Mrs. Pollifax-Spy (1971)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Leslie H. Martinson

Writers:

Dorothy Gilman (book)
Rosalind Russell (writer)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy

Tagline:

Mrs. Polifax, The Spy Who Came Out Of The Kitchen.

Plot:

Mrs. Emily Pollifax of New Jersey goes to the CIA to volunteer for spy duty, being in her own opinion...

Plot Keywords:

Spy | CIA | Mexico | Boredom | Jail

Cast

Rosalind Russell	...	Mrs. Pollifax
Darren McGavin	...	Farrell
Nehemiah Persoff	...	Berisha
Harold Gould	...	Nexdhet
Albert Paulsen	...	Perdido
John Beck	...	Lulash
Dana Elcar	...	Carstairs
James Wellman	...	Mason
Dennis Cross	...	Bishop
Nick Katurich	...	Stefan
Don Diamond	...	DeGamez
Robert Donner	...	Larrabee
Tom Hallick	...	Roger

Runtime:

110 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Grand Teton National Park, Moose, Wyoming, USA

Company:

United Artists

Trivia:

Rosalind Russell's last movie.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Towards the start of the film and just after Mrs Pollifax takes up the role of a spy for the CIA, she is shown into a hotel bedroom in Mexico. The room number is 700. When she sees the room number on the door in the mirror it shows 007. Of course, if you look at the number 700 in a mirror, it doesn't reflect as 007. Obviously it was made to look that way to give the impression Mrs Pollifax was a spy like James Bond.

Movie Connections:

Version of The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax (1999) (TV)

You just must see it! If only it were available!

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.