To read history write it, Hopscotch was a film that came and largely went in 1980, but with the DVD/Blu-ray era unearthing more obscure fare, it has gained an enthusiastic following in the years since.
Walter Matthau as Miles Kendig
Glenda Jackson as Isobel von Schonenberg
Ned Beatty as G.P. Myerson
Sam Waterston as Joe Cutter (Yes, I know...)
David Matthau as Leonard Ross
Douglas Dirkson as Follett
Herbert Lom as Mikhail Yaskov
Basically, Kendig is the 80s' first big troll.
Kendig gets his tell-all idea from Yaskov as the two enjoy a sip of vodka together.
Based on the 1975 novel by Brian Garfield (who also penned Death Wish and disliked the violence of the 1974 film), Hopscotch benefits from the talent and experience behind the camera (Garfield and Bryan Forbes (The Naked Face) adapting, Ronald Neame directing) as well as in front of it.
A running theme is Kendig valuing cunning, long-term goals, and pragmatism
over Myerson's take-no-prisoners, "guns-a-blazing" approach.
Like Charley Varrick before it, Hopscotch gets us to relate to the lead by having him
display more values, morals, and charm than some of the people after him.
Not a difficult task, given how much of a profane hothead Myerson is.
While Garfield's novel was said to be darker with humorous touches (and a different ending), casting Walter Matthau as Hopscotch's lead led to a rewrite that better suited his dry-humored persona, and by gum, does this movie succeed at it. (For the opposite situation, see 1983's The Survivors.)
While less gritty than in most of his other beloved roles, Matthau's pretty much
at the top of his game, and his slick energy propels the film beautifully.
Hopscotch has such a constant, overarching sense of fun that it carries its other elements all the way through, with Garfield and Forbes' snappy screenplay crackling great with Neame's direction. Some reviews (from 1980 and now) have pointed out that it has a relative lack of thrills for the spy genre, but I find the film makes its characters, stunts, and performances so enjoyable that most viewers likely won't feel shortchanged.
Not present in the novel, Isobel may be a smaller role given Jackson's level
of fame at the time, but she is by no means wasted here.
Suggesting Jackson after their successful pairing in House Calls (1978),
Matthau and her are so believably fun and effortless, much like the film itself.
Like Charade before it, Hopscotch goes down and digests so easily that it almost needs little said about it. Matthau is effortlessly awesome, and the film could be called an ensemble piece given how entertaining the rest of the cast are.
I love Sam Waterston from his Law & Order days, and his Cutter
is one of the film's few "straight men", who deep down still roots
for former superior Kendig just a little.
Each of Hopscotch's characters have clear "voices" and dynamics,
putting little "wrinkles" into your run-of-the-mill spy thriller tropes.
Cutter's concern about KGB agents going after Kendig certainly
would have been valid in 1980, but true to its lighter nature,
the film doesn't really follow up or elaborate on it further.
Lom's role isn't substantial, but it's understandably subdued
given the other characters already in the film.
On a subtextual level, Hopscotch, with its ad-libs and in-jokes, will especially be a treat for Matthau fans and the like.
Arguably the film's other "straight man", David Matthau's Ross
is the subject of several of Kendig's stunts, meaning that in this scene,
Walter Matthau amusingly takes his own son hostage.
Ross is later the victim of a prank call...
...from a rather-Thatcher-sounding Kendig.
(Geez, why couldn't this have been the ending for For Your Eyes Only?)
With the use of a biplane in Kendig's plan to evade his pursuers, Hopscotch could serve as
a "best-of" to Matthau's career, barring the inclusion of Jack Lemmon and a racetrack scene.
Indeed, the film rests on Matthau, his charm, and his obvious enjoyment to add that much satisfaction to the film's setups and payoffs. Certainly, the audience wouldn't be thinking "will he make it?", but rather "how's he gonna get out of this one?".
Kendig uses firecrackers to fake out the CIA and FBI men outside the house he was in.
At this point you may ask, "But what about Snakes?"
Due to Waterston's clear exhaustion from the overrun filming of
Heaven's Gate, lines were written in mentioning Cutter's "jet lag".
Some reviews note the lessened and more passive roles of most of the other characters,
but it wasn't an aspect I noticed all that much until after the film was over.
Hopscotch has a large cast of well-known British and American (mostly) character actors that include (but are not limited to)...
Jacquelyn Hyde as a Savannah, GA realtor,
who sounds like she was voiced by Nancy Cartwright.
Matthau's stepdaughter Lucy Saroyan (who looks so much like her mother)
as "discreet" seaplane pilot Carla Fleming
Severn Darden (The President's Analyst, Back to School)
as Leroy Maddox, Fleming's "connection"
Anne Haney (Liar Liar, Mrs. Doubtfire) has a small role as Myerson's wife.
Allan Cuthbertson (who also appeared in The Mirror Crack'd's film-within-a-film)
as Sir Giles Chartermain
George Baker (Sir Hilary Bray in On Her Majesty's Secret Service)
as publisher Parker Westlake
The 1968-1982 Avco Embassy logo may not technically be rare, but it sure is unusual seeing it out in the wild nowadays.
OTHER OBSERVATIONS
Well what do you know? Dreyfus made it to Oktoberfest after all!
Insert Buddy Buddy joke here.
Oh my god. If these two don't run into Ingrid Bergman and a bulldog in a Volvo,
I'm gonna be extremely disappointed!
Kendig in brownface disguise to buy his own book? Not good even back then.
Isobel berating him for it and its ridiculousness? Hilarious.
In view of the camera, Kendig and Isobel pretty much shoplift Kendig's own book.
TIDBITS AND SUCH
I'm going to assume Hopscotch didn't have the most tonally indicative of ad campaigns, seeing as how one U.S. poster (left) is clearly riffing on The Spy Who Loved Me (another Bond film George Baker appeared in). The Italian poster (right) is almost worse, making the film out to be a Pink Panther-esque sex comedy. Would the posters have been easier to conceptualize in the wake of more straight-faced spoofs like The Naked Gun? Who knows.
Hopscotch may have been seen as a bit too light-hearted in 1980, but its comfortable tone has aged surprisingly well given its subject matter. I made the mistake of putting this film off for so long after first reading about it, so take my advice and see it when and where you can, preferably with a spilled beer and an ever-changing photo of your boss.
Copyright © Chynna Moore
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