Sly Spy

By R.S.

HOPSCOTCH

Directed by Ronald Neame Screenplay by Brian Garfield and Bryan Forbes

With each year Walter Matthau looks more and more like an affable bloodhound. His cheeks seem to grow pouchier, his eyes more sadly knowing, his manner ever more wisely patient. To his basic screen self this great comedian of calm has added, in Hopscotch, a nicely distracted air: he moves through the picture humming bits of Mozart and even, at times, conducting an imaginary orchestra.

One would not take him to be one of the CIA'S top men. Indeed, he is now unrecognized even by the CIA, particularly a slick, thick deskman (Ned Beatty) who makes the mistake of canning Matthau or not sticking by the book when he breaks up a Soviet spy ring in Munich. Walter's revenge is what the rest of the film is about.

His scheme has a certain charm. He writes his memoirs, mailing them back o headquarters--and to the Soviets, the Chinese and anyone else who might be professionally interested. The agency falls all over itself trying to apprehend him before the final revelations can undo its secret activities completely. But aided by a once and present lover (Glenda Jackson), Matthau leads a mostly merry chase through much of the free world, keeping one jump ahead of his CIA pursuers until a happy, tricky ending is achieved.

For an essentially linear plot, this one seems to require an excess of exposition, and the film lacks both snappy comic writing and truly suspenseful action. Beatty aside, the minor characters are not developed with much flair. Sam Waterston, as a onetime Matthau protege in the agency now forced to lead the pursuit of his mentor, is bland in a blandly written role. Herbert Lorn, as Matthau's friendly rival from the U.S.S.R., is too friendly for the good of the picture. The film lacks a needed air of menace.

Still Matthau is Matthau: a resourceful actor capable of charming away an audience's doubts over routinely efficient direction and a screenplay that mistakes convolution for cleverness. The sly pleasure he takes in staying at least two jumps ahead of his material is infectious. He does what a star must do: he creates the illusion that this film is better than it actually is. He also makes it look easy. --R.S.

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