Hopscotch

This delightful confection from 1980 features the irrepressible Matthau as a veteran spy who, unhappy to learn he’s to finish his service behind a desk, sets out to publish his memoirs that will blow the whistle on the dirtiest espionage laundry of the past 30 years, much to the embarrassment of the CIA and the KGB. This sends him on a jaunt around exotic locales from the Caribbean to Austria where he’s aided by his old squeeze (Jackson) in running rings around the former employers, led by Beatty, intent on neutralising him. Though light on action, it’s a frothy caper that’s high on laughs and it gets by almost entirely on the charms of Matthau, whose warmth and twinkle manage to raise a smile in every scene in which he appears, while the exasperated reactions of Beatty’s potty-mouthed chief offer a nicely embittered balance. [Paul Greenwood]