Kotch 1971 - Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau movies, with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, or one or the other

"Old people are a big problem. Nationally it's a staggering problem. Locally, I've just had it."

Director 

Jack Lemmon 

Cast
Walter Matthau - Joseph P. "Kotch" Kotcher
Deborah Winters - Erica Herzenstiel
Felicia Farr - Wilma Kotcher
Charles Aidman - Gerald Kotcher
Ellen Geer - Vera Kotcher

Now that October is over, and my annual horror movie commentary thread "extravaganza" that I share over at 1000daysofhorror.blogspot.com is all done, I'm now getting back to all my other stuff. My other stuff includes this thread of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau movies. Those movies include works with both of them acting together, or one or the other. 

The 1971 movie "Kotch" stars Walter Matthau and is based on Katharine Topkins's 1965 novel. It's unique as far as Lemmon and Matthau movies go as Jack Lemmon sits in the director's chair for this flick, directing his old acting buddy, Matthau. It's also Lemmon's directorial debut. It's also the only movie he directed. 

The movie also stars Deborah Winters, Charles Aidman, Ellen Geer, and Lemmon's wife Felicia Farr. Lemmon does have an uncredited role as a sleeping bus passenger - a performance I completely missed. 

In this movie, Walter Matthau plays Joseph Kotcher - Kotch for short. He's a grandfatherly fellow, mild-mannered and more than willing to share with others what life has taught him regardless of whether anyone wants to listen or not. 

He's also not going to sit idlily as his own son, Gerald (Charles Aidman) and his daughter-in-law, Wilma (Felicia Farr), whom Kotch lives with, treat him like he's a burden. 

Their living situation reaches a difficult point when Wilma insists Gerald put Kotch in a retirement home. 

Kotch initially checks out the retirement home but has no intention of staying. The tests that the home's psychiatrist conducts to consider his mental and cognitive state put Kotch off. 

Instead, he decides to go travel someplace else on his own. He's an adult, so he doesn't think he needs to tell anyone. 

He befriends a young pregnant girl named Erica Herzenstiel (Deborah Winters), whom he met earlier when Gerald and Wilma hired her to babysit their infant son, Duncan. 

Her parents kicked her out because she became pregnant out of wedlock and also decided to quit school for a hairstyling job in San Bernadino. 

Feeling bad, Kotch offers Erica a little money so she can survive a little longer, especially since she's pregnant. She reluctantly agrees to take it promising to pay him back as soon as she can. 

Kotch follows through on his escape plan, hops on a Greyhound bus and travels afar staying in motels and seeing the sites. 

Walter Matthau as 'Kotch.'

After a long excursion, Kotch returns home on Halloween night. 

Erica informs him she can't repay the money he gave her claiming she's come into some serious issues. 

Kotch also learns she was let go from her hairstyling job as she didn't have a license. So, Erica is back looking for work. 

Feeling pity, Kotch offers Erica a job as his personal housekeeper as he goes to live on his own. 

She doesn't accept at first, but after spending the fall season by herself, come Christmas time she thinks it's the best option she has. 

The film centers on this unlikely friendship. Kotch, in the winter of his life and refusing to be thought of as a burden, becomes the support Erica needs. Her parents kicked her out. The father of her baby is unreliable. The two have something in common.

His fatherly role over Erica renews in Kotch a feeling of purpose. This way, he can maintain his dignity. 

Erica, meanwhile, doesn't have to face this unexpected life change all alone. Someone cares. 

In Joe Baltake's book, "Jack Lemmon: His Films and Career" Lemmon is quoted as saying in regards to this movie, "I was drawn to 'Kotch' first by the character and the individual spirit of the human being. I was fascinated by it. It raises a lot of questions that I think need to be raised, but I was not trying to make any kind of statement about old age. I merely wanted to do a nice little drama about a character who happens to be old." (Baltake, 193) 

Even in the closing chapters of his life, Kotch once again has to find his place in the world. He may have lived in the right place before the story begins, but new journeys can call someone in an unexpected moment regardless of their age. 

On the topic of directing Matthau in the lead role, as opposed to acting opposite his comedy partner, Lemmon says, "Walter will take direction well, I found, unless something goes totally against his instincts. But I directed him mostly by leaving him alone. He's so inventive that when I was editing the film, I found he never did the same thing twice, and I wanted to kill him because it was almost impossible to cut." (Baltake, 193) 

On the flip side, in regard to working under Lemmon, Matthau says, "He's a fantastic director because he has a most unique ability to communicate with the broad spectrum of personalities on the scene, a man with a magnificent command of all the integral parts of a script. He has taste, talent, and imagination. And being an actor, he has the added advantage of understanding an actor's problems." (Baltake, 194) 

To its credit, the movie doesn't try to saturate the audience with sentimentality. The plot and acting speaks for itself, and the audience is free to take whatever emotion is there. It gives the audience considerations to think about as well. 

Walter Matthau and Deborah Winters

The film opens with scenes of Kotch and his grandson enjoying the day. It certainly sets the mood. 

And though the movie doesn't wash the audience with emotion, Matthau's performance carries much sympathy and heart. Kotch knows people don't want him around. He copes with these difficulties by diving into his past when times were better...when he wasn't old. 

Still, despite a great performance from Matthau, it was hard not to seem him through his makeup and grandfatherly appearance. Rather, I kept seeing Matthau playing a sympathetic old man. 

That's not to say Matthau is a bad actor. I have never seen a Matthau performance I didn't like, though some I like better than others. I enjoyed his performance in this role as he makes Kotch someone worth rooting for. 

The comedy is light, while the emotion flows naturally. One scene in which Kotch is undergoing a Rorschach test at the retirement home from a serious psychiatric nurse who looks as though she hasn't cracked a smile since elementary school, he feels like she's unimpressed with his answers. When she turns to answer a phone for a few moments, he sneaks a peak at her notes about him so far. "Unimaginative? Literal?" her notes read. His answers have all been one-word answers. Now that he has some insight into her opinions, at the next ink blotch where she asks what he sees, Kotch responds, "An inexperienced spermatozoon, about fifteen years old, asking directions to the nearest fallopian tube." Why not crack a joke? He won't be staying anyways. The scene cracked me up. The time was perfect, and the delivery of that line alone was comically unexpected. 

I had to let this movie stew a bit before sharing my thoughts. 

"Kotch" is a modest and underappreciated film with a solid theme of independence, compassion and connection between generations. Plus, there's a subtle pro-life message that I can definitely get behind. 

Matthau gives the role his all. He depicts a tender character who's not gruff, wisecracking and who doesn't succumb to any mistreatment around him. 

Instead, he seizes upon an opportunity to do one last remarkable thing unselfishly. He's not making up for any past misdeeds or sins. He wants this last chapter of life to be meaningful. Of course, he succeeds and is happy in his small corner of life. 

I think "Kotch" nicely complements Matthau and Lemmon's career together, even the parts of their work together after this movie's release. By 1971, Lemmon and Matthau had starred in two movies together - "The Fortune Cookie" and "The Odd Couple." Their next picture together would be, "The Front Page" in 1974. 

"Kotch" is a well-made depiction of concern and empathy which can come about in even unlikely situations. There's always room to improve and grow, even in the final stages of life.