''Zig Zag'', also released as ''False Witness'', is a 1970 American

thriller drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-ge ...

directed by Richard A. Colla and starring George Kennedy. The film was remade in India as '' Majboor'' (1974).

Plot

Paul Cameron is an insurance executive who finds out he has a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

. His family will receive nothing under his current policies, but there is a huge reward for information leading to the arrest of the murderer of a businessman. Cameron frames himself for the murder in the hopes of collecting the reward money for his wife in an anonymous bank account. Cameron is found guilty and sentenced to death, but then is cured of the disease, and escapes in order to find the real killer and clear his name.

Cast

* George Kennedy as Paul Cameron *

Anne Jackson Anne Jackson (September 3, 1925 – April 12, 2016); retrieved April 16, 2016Archivedfrom the original on April 16, 2016. was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. She was the wife of actor Eli Wallach, with whom she often co-sta ...

as Jean Cameron *

Eli Wallach Eli Herschel Wallach (; December 7, 1915 – June 24, 2014) was an American film, television, and stage actor from New York City. From his 1945 Broadway debut to his last film appearance, Wallach's entertainment career spanned 65 years. Origina ...

as Mario Gambretti * Steve Ihnat as Herb Gates * William Marshall as Morris Bronson *

Joe Maross Joseph Raymond Maross (February 7, 1923 – November 7, 2009) was an American stage, film, and television actor whose career spanned over four decades. Working predominantly on television in supporting roles or as a guest star, Maross performed in ...

as Lieutenant Hines *

Dana Elcar Ibsen Dana Elcar (October 10, 1927 – June 6, 2005) was an American television and film character actor. He appeared in about 40 films as well as on the 1980s and 1990s television series ''MacGyver'' as Peter Thornton, MacGyver's immediate ...

as Harold Tracey *

Walter Brooke Walter Brooke (born Gustav William Tweer Jr., October 23, 1914 – August 20, 1986) was an American actor. Career Brooke's film career stretched from '' You're in the Army Now'' (1941 to '' Jagged Edge'' (1985). One of his best-remembered roles ...

as Adam Mercer *

Anita O'Day Anita Belle Colton (October 18, 1919 – November 23, 2006), known professionally as Anita O'Day, was an American jazz singer and self proclaimed “song stylist” widely admired for her sense of rhythm and dynamics, and her early big band app ...

as Sheila Mangan * Robert Patten as John Raymond

Soundtrack

The

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

was composed, arranged and conducted by

Oliver Nelson Oliver Edward Nelson (June 4, 1932 – October 28, 1975) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. His 1961 Impulse! album ''The Blues and the Abstract Truth'' (1961) is regarded as one of the most signifi ...

, and the soundtrack album was released on the

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

label.Preuss, P., Callahan, M., Edwards, D., & Eyries, P
MGM Album Discography, Part 12 (Soundtrack Series)
accessed February 8, 2016

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Jason Ankeney noted that Nelson did "a particularly strong job of evoking the grittiness of their urban setting" and said that "Recalling vintage jazz in both its atmosphere and vigor, the music navigates a series of mood and tempo shifts with the precision of a race car moving in and out of traffic". The album also included two tracks with lyrics by

Hal David Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David ...

sung by

Bobby Hatfield Robert Lee Hatfield (August 10, 1940 – November 5, 2003) was an American singer. He and Bill Medley were the Righteous Brothers. He sang the tenor part for the duo, and sang solo on the group's 1965 recording of "Unchained Melody". Early lif ...

and Roy Orbison singing the Mike Curb composition "Zigzag".

Track listing

''All compositions by Oliver Nelson escept as indicated'' # "All You Did Was Smile" (lyrics by

) – 1:41 # "Main Title from "Zigzag" – 2:30 # "Guilty, Your Honor" – 1:50 # "It Was You, It Was You" – 2:30 # "Love Theme (Bossa)" – 2:39 # "Earphones" – 2:03 # "Zigzag" ( Mike Curb, Robert Enders, Guy Hemric) – 2:50 # "The Other Car" – 3:55 # "Variations of Themes" – 4:50 # "I Call Your Name"(lyrics by Hal David) – 2:32 # "End Title" – 1:05

Personnel

Orchestra

arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchest ...

and

conducted Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duti ...

except: ''Tracks 1 & 10:'' *Arranged and conducted by Don Peak with

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

''Track 7:'' *Arranged and conducted by Don Peak with Roy Orbison – vocals ''Track 9:'' *

Buddy Collette William Marcel "Buddy" Collette (August 6, 1921 – September 19, 2010) was an American jazz flutist, saxophonist, and clarinetist. He was a founding member of the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Early life William Marcel Collette was born in L ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

Artie Kane Artie Kane (born Aaron Cohen; April 14, 1929 – June 21, 2022) was an American pianist, film score composer, and conductor with a career spanning over six decades. As a pianist in Hollywood studios, Kane worked with artists such as Frank Sina ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Joe Mondragon Joe Mondragon (February 2, 1920 – July 1987) was an American jazz bassist. Early life Mondragon was born in Antonito, Colorado, and raised in the Española Valley region of New Mexico. Mondragon was of Apache and Hispanic origin. Career ...

– bass *

John Guerin John Payne Guerin (October 31, 1939 – January 5, 2004) was an American percussionist. He was a proponent of the jazz-rock style. Biography Guerin was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego. As a young drummer he began performing with Buddy De ...

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Remakes

The film has been remade in India four times: *the

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

film ''Majboor'' (1974) *the

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

film ''Raja'' (1976) *the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

film ''

Naan Vazhavaippen ''Naan Vazhavaippen'' () is a 1979 Indian Tamil-language suspense thriller film, directed by D. Yoganand. It stars Sivaji Ganesan, Rajnikanth and K. R. Vijaya, while Jai Ganesh and Major Sundarrajan play supporting roles. The film was a remake ...

'' (1979) *the

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

film ''Naseeb No Khel'' (1982)

References

External links

* * {{Richard A. Colla 1970 films 1970s thriller drama films American thriller drama films 1970 directorial debut films Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Films directed by Richard A. Colla Films about cancer 1970 drama films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films