Mike Gwilym

Ronald Neame’s Hopscotch is a smart and stylish tale of international intrigue and a cat-and-mouse comedy.

Hopscotch -- Miles Kendig (Walter Matthau) 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 puts himself back in the game by writing a memoir exposing the innermost secrets of the intelligence world. The CIA wants Kendig dead, but he refuses to cooperate--he's having too much fun.

In his first starring role, Sir Ian McKellen gives a sensational performance as D.H. Lawrence, working alongside Hollywood legend Ava Gardner and director Christopher Miles. McKellen shows Lawrence in all his rebellious grandeur, thumbing his nose at authority while still managing to write masterpieces. The film begins with the English government burning copies of The Rainbow, and continues through his exodus around the world, joined by his combative wife Frieda (Janet Suzman).

Presented by TCM. A retired CIA agent threatens to publish an embarrassing book of memoirs about his colleagues. (Dir: Ronald Neame. Comedy, 1980.)