Hopscotch (1980)

I nice fun film to watch if you can get around Ned Beatty swearing all the time.Plot hole #1. Kendrick hires a single engine seaplane to fly from Georgia to Martinique. But changes destination to Bermuda. a small seaplane as pictured wouldn't have the range to get to either destination nonstop and no place to refuel in open water between U.S. and Bermuda. Also, even in 1980, a plane from U.S. would have to clear Bermuda customs, not just land at a resort.Plot hole #2. At the end, Kendrick after starting his bi-plane is in an open field with no visible cover. His plan was to fly it by remote control from some building. But he would clearly be seen by occupants of helicopter coming to catch him, so they would know he wasn't on the bi-plane.

Maybe this isn't truly a ten, but I'm going with it, because I so badly wish they still made movies like this. An actual clever plot, no extraordinary malice or violence, and likable characters. Sure, this isn't Walter Matthau's strongest movie, but it is still solid and just leaves you feeling good in an uncomplicated way. Also, the chemistry between Matthau and Glenda Jackson works brilliantly and much of the movie is filmed i Europe. What's not to like? I don't have a lot more to add, except that if you are around 50 years or older, you might really enjoy this movie; however, if you are much younger, it may seem too slow and stilted, although I can vouch for the fact that that's really pretty much how life was back then. You young rapscallions probably wouldn't believe it anyhow that the world actually was a much nicer place not too long ago.

I love films where a smart guy outwits a bunch of buffoons in authority. Walter Matthua plays the veteran CIA agent who decides to resign in a blaze of glory, by revealing all the secrets of his occupation via a book. He leads his former colleagues on a merry dance throughout Europe and America, one step ahead of his dim-witted pursuers all the way. He pauses only to flirt with a very sexy Glenda Jackson, before she turned into a shrieking harridan of an MP. Humiliate your stuff shirted bosses AND have a lot of fun doing it? Am I jealous or what...The script crackles with funny dialogue and ludicrous situations, and as Matthua's plans become more convoluted, so the entertainment factor increases by a notch. He's like the funny uncle I never had (Sorry to my two present incumbents, but it's true) and his sheer presence in every scene is almost enough to make you grin. Give me this guy over 007 any day. 7/10

Walter Matthau is as clever as ever in this 1980 film. The problem with this that after the plot is announced, the movie becomes tedious at best.Matthau is the zany CIA man who is demoted and decides to write a tell-all book which is quite damaging to the agency. He meets his match in acting with Ned Beatty as the head of the bureau. Beatty knows how to use that salty language and whoever made his hairdo should have received some sort of award. His hair is arranged as if it's in a flower pot.Glenda Jackson, already a 2 time Oscar winner by the time this picture was made, plays his ex-CIA girlfriend who aids him in his attempt to allude everyone.There are some funny scenes but there is only so far you can go with such a plot.