AVCO Embassy Pictures
Directed by Ronald Neame
My rating: 2 stars out of 4
IMDb Wikipedia
(Blu-ray, Criterion Collection)
CIA agent Walter Matthau is demoted after failing to arrest a Soviet spy. Instead of accepting a "desk job" he adopts a new identity on goes to Europe to stay with an old lover. He decides to write a tell-all book, which gets the attention of his old employers, and a few other spies as well, who pursue him across the globe. He hops from country to country, adopting new names along the way, always managing to stay a step ahead of his inept pursuers. It becomes personal when he rents the house of the boss who tried to demote him, then almost gets it destroyed in a shootout. The escapes become more and more preposterous, finally leading to an improbable aerial shootout in which Matthau fakes his own death. Lightweight comedy/adventure in which Matthau is miscast, Glenda Jackson underused as his girlfriend and a plot completely lacking in plausibility.
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