Last night I watched Hopscotch, starring Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson, and a terrific supporting cast featuring Ned Beatty (in his prickiest role ever), Herbert Lom and a young Sam Waterston. I can't get it out of my head. A "comedy-thriller" best sums it up. Matthau plays Mile Kendig, a CIA field agent benched by his tight-ass section chief (played by Beatty) for not objectively following the rules of the company. So Kendig splits to write his memoir, exposing all of the CIA's dirty secrets of the last 25 or so years. Hilarity and intrigue ensue.I'll end the synopsis there, because I don't explain things too well. But it's brilliant and more than timely in our newly heightened world of surveillance and espionage.
I give it four stars on the MO'SH movie review scale. Of course, I give every film either four stars or no stars. It's so much easier that way.
2 comments:
I saw Hopscotch when it debuted on HBO. I didn't make it to the end--probably a little young for it. I remember Ned Beatty saying something about FBI standing for "fucking ball-busting imbeciles" or something like that.
I always enjoyed the blue stuff.
How the hell did you come to see this? Was it on "Starz14: movies from 1980 no one remembers"?
No, I got it from Netflix. It's a Criterion Collection DVD. I'm one of those dopes who thinks that if CC puts it out, it must be a "lost classic."
They were right in this case.
And yes, that's exactly what Beatty says.
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