''Kotch'' is a 1971 American comedy-drama film directed by

Jack Lemmon John Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was an American actor. Considered equally proficient in both dramatic and comic roles, Lemmon was known for his anxious, middle-class everyman screen persona in dramedy pictures, leadin ...

and starring

Walter Matthau Walter Matthau (; born Walter John Matthow; October 1, 1920 – July 1, 2000) was an American actor, comedian and film director. He is best known for his film roles in '' A Face in the Crowd'' (1957), '' King Creole'' (1958) and as a coach of a ...

Deborah Winters Deborah Brace Winters (born November 27, 1953) is an American film and television actress and realtor who has appeared in films such as '' Kotch'', '' The People Next Door'', ''Class of '44'' and the television miniseries '' The Winds of War'' ...

Felicia Farr Felicia Farr (born Olive Dines; October 4, 1932) is a American former actress and model Early years Farr was born in Westchester County, New York. She attended Erasmus Hall High School and studied sociology at Penn State. Career Farr bega ...

, Charles Aidman, and

Ellen Geer Ellen Ware Geer is an American actress, professor, and theatre director. Personal life Geer was born in New York City, the daughter of actors Herta Ware and Will Geer. Her father was best-known for playing Grandpa Zebulon "Zeb" Walton on ''T ...

. Adapted by John Paxton from Katharine Topkins' 1965 novel of the same name, the film tells the story of an elderly man who leaves his family rather than going to a nursing home, and strikes up a friendship with a pregnant teenage girl. It was Lemmon's only film behind the camera and partnered him with friend and frequent co-star Matthau. Portions of the film were shot and set in

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by la ...

Cast

as Joseph P. Kotcher *

as Erica Herzenstiel *

as Wilma Kotcher * Charles Aidman as Gerald Kotcher *

as Vera Kotcher *Donald and Dean Kowalski as Duncan Kotcher *Arlen Stuart as Mrs. Fisher * Jane Connell as Miss Roberts *James E. Brodhead as Mr. Weaver *Jessica Rains as Dr. McKernan * Darrell Larson as Vincent Perrin * Biff Elliot as Motel Manager *

Paul Picerni Horacio Paul Picerni (December 1, 1922 – January 12, 2011) was an American actor in film and television, perhaps best known today in the role of Federal Agent Lee Hobson, second-in-command to Robert Stack's Eliot Ness, in the ABC hit televisi ...

as Dr. Ramon Caudillo *

Lucy Saroyan Lucy Saroyan (January 17, 1946 – April 11, 2003) was an American actress and photographer. Life and career Saroyan was born in San Francisco, California, the daughter of the writer William Saroyan and the actress Carol Grace. Her brother ...

as Sissy * Kim Hamilton as Emma Daly * Amzie Strickland as Nurse Barons *

Larry Linville Lawrence Lavon Linville (September 29, 1939 – April 10, 2000) was an American actor known for his portrayal of the surgeon Major Frank Burns on the television series ''M*A*S*H''. Early life and education Linville was born in Ojai, California ...

as Peter Stiel * Penny Santon as Mrs. Segura *

as Sleeping Bus Passenger (uncredited)

Reception

The film earned rentals of $3.6 million in North America and $1.4 million in other countries. It recorded an overall profit of $330,000.

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

of the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago T ...

'' gave the film two out of four stars, and said "There aren't many comic actors I admire more than Matthau, and he does his best to be an old man in ''Kotch'', but the illusion simply isn't there." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film has an aggregate score of 75% based on 6 positive and 2 negative critic reviews.

Plot synopsis

Awards and nominations

Home media

''Kotch'' was released in a Region 1 DVD by

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment (commonly referred to as 20th Home Video, or 20th Home Entertainment, formerly known as 20th Century-Fox Video, CBS/Fox Video, Fox Video, and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment) is a home video label of ...

on July 6, 2004.

Explanatory notes

References

External links

* * * * {{Rotten Tomatoes, kotch 1971 films 1971 comedy-drama films 1971 directorial debut films ABC Motion Pictures films American comedy-drama films Cinerama Releasing Corporation films Films about old age Films based on American novels Films scored by Marvin Hamlisch Films set in California Films shot in California Teenage pregnancy in film 1970s English-language films 1970s American films