Review of Kotch

Introduction

Released in 1971 this movie united 2 Hollywood greats, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, but this time it’s an Actor/Director partnership rather than an onscreen one. As Jack Lemon’s directorial debut putting money on Walter Matthau as the leading man would probably have been a shrewd bet.

Walter Matthau is Joseph Kotcher, a somewhat eccentric grandfather who is starting to feel as if he no longer has a useful role to play in society. He lives with his son, daughter-in-law and grandson and loves them all dearly but tension is high and eventually the conversation turns to retirement homes. Not wanting to be put out to pasture just yet he sets off on an adventure to aid a pregnant teenager and begins a journey that isn’t so much about self discovery but more about other people discovering him.

Regular readers of my reviews might already know that I am NOT a fan of these older movies so this has taken me some time to get around to watching . . . should I have bothered?

Video

Unfortunately this non-anamorphic letterbox transfer shows the age of the movie with small white flecks popping up throughout the movie. Whilst I’ve seen worse film noise than this it still distracted me every now and then. The colours are also a touch washed out and dated.

Audio

A stereo soundtrack which sounded no more lively than had it been a glorious single speaker mono affair. Functional and nothing else.

Features

Oh what joy . . . biographies and production notes. Am I the only person who fails to see why these are ever included?

Conclusion

Well despite my huge reservations I have to say that I really did quite enjoy this movie. It’s an extremely touching tale of an elderly man who still has a lot of living to do. Initially he’s an odd character but it’s not long before you start to like the guy and really feel for him.

Walter Matthau is simply excellent, damn good job seeing as the movie is firmly focused on him throughout. The depth of feeling that you get from his portrayal of Joseph Kotcher is impressive and totally engrossed me. He emotes so well that it’s not only what he says but more what he doesn’t say that really builds the character. Just reading the expressions on his face forces you to imagine how you would feel in his place.

The story is unpredictable and engaging and is best summed up as a voyage of discovery a little different to the norm. The discovery is other people’s realisation of what Kotch already knows, that he is not a useless old man who should be hidden away from society and can still make a very real and valuable contribution.

If you liked the movie then it’s probably worth a purchase but quality issues with the DVD make it hard to recommend purchasing no matter what I thought of the film, which is a real shame.