Hopscotch (film)

"He actually has the balls to hide out in my house!"

The 1980 adaptation of the Brian Garfield novel, co-written by the original author. This Cold War-era espionage comedy stars Walter Matthau as Miles Kendig, a CIA field agent who is Kicked Upstairs after refusing to terminate his Soviet counterpart, an affable operator named Yaskov (Herbert Lom). Ned Beatty plays Myerson, the immature bureaucrat who does the kicking — and screaming. Rather than ride a desk for the next few years, Kendig decides to write and publish his memoirs, including thirty years' worth of state secrets. Aided by his lover Isobel (Glenda Jackson) and hunted by his protege Joe Cutter (Sam Waterston), Kendig skips around the globe as the CIA and KGB race to apprehend him.

Tropes used include:

• Adaptation Distillation: The novel was a drama written as a counterpoint to the flashy James Bond stereotypes of espionage. This film is a comedy.
• Bang Bang BANG: The FBI agents think that a string of firecrackers sounds like a machine gun. They return fire.
• Cluster F-Bomb: Myerson drops them, at least by 1980 standards.
• Deadly Euphemism: "What did you want me to do, terminate him?"
• Large Ham: Kendig singing opera while crossing European borders.
• The Nondescript: A large part of why Kendig is such a good agent.
• Not Quite Dead: Kendig fakes his death in a (remote controlled) airplane crash.
• Oil Slick: Of course the barrel of oil in his truck is for the driveway he's building at the house he is renting...
• Phone Trace Race: Subverted. Kendig teases the tracing technicians until they discover that he is living in their boss's summer house.
• Public Domain Soundtrack: Most of the background music was composed by Mozart, though operas by Rossini and Puccini are represented briefly.
• Running Gag: Kendig and Isobel joke about Follett's sexuality, as he monitors and attempts to trace their calls.