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Jumpin' Jack Flash (film): Difference between revisions
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{{work}}
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'''Jack:''' ''Not on it.''
'''Terri:''' ''How are you transmitting?''
'''Jack:''' ''Clamshell terminal. Can't say anymore. This channel unsecured.''
'''Terri:''' Whoa. }}
'''''Jumpin' Jack Flash''''' is a 1986 [[Cold War]] suspense comedy starring [[Whoopi Goldberg]] as Terry Doolittle, a data entry worker in the processing department of a downtown New York City bank. One of her guilty pleasures at work is to drop notes to the operators at the receiving ends of the transfers she processes, often whom are in another country, which generates a number of international friendships and trading of recipes, mixtapes, etc. Right after her boss (Peter Michael Goetz) tells her to stop wasting company resources ("Computers are not friendly, Ms. Doolittle." "I'm not a computer, Mr. Page."), she receives a message from "Jumpin Jack Flash", which she tries to dismiss, but becomes intrigued with his mysterious statements. She arranges a time to chat later that night (in the office), but first has to deduce Jack's "code key", which (though it is not stated) will encrypt their communications. The answer is in the [[Rolling Stones]] song ''Jumpin' Jack Flash'' ("Sing with me and find the key,") and while she comes up with many seemingly good guesses, she realizes that the "key" is, literally, the ''key'' of the music: "B-Flat".
It turns out Jack is a spy, and is stuck in Eastern Europe without a way out. He needs someone on the outside to reach one of his contacts and tell them his situation, so they can arrange for a new exit plan. Terry is led to his apartment, where she can find a hidden list of his contacts (she also gets to hear his voice, which is from that point on used in voice over for all his messages). Her meeting with Jack's first contact goes poorly when he is shot dead. She next reaches the wife of one of Jack's contacts (Annie Potts), who has connections at the NYC British Consulate. After various chases and near-misses, Annie and her family suddenly disappear, and another one of Jack's contacts (Roscoe Lee Brown) tells Terry that Jack is a pawn, not meant to be saved but sacrificed for more important reasons. Terry rejects this, and after being drugged by a KGB lackey (James Belushi), barges her way into the presence of the Consul's wife (who formerly had a relationship with Jack), and angrily demands she convince her husband to provide Jack with a new escape plan. Eventually, the wife relents.
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Jack promises to meet Terry for dinner when he gets back to New York, but he never shows, being held up in London. Terry feels silly, and later tries to blow Jack off angrily, when he reveals he is sitting ten feet from her on another computer. We finally see Jack (Jonathan Pryce), and the pair have a romantic reunion to a cheering crowd of coworkers.
{{tropelist}}
* [[Black and Nerdy]]: Terry, played mostly subverted, but cracking code keys and having more online friendships than in real life and an online romance is pretty geeky, even moreso for 1986.
* [[Comically Missing the Point]]: zigzagged, for the man in the street who waves back at Terry while she is trapped in the phone booth. Also to some extent, the window washer in the same scene.
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* [[Hat Pull]]: how Terry escapes the cop car.
* [[Hesitation Equals Dishonesty]]: blatantly, when Liz introduces Terry as her cousin.
* [[Hollywood
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: "pawn" and "prawn".
* [[Mistaken for Spies]]: Both Van Meter and Talbott do this to Terry.
* [[Percussive Maintenance]] on the malfunctioning monitor.
* [[Secret Identity]]: Marty.
* [[Single
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* [[Soundtrack Dissonance]]: [[Zig
* [[Stop or I Shoot Myself]]: Terry's (lame, yet effective) bluff on Talbott. It ends up [[Incredibly Lame Pun|backfiring]] as she is subsequently [[Wrongly Accused]].
* [[Spy Speak]]: "Dogs barking. Can't fly without umbrella."
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* [[Thinking Out Loud]]: Whenever Terry types a message -- and until she hears his voice, every time Jack sends one back, after which his messages are [[Voiceover Letter|Voice Over Letters]].
* [[The Mole]]: Talbott.
* [[Took a Level
* [[Truth Serum]] which doesn't ''quite'' work
* [[Unsettling Gender Reveal]]: a preemptive [[Samus Is a Girl]], which is partially averted.
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[[Category:Jumpin Jack Flash]]
[[Category:Film]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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