That was an excellent one.

A Disappointing Continuation

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I saw this movie when I was a teenager. From what I remember of it, it was a waste of good talent. Walter Matthau did his best acting and Jack Lemmon did his best directing. However, somehow the script just didn't do justice for either one of these two celebrities. I've seen Deborah Winters in other movies and back then it seemed as though she gravitated towards controversial roles such as a 16-year old drug addict or pregnant teenager. I absolutely hate that song "Life Is What You Make It," because they played it throughout this entire movie over and over again; and seeing the pregnant teenage Deborah Winters and hearing Walter Matthau's New York accent as this unusually compassionate older man somehow reminded me constantly of how much I absolutely hate deadbeat teen fathers. I always got the feeling throughout the film that I just wanted a scene in which the teen father of this girl's baby got the tar knocked out of him for being such a jerk. I vaguely recall one scene in which he actually spoke with Deborah Winters after he had gotten her pregnant, but he was more annoying than anything. The kind of teen father that would create a precedent in our court system to make justifiable patricide perfectly legal for all youngsters who have the indignity of having someone like him for a biological father. By the way, I disagree with the title of that stupid song, "Life Is What You Make It." I can't believe that song even won an award. It's crass and callous in its lyrics, because some people are born more privileged than others in the real world and the lyrics of that song just don't own up to that same reality of life. If you have nothing better to do with your time, you may want to give this movie a peek. However, if you have limited time like me, it's probably not worth watching.

I had never seen Kotch, but had always wanted to because of the presence of Walter Matthau and because of Jack Lemmon as director. It finally showed up on TCM the other night and, after years of waiting, I sadly have to agree with the lone previous viewer who found it wretched. I hate to be, once again, the turd in the punchbowl of hosannas here, but there are no characters in this movie, only cardboard cutouts. Matthau (who I love) is simply not credible here as a man who needs to be put away; his off-the-wall performance never makes us believe he is anywhere close to senile. The opening scene, with its aforementioned treacly 70's score, is predictive of the dreck to come. The movie is never played for human drama but only for cheap laughs, and those are few and far between. In the end I did what I rarely do, i.e. said to myself "why I am torturing myself," shut it off, and put on a good Laurel and Hardy movie.

I had doubts about this movie the moment it started. I recorded it because it was rated highly in the TV listings and starred Matthau, who I always like, but during the opening credits' bucolic scenes of Matthau playing with a little boy to the movie's unutterably treacly score (the sort of thing you heard in TV movies of the 70s) I thought, oh god, what am I in for? Matthau's windbag character also instantly turned me off. So I came here to see what people thought, and saw one glowing review after another. And that inspired me to watch another hour before giving up.Besides the truly abysmal score, Kotch suffers from a surfeit of annoying characters. Kotch himself is genial but tedious, his son is bland and his daughter-in-law plays the requisite bitch. The girl he eventually helps is about as annoying as the title character.I can't figure out why people like this movie so much. I think it's a movie for people who like comforters with teddy bears quilted into them or something. It's simple-minded and just plain dull.

I first saw this back in the late '70's on TV. We loved it in the family, great fun, heart and performances. Matthau's intrepid, smart if slightly 'out There' Kotch is a unique character, well acted, and always someone we root for. It's not much different from the roles he would go onto play in the 90s, but...done by a younger man. Sometimes the makeup and haircoloring doesn't quite look convincing, but that's okay too. The performance is put across as much by body language and posture as anything else.The car is a great added touch-the knocking engine and etc a counterpoint to Kotch's own creaky body.I liked Ellen Geer as the crabby daughter too-was surprised that she wound up in 'Phenomenon' and several other flix(Patriot Games) that I have seen before. Never made the connection.It is dated sure, but that is inevitable with films. It's worth yer time.*** outta **** Nice job by Lemmon, too.