| RE: .0
> Walter is an ex-CIA employee, recently let go [possibly because
> he was starting to be an embarrassment to the agency,
He was injured on a job such could lead a perfectly normal life, but due
to both the injury and his age he could not longer be a field agent, and
he could not stand the desk job they stuck him with, so he resigned.
> So, now it's time for revenge. And of course the CIA doesn't
> want this, so they decide to stop him before he sends out incrim-
> inating letters revealing some secrets that the CIA would rather
> not have revealed.
He is feeling bored out of his mind in retirement, so he decides to put
himself back into the game, by showing that he knows a bunch of things
that *no one*, not the CIA, not the KGB, not MI5/6, *nobody* wants the
public to know about. And he does it by writing a book, telling the
full and complete details about the dirty tricks of every major agency
over the last 40 years. But instead of just publishing the book, he
carefully sends chapters as he writes them to the heads of all of the
agencies, knowing that they will have to respond by trying to catch
(ie, kill) him, and it is only his own skill which keeps him alive. An
odd sort of game for most people, but it suits him well.
> This movie is a riot ... it's been 5+ years since I've seen it
> but I feel I'm due to see it again VERY soon.
Absolutely. The idea (very minor spoiler here) of renting the vacation
house of the CIA chief (Ned Beatty) who is after him, and then setting up
the CIA and FBI to tear-gas and shoot up the house is IMHO a masterful
stroke, and wonderfully done.
You might also consider reading the book. It is the same idea, and the
movie followed the book plot very closely, but the book is a little
darker than the movie. For example, there is no Glenda Jackson character.
But the rest is very close: Glenn Follet for example is a complete boob
in both places.
-- Ken Moreau
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| Haven't read the book, but have seen the movie many times and love it
each time.
A clarification: in the movie Walter Matthau places an older/senior
agent who quits when his boss, played by Ned Beatty, demotes him to a
desk job.
The movie opens with an operation (takes place in some germanic
country having Oktoberfest). The CIA is watching a KGB operative pass
goods (film, I think) until they can intercept and capture the players.
The (film/goods) end up with the senior KGB agent for the area and he
is confronted by Matthau and has to hand over the goods. It seems
that though they are not friends, they are "friendly enemies".
Ned Beatty, division boss (of field operations) back in the Washington
office, berates Matthau for letting the KGB guy go. Matthau's
explanation is that he knows this guy, if you get rid of him, they just
put a new guy in, who you don't know and you are farther behind in the
"game". Beatty demotes Matthau to a desk job and insults him several
other ways. Matthau leaves the office, walks down to the file room,
shreds his file and then dissapears. He decides to get even with Beatty
(I think the character name is Neetterman) by writing a book about all
the screwups the agency has had over the
years (you are lead to believe the screwups are because of Beatty). He
also includes info about agencies, so he has multiple groups (including
his KGB counterpart) after him. He writes and mails copies of the
chapters to the heads of various agencies (US, British, and KGB). After
the first chapter, Ned Beatty decides Matthau needs to be stopped at
all cost and the rest of the movie is Matthau staying several steps
ahead of them.
It is a very funny movie! Classic Matthau!
Glenda Jackson plays a retired agent and former love interest with
Matthau, now living in Austria and a widow of a wealthy Austrian
who is very willing to help him. Sam Waterston plays a CIA agent who
worked closely with Mattau and has high regard for him and no regard for
Beatty, but follows orders. Walter Matthau's son plays another agent.
May have to watch it again this weekend!
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| re: .3 Who's Walter's son...
Don't remember the exact name of the character, I think it was Ross,
but he is one of the agents assigned to track down Matthau. During the
movie he is bamboozled several times by both Matthau and Jackson.
.... while writing this note, tried using the Web Movie lookup given
earlier in this notes file.... the results.... David Matthau, played
Ross.
janetb.
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