Zotz

Zotz! (1962)

** (out of 4)

Off beat production from William Castle about Professor Jonathan Jones (Tom Poston) who discovers the mysterious powers of an ancient coin. It turns out that if you hold the coin and use your finger to point at something then you can make it blow up, slow down or do various other tricks. Jones plans to do the patriotic thing and turn it over to the government but sure enough things don't go as planned. I've been fairly critical of Castle and some of the films he made during this period of his career and while this movie isn't nearly as bad as some I still couldn't help but scratch my head and wonder who this thing was meant for. I'm going to guess that this thing was meant to be a rip-off of THE ABSENT MINDED PROFESSOR but no matter what it was trying to do in the end it fails. I think the biggest problem is that the screenplay is pretty lame and director Castle clearly has proved that he wasn't the best when it came to comedy. The screenplay pretty much has Poston doing on silly thing after another as soon as he discovers the powers of this coin. We get one scene after another where he either accidentally destroys something with the coin or he tries to prove the coins powers to people and they simply don't see it. Take a look at one scene where the Professor turns loose a lot of mice at a party with plans of "zapping" them but it turns out he left the coin at home. This is a scene that could have worked but it just comes across very empty in terms of laughs and extremely uneven. Another problem happens at the end once Poston has all these people trying to track him down. It's simply not funny. Poston is fairly good in his role as you certainly believe he's absent minded but the screenplay doesn't give him much to work with. Julia Meade, Fred Clark and Jim Backus have supporting roles that are fairly lifeless due to the screenplay. ZOTZ! moves along at a decent pace but when you watch a comedy you expect laughs and this one here just doesn't have enough to make it worth viewing.

I own an original copy of this movie on VHS and a copy of Walter Karig's book of the same title. They are both little treasures and should be enjoyed when they are available to you.

Karig's book is a satirical little allegory and ends in a manner quite unlike the movie. I don't want to give away the ending of either, but I can assure you that you will enjoy reading the book even if you have already seen the movie (and vice-versa.) I will warn you, though, that the ending in the book is NOT necessarily a happy one.

As for the movie, it is indeed a departure from the norm for William Castle, but he dabbled in comedy in several other movies, so it is not THAT out of character. After all, the movie deals with what are essentially supernatural forces.

Contrary to what some other reviewers have written, I would argue that this move is much closer in tone to Disney's "Absent-Minded Professor" movies. There are the usual bumbling academics, the sexy-but-safe women, the well-meaning but suspicious Federal agents, the vaguely- threatening-but-incompetent foreign agents, and the likable and innocent hero. When the day is done, the hero defeats the villains, the self-righteous get their comeuppance, the girl gets the guy, and the "secret" is lost again...maybe.

The FX are about average for B-movies of that period. As a kid, I was astonished, but they definitely show their age when I watch it now.

I really think that kids today would enjoy seeing this movie. Give it a chance, if you get one. This is one rare movie to find on tape.

Here's something that you don't see every day. In "Zotz!", a college professor (Tom Poston) discovers an ancient coin which has three uses for whomever holds it: if you point to someone, the person feels a sharp pain; if you say "zotz" to someone, the person goes into slow motion; if you point to someone and say "zotz", it kills the person. Not only does he start using it throughout town - with some unintended consequences - but the Soviet Union gets wind of the story (so you know what that means).

Overall, the movie was pretty (seeing him make Jim Backus move in slow motion was something), but the part about the Russian agents trying to steal the coin was sort of silly.

Ya gotta admit it's a great title and Tom Poston is rather watchable for the nine-year-olds who are the target audience. It's just a silly chase over a coin with silly magical powers, and if one can overlook the Cold War propaganda was a fun fantasy for playacting with my little friends afterwards.

Watching it again as an adult I found it rather charmless but not a total bore.

Every now and then you come across a film that you wish was better than it actually turned out to be: this is such a film. After years endlessly rehashing scenes from other successes William Castle came up with a film that was so startlingly original he was obviously completely at a loss how to exploit the idea adequately. But it leaves you glad you saw it. There's even a little mild satire in that the coin's potential is completely ignored by the Pentagon, the only person paying attention being a Russian spy working as a window cleaner.

Eccentrically cast as a brilliant authority in the field of Ancient Eastern Languages, TV comedian Tom Poston was at the time a complete unknown abroad (he's now best remembered as the landlord in "Mork and Mindy'), but proves quite an attractive personality who rises to the challenge of carrying a film. One also wishes female lead Julia Meade had made more films too.