Hopscotch

Released a few years ago, Burn After Reading followed a CIA agent being pushed out the door after a long career. Angry at the world, that agent – played to perfection by John Malkovich – decides to write his memoirs of all the things he saw as a secret agent. Of course, this version was played for laughs, and a lot of them at that. So what if that similar premise was handled seriously? That’s 1980's Hopscotch.

A similar premise is one thing, but Burn After Reading wisely chose to go down one road and stick with it. Released 30 years earlier, Hopscotch tries to do that but instead wavers back and forth between comedy and drama. It still works to a point because let’s face it. Secret agents are up to some nasty, shady stuff. If they get burned or put out to pasture, think of all the available information they have at their disposal, info that a government or intelligence agency would not want released. But pick comedy or drama, not both.

After running his successful CIA station in Munich for years, Miles Kendig (Walter Matthau) is called back to Langley for a meeting with his boss, Myerson (Ned Beatty). He doesn’t know what to expect and is blind-sided upon entering the office when he told he’s being forcibly transferred. A field agent all his life, Miles is now going to be in charge of running the CIA file room deep in the cavernous basements of Langley. Miles decides he’s had enough and disappears for a few days without explanation. He visits an old flame in Austria, Isobel (Glenda Jackson), and goes to work. If the CIA doesn’t want him anymore, Miles intends to take them down a notch or two…or ten. He starts to write his memoirs, all his exploits of his years as a CIA agent. Instead of just writing them down though, he sends them to CIA and foreign intelligence agencies all over the world, starting a worldwide chase with Miles as the main target.

Walter Matthau is one of the most easily watchable movie stars in Hollywood history. He switches back and forth effortlessly between hysterical comedic performances and heavy dramatic parts that allowed him to show off his ability. Above all else in Hopscotch, Matthau always keeps it watchable. All I could picture with this 1970s spy flick was that if Jason Bourne ever made it into his 50s, this is what he would be like…albeit a little more crotchety and not so willing to fight his way out of most situations. It’s just good fun seeing Matthau’s Kendig go hopping around the world, duping his pursuers at every corner with his deep pockets full of secrets. If this was a cat and mouse chase, the cat would have given up long ago. Instead, Miles keeps pulling the string and the so-called intelligence agencies struggle keeping up.

But the good and bad of the Matthau character is that he’s really good at what he does with few rivals. Instead of a chase like Jason Bourne eluding his pursuers who are equally adept, we get Matthau laughing his way through his chase. He laughs off the situation, shrugging off Beatty and his thugs like they’re a fly buzzing around his ear. There’s never any real threat of danger regardless of much Beatty wants to get Matthau’s head on a platter. You know the bait will be laid out, the CIA will bite, and Matthau will pull the ball away like Lucy does to Charlie Brown. More than that, we never know what is being written about in his manuscript. Yes, government secrets, shady dealings, black ops that no one should know about, but give us a couple details here and there. Just having the MacGuffin doesn’t work. There’s got to be some pay-off.

Joining in on the chase are some solid performances from the supporting cast.  Beatty does what he does best, play the squirrelly, obsessed villain with a glint of crazy hovering in his eye.  He plays him straight, no redeeming qualities anywhere in sight, just a despicable government representative more worried about himself than anyone else.  Jackson as Matthau’s love interest is somewhat bland mostly because it’s hard to see Matthau as a love interest. Sam Waterston as Joe Cutter, Miles’ replacement is a scene-stealer, an agent torn between his friendship with the man they’re chasing and his duty/obligation to his employers. He gets some effortless laughs with his off the cuff, casual lines delivieries. Herbert Lom is criminally underused as Yahkov, a Russian agent along for the ride.

I liked the effort here and was never bored watching Hopscotch. At the same time though, I didn’t love it. There’s humor, yes, but then the drama quickly approaches and cancels it out. Instead of being really exciting or really tense, the movie just sits there. There’s no real energy even toward the end when the chase is coming to an end. There is a weak attempt at a semi-twist in the finale, but it falls short. An average spy flick that’s good for Matthau, Waterston and Lom, but for me, I’ll stick with Jason Bourne and Burn After Reading for now.

Hopscotch ß-trailer (197?): **/****