Mrs. Emily Pollifax of New Jersey goes to the CIA to volunteer for spy duty, being in her own opinion, expendable now that the children are grown and she's widowed. And being just what the ...
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Title: Mrs. Pollifax-Spy (1971)
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Cast
| Complete credited 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 | |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Mrs. Emily Pollifax of New Jersey goes to the CIA to volunteer for spy duty, being in her own opinion, expendable now that the children are grown and she's widowed. And being just what the department needed (someone who looks and acts completely unlike a spy), she's assigned to simple courier duty to pick up a book in Mexico City. But when the pickup doesn't go as plan, Mrs. Pollifax finds herself handcuffed to a handsome stranger on a plane bound for an Albania prison. And it's up to her to get them out. Written by Kathy Li
Taglines:
Before she joined the CIA, Mrs. Pollifax thought Red China was a set of dishes. See more »Parents Guide:
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Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
17 February 1971 (UK) See more »Also Known As:
The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax See more »Filming Locations:
Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA See more »Company Credits
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Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
MonoColor:
Color
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Rosalind Russell wrote the screenplay under her mother's name Clara A. McKnight. Russell used C.A. McKnight as her pseudonym. See more »Goofs
When Mrs. Pollifax looks in the mirror at the reflection of her hotel door, the digits of her hotel room number (700) should all be mirror images, including the "7" digit, but although the digits are correctly reversed in their order (007), the "7" is NOT reversed, as its mirror image actually would be. This is presumably because the film-makers didn't want the audience to miss the allusion to James Bond's number, 007. See more »Crazy Credits
Closing credits epilogue: Research for this film was done from a documentary picture-"The Three Faces of Communism" which was filmed in present day occupied Albania. See more »Alternate Versions
CBS edited 28 minutes from this film for its 1975 network television premiere. See more »Frequently Asked Questions
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Like so many of her contemporaries Rosalind Russell was finding it difficult to get work without having to resort to the horror genre. I give her credit she never did do that. For her last big screen release she chose a film that was about a middle aged woman who now that her kids are grown and she's a widow decides that espionage is the career for her. With the help of her US Senator she gets an introduction to a top CIA man and says she wants to become Mrs. Pollifax-Spy.
As guileless as Russell is Dana Elcar decides maybe she will do at least as a courier. But through a series of mixups and missed signals Russell whose assignment was in Mexico is whisked off to Albania where she's held prisoner with professional spy Darren McGavin. Their Albanian prison is in the hands of a "Red" Chinese general Albert Paulsen with his second being Albanian Nehemiah Persoff. Paulsen's occidental features are explained that he's off mixed racial origin.
Mrs. Pollifax-Spy has the charm of Rosalind Russell to carry it over the rough spots which are many. I find it hard to wrap myself around the concept that at my age which is older than Russell's was as presented I could just get my Senator to just arrange an appointment with the CIA so I could apply to be a spy. People for that agency are recruited in all kinds of ways, but I doubt they just take people who ask to work. Even Dana Elcar says we get a lot of screwballs.
For Roz Russell fans.