Randal Patrick

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.

A Vietnam vet who had renounced violence to become a minister, David Miller (John Schneider) regains his killer instinct through intense training after a terrorist slaughters his wife and daughter in an airport massacre. David sets off for Lebanon to find and kill the man responsible. Without any support from the government, the volatile vigilante runs into dangerous traps set by terrorists as well as duplicitous covert agents.

Frankie (Gary Busey) and Patch (Robbie Robertson) have a system. Frankie wears clown makeup and sits in the dunk-tank cage, howling insults at midway passersby. Patch is out front collecting dollars from marks eager to make Frankie and his big mouth take a dive. It's a good town-to-town living for the two pals. Then Donna (Jodie Foster) came along. A charismatic star trio energizes this grit-and-glitter slice of carnival life that's as atmospheric as a stroll down midway USA. Indeed, music man Robertson, who co-produced and penned the story on which the screenplay was based, once worked as a carny. He and his collaborators ensure that time spent with the impressive sights and unique personalities of this traveling show will be downright unforgettable.