''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, leadi ...

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,

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 be ...

Charles Aidman Charles Leonard Aidman (January 21, 1925 – November 7, 1993) was an American actor of stage, film, and television. Early life Aidman was born in Frankfort, Indiana, the son of George E. and Etta (Kwitny) Aidman. Aidman graduated from Frank ...

, 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 ''Th ...

. Adapted by John Paxton from

Katharine Topkins Katharine Topkins (born July 22, 1927) is an American novelist, short story writer, and recipient of the 1966 Grant for Creative Writing from the Rockefeller Foundation. She has published five novels and several short stories. She graduated fr ...

' 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 lan ...

Cast

as Joseph P. Kotcher * Deborah Winters as Erica Herzenstiel *

as Wilma Kotcher *

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 Darrell Ray Larson (born December 13, 1950) is an American film and television actor who appeared in the 1990 action/comedy film ''Men at Work''. Larson's work includes roles in '' The Student Nurses'' (1970), '' Kotch'' (1971), '' The Magnifi ...

as Vincent Perrin *

Biff Elliot Biff Elliot (born Leon Shalek; July 26, 1923 – August 15, 2012) was an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his role as popular detective Mike Hammer in the 1953 version of '' I, the Jury'' and for his guest appearance as Schmitter ...

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 brothe ...

as Sissy *

Kim Hamilton Kim Hamilton (born Dorothy Mae Aiken; September 12, 1932 – September 16, 2013) was an American film and television actress, as well as a director, writer, and artist. Her career spanned more than half a century, from the early 1950s to 2010. H ...

as Emma Daly *

Amzie Strickland Amzie Ellen Strickland (January 10, 1919 – July 5, 2006) was an American character actress who began in radio, made some 650 television appearances, had roles in two dozen films, appeared in numerous television movies, and also worked in T ...

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 Pierina Burlando (September 2, 1916 – May 12, 1999) was an American film, stage and television actress. She was known for playing the role of Mama Rosa Novelli in the American crime drama television series ''Matt Houston''. Santon died in May ...

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 ...

'' 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 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