Review of Mrs. Pollifax-Spy

Well-regarded screen star Russell, who had been working with her producer husband Frederick Brisson since the 1940's on various vehicles for herself (earning him the nickname "The Lizard of Roz") ended her feature film career with this movie. Based on a series of popular books, Russell is the title lady, a retired widow with grown children who enters the CIA, offering to be an agent and claiming to be expendable due to her age and lack of dependents. Astonishingly enough, they use her as a volunteer courier, shipping her off to Mexico City in order to obtain some microfilm from a local bookstore. Unfortunately, things don't come off without a hitch and she finds herself in the back of a plane, handcuffed to fellow agent McGavin, headed for a prison in Albania! Once there, the situation looks bleak, but Russell turns out to be more resourceful than anyone initially gave her credit for. Russell, who at this stage of her life was beginning to suffer badly from rheumatoid arthritis and would soon be diagnosed with cancer, wrote the script under a pen-name and gave herself a surprisingly physical role. While a few of her rough moments are handled by a double, quite a bit of her physicality is done on her own. She hasn't got a lot of terrific things to say or do, but she also doesn't embarrass herself or wind up in a "Trog" like her peer Joan Crawford. She's spunky and resilient without being over-the-top superhuman. Her unique brand of charm shines through occasionally. McGavin provides a cranky counterpoint to her optimism. He does a fine, if not exactly spectacular, job. Portraying various villains and superiors are Persoff, Gould, Paulsen, Elcar and a young Beck. In an ironic twist, no fewer than nine of Russell's costars here, virtually all of the supporting cast, in fact, were guest stars on "Mission: Impossible" at least once! Future soap actor Hallick appears briefly (and rather unnecessarily) as her son. While the film is not particularly exciting or suspenseful (and has a relentlessly bleak color palette for much of its running time!), it's professionally made, contains some nice location work and scenery and features a flavorful Lalo Schifrin score (the man who also did much of "Mission: Impossible's" music!) For some reason, the film was marketed with a FAR younger and slimmer version of Roz in the posters and in the neatly handled animated credits. The advertising suggested something that simply was not there. This is more like "Espionage, She Did" or something. Russell would make one TV movie the following year before retiring due to her health.