Mrs. Pollifax-Spy

In her final theatrical film (there would be a TV movie in 1972), Rosalind Russell plays novelist Dorothy Gilman's Mrs. Pollifax in "Mrs. Pollifax, Spy." This 1971 film also stars Darren McGavin, Nehemiah Piersoff, Albert Paulson, Harold Gould, John Beck and Dana Elcar. The script is written by Russell under a pseudonym. Mrs. Pollifax is an elderly woman who after being widowed volunteers to be a spy for the CIA. Since she looks so un-spylike, one of the people at the CIA (Elcar) decides to try her out on a mission. She is to go to Mexico, head for a bookstore, watch for The Tale of Two Cities in the window, enter the bookstore when she sees the book has been placed in the window, exchange some code sentences with the owner, get the book and leave. Except it doesn't go that way. Before Mrs. Pollifax knows what hit her, she's en route to an Albanian fortress with a man, John Sebastian Farrell (McGavin). They share a cell. Mrs. Pollifax goes to work plotting their escape as Farrell recovers from a bullet wound.

The Mrs. Pollifax books make for light, fun reading, and this pleasant story is along the same benign lines. Some of the elements of the books are disregarded - for instance, Mrs. Pollifax's children never were told she was a spy as they are here. Rosalind Russell does an excellent job, and she looks wonderful, particularly when one remembers how blown up the poor woman was from steroids due to her rheumatoid arthritis later on. She was such a striking woman with a strong presence in the films she made over her career. Darren McGavin isn't Gilman's Farrell, but his dry humor is effective just the same - another actor who, like Russell, is sorely missed.

This movie doesn't move very quickly; in fact, it's slow in parts, but there are some good scenes, particularly the Christmas party that Mrs. Pollifax talks her jailers into throwing. You can really admire her charm and cleverness.

"Mrs. Pollifax, Spy" is one of those comfortable movies where one sees a lot of familiar faces and an okay story. You'll see worse, you'll see better - but seeing Russell and McGavin more than makes up for the script's shortcomings.

"Mrs. Pollifax-Spy" is Rosalind Russell's last film. And, to make it more noteworthy, it's from a script she wrote herself using a pseudonym!

The story begins with Mrs. Pollifax (Russell) arriving at CIA headquarters and petitioning to become a spy! Considering she's a widow in her 60s, this is a tad unorthodox. But, surprisingly, they agree to have her come to work for them as a courier. Little does she know that this quick jaunt to Mexico will end up with her becoming a prisoner in Albania!!

This is a very light-weight film...neither bad nor especially good. I think the problem that prevented it from being better was that it wasn't exactly a comedy nor a serious drama....making it more one or the other would have made it a better film. But, if you allow yourself to throw realism out the window and just enjoy it as a time-passer, then it's worth your time.

While I wouldn't necessarily say, "You gotta see this!" I enjoyed it. Just the "time warp" aspect alone made it worth watching. It would probably be a tough sell for a non-Roz-fan, but there are several good moments for her to shine (often with just her facial expressions and no dialogue).

This was filmed in 1969 by the director of the 1966 "Batman" movie, to give you an idea of style (including animated opening credits). This film is not as campy but some similarities in style can be spotted as "dynamic duo" Rosalind Russell and Darren McGavin banter back and forth while captured and held captive just like the caped crusader and boy wonder were lo so many episodes of the TV show. (And of course, the acting is better, less cartoonish.)

I liked seeing McGavin (the dad from "A Christmas Story") and Harold Gould (Miles from "The Golden Girls"--as an Albanian!) in different roles. And as a movie buff in general, I would say the animated opening credits are right up there with those of Roz's "The Trouble With Angels." I think it's great that RR adapted the screenplay herself (under a pseudonym) so that her final film could be a star vehicle and not some throwaway two-minute scene playing Raquel Welch's mother or anything along that line.

Is the movie an indisputable classic? No. But a worthwhile effort? Totally. Especially compared to some of the klunkers other screen legends made as their final bows. I was interested in what would happen to the two main characters and enjoyed their rapport with each other. Overall, a good movie I would definitely watch again.

Rosalind Russell is as fine an actress at the end as she was in her prime. She actually fit Dorothy Gilman's suburban-retiree-detective-spy Mrs. Polifax to a tee. The supporting cast seems to be enjoying her antics as much as we do. The script is very silly and pedestrian, but given the genre, it's implausability does not get in the way of some great fun.

Why Rosalind Russell's greatness has been so little appreciated is beyond me. The marvelous grand dame Russell is the epitome of brilliance, vigor and poise, always larger than life, as her courageous return to the stage conquering arthritis well shows. In fact the only small problem with this fantastic lady playing Mrs. Pollifax, is that her elegance and power are a bit at odds with the sweet, bumbling nature of the novel's character.

I love the Mrs. Pollifax mysteries nearly as much as I do beloved Rosalind, having read them many times, and so can see the slight difficulty, but as wonderful as Mrs. Pollifax's character is, and as absolutely phenomenal as dear Rosalind always is, the difficulty of fit is easy to overlook for the sheer joy of seeing two of my very favorite ladies merged as one for the occasion. The fact that Rosalind wrote the thing as well as starring in it (the movie, not the book) proves her excellence as if it needed any proof.

One of the superior characteristics of this "Mrs. Pollifax - Spy," versus what I've heard of Angela Lansbury's "Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" is that I seem to recall that this one more nearly follows the "The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax" book, whereas the latter, despite having the same title, is a mixture of at least one more of the novels (one being "A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax" if the Swiss clinic is any clue), which helps to confuse the plot even more, as if Mrs. Pollifax weren't always inviting confusion just by being there! I'd probably love the latter too, so I don't mean too much criticism, but I much prefer having just one book's plot versus the confusion and dilution of piecing more than one book together, but most of all, as wonderful as dear, elegant Angela Lansbury is, there will never be another Rosalind Russell.