Hopscotch - Criterion Collection | 
 enlarge | Director: Ronald Neame
Actors: Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Sam Waterston, Ned Beatty, Herbert Lom
Studio: Criterion
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.95
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Rating:  155 reviews
Sales Rank: 2784
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 106
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: HOP020
ISBN: 0780026055
UPC: 037429171929
EAN: 9780780026056
ASIN: B00005JL3W
Theatrical Release Date: 1980
Release Date: August 20, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com
Walter Matthau is in peak form in Hopscotch, a featherweight spy-game comedy in which he plays a CIA agent who's way smarter than his dimwitted superiors. That's the fantasy part--this amusing cat-and-mouse game is so lopsided that you can't take it seriously. The movie's charm is derived from the sardonic pleasure with which Matthau makes his pursuers look like idiots, after they've targeted him for "termination" for publishing a tell-all memoir about his tenure in "the Company." He's no stool pigeon, however; it's his boss (played with blustery thick-headedness by the great Ned Beatty) who's abusing his power, so Matthau recruits an old lover (Glenda Jackson) to join him in a globetrotting game of clandestine cleverness. Under Ronald Neame's too-casual direction, this is a not-so-wild goose chase, but Matthau and Jackson (reuniting after they had fun making the 1978 comedy House Calls) have an easygoing chemistry that's nicely balanced with Matthau's cantankerous shenanigans. --Jeff Shannon
Description
Miles Kendig knows too much. One of the CIA's top international operatives, he suddenly finds himself relegated to a desk job in an agency power play. Unwilling to go quietly, Kendig, with the aid of a chic Viennese widow, puts himself back in the game by writing a memoir exposing the innermost secrets of every major intelligence agency in the world. The CIA wants Kendig dead, but he refuses to cooperate—he's having too much fun. Based on Brian Garfield's best-selling novel, and starring the inimitable comic team of Walter Matthau and Glenda Jackson, Ronald Neame's Hopscotch is a smart and stylish tale of international intrigue and a cat-and-mouse comedy.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 150 more reviews...
Comedy December 6, 2008
This is a long time favorite. Walter Mattau at his best. Great lines, quirky plot. Watched over and over again. A definite keeper.
 You Can Skip It November 9, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is an odd choice to get the full Criterion treatment as it's a fairly tame cold war romantic comedy thriller with a very low-key romance and few real thrills or laughs. Charade this ain't. Good location shooting, and it's interesting to think there was a time when a mainstream entertainment would cater to a mature audience. But, be prepared for a very mellow affair.
Not sure why this merits an "R" rating as all Ned Beatty's profanities have been very obviously overdubbed.
Delightful put-down of stuffy bureacracies October 24, 2008
Walter Matthau, is, as always, a top performer, and this DVD is no exception. It is essentially a kind of pure American put down of stuffy bureacracies and bureacrats by the usual witty, bright, and go-your-own-way battler against city hall(s). Here Matthau takes on the CIA, FBI, and his opposite in the KGB (who is nonetheless a friend) and winds up twisting all their noses in the end and escaping their less-than-desirable intentions for him. Along the way are numerous hilarious turn-about-plays that will often leave one in stitches, along with a warm sense of satisfaction that at least fictionally, the stuffycrats have had their tails well and truly twisted.
dvd October 12, 2008
this dvd was alot of fun to watch and the way the story played out kept you wanting to watch.
Getting his own back September 6, 2008
One of the most humorous, get the establishment I've seen. Walter Mattheau is superb as the opera singing, ex CIA agent getting his own back on the man who fired him. Many laughs and great imaginative writing. Buy this and have a fun experience.
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