles away clumsily each hand loaded with a suitcase and is obviously running behind for an appointment with fate.”
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