The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything

I only had the pleasure of seeing this movie once. But have been trying to find a copy or another playing of it... The script was very good and it kept me waiting for what was going to happen next. I saw this movie 12 years ago and still have not found another listing for it sense. I would like to view it with my family, As it was late when I viewed it last time and every else had retired for the night. but after all these years I am loosing hope of getting to view this movie again. All of the actors in this movie performed with great realism that really had me hooked on this movie. I would recommend it to all age groups as it has a great story line, Just like the book it was created from written by John Macdonald.

You know how kids -- especially boys -- grow up fantasizing about having a particular superpower? Flying, X-ray vision, or that thing Superman does with the Earth to move time backward?

Well, I've been plagued into adulthood by the fantastic power posited by this ultra-trashy, made-for-*SYNDICATED*-TV movie ever since I saw it at age nine. The idea of a watch that stops time for everyone except the bearer is so original, so powerful, that as I near my 30s I still fantasize almost daily over what I'd do with it.

The execution of the gimmick was so simple, F/X-wise, but remarkably memorable. The first time Hays's character receives the watch -- an inheritance from his mad-scientist uncle -- he's on a beach, trying to wind it. But upon turning the hands past a certain time, everything around him freezes, turning red, and the only sound he hears is the now-amplified ticking of the watch. He sees frisbees and a volleyball frozen in midair, people running in midstride, and the woman to whom he was talking moments ago (Pam Dawber) frozen, mid-sentence. He can wander freely throughout the reddened scene and move anything he wants, which will then freeze in position until he "unfreezes" time. Naturally, given the setting and the trash-TV nature of the movie, one of his first stunts is to untie a volleyballer's bikini top so when he unfreezes time, it falls to the ground.

Later, once the film has established the concept, we see Hays turn the watch and just instantaneously disappear, then reappear in the place he ran off to while time was frozen -- effectively giving us the POV of the non-watch-possessing bystander.

Since I haven't seen the movie since I was a preadolescent, I have it filed in the same "youthful indiscretion"/"trashy on reflection" category in which I have filed 'Cats' and 'The Greatest American Hero.' Any boy who was a fan of the TV megahit 'Mork and Mindy' probably tuned into 'The Girl...' for then-hottie Dawber, and Hays was himself on a warm streak, having just appeared in the seminal comedy 'Airplane!' Last bit of trivia: This film was apparently successful enough in syndication (in New York, where I grew up, it was on a pre-WB channel 11/WPIX) to spawn a sequel, with the even more embarrassing title, 'The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Dynamite!' I don't see that title anywhere on the IMDb, so I must assume it has been utterly forgotten.

I first saw this when it came out in 1980. I was 16 at the time; that was probably the perfect age and time to see it. I'd read the novel and the sequel, and liked them quite a lot. And this adaptation lived up to the books quite nicely.

Over the years I sometimes found the catchy musical theme momentarily lodged in my head, or spotted the novel in my collection, and wondered if the show had ever been released on DVD. Thirty-two years later, I got to see it again. And - Oh. My. God.

It's a lighthearted comedy, a romp of sorts, but it's AMAZING how incredibly inappropriate it seems today. There's enough of that 16-year-old male in me to appreciate it, sort of. But as a parent and inhabitant of the 21st century, I can't help but be appalled.

Take the comic relief, the repressed secretary. Ably acted, yes, and from some perspectives she's quite funny - similar characters were doubtless popular in the days of ancient Rome. But all she wants is to be raped! And while that sort of thing may work for some people these days on South Park, there's an odd *wholesomeness* to the humor that just seems horribly out of place - now.

The humorous side of rape is pretty much one of the major themes of the story. And rape doesn't really HAVE a humorous side (well, not for most people). Yes, in its day this was entertaining. And stopping time is a really neat concept, which is why it has been used so many times since. But I suspect that a lot of people these days would simply be stunned by the juxtaposition of lighthearted humor and a subject that is viewed far more seriously now than it was then.

If you can take that sort of thing, this is a more entertaining example of it than most. And there might almost be a sort of historical value to the show; it really does demonstrate the massive change in American mores and sexism over time.

I think the show would frankly stun most people under 30. It's impossible to imagine something like this getting on the air these days, unless it was handled in a very different way. Either the humor would be MUCH darker, or the whole thing would have been turned into sheer exploitation.

One side-note: for some reason the show reminded me of The Rockford Files, not in the rape-is-funny angle, but because it seemed to have a lot of actors and settings (CA) in common. The cinematography was rather similar, too. It also reminds me a little of the old Disney "Herbie" movies, although Walt would no doubt be spinning in his frictionless ice coffin to hear it!

John D. MacDonald's book, "The Girl, the Gold Watch, & Everything," was the basis for the 1980 movie and its sequel, as well as an episode of "The Twilight Zone" and the movie, "Clockstoppers" (2002), the latter two adaptations without credit.

In a comment, "Considered a ripoff by some..." (7 February 2005) by runar-4, it was noted that "Episode #5.4 of 'The Twilight Zone' ..., 'A Kind of Stop Watch,' has a storyline that is nearly identical to that of 'The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything'" (the movie). The reason: John D. MacDonald's book, "The Girl, the Gold Watch, & Everything," was the uncredited basis for "The Twilight Zone" episode, even though the actual credit for the episode was, "Written by Rod Serling (based on an unpublished story by Michael D. Rosenthal)."

Both Michael D. Rosenthal and Mile Korologos had "unpublished stories," which were credited as the basis for episodes of "The Twilight Zone," specifically "A Kind of Stopwatch" (Script 124) and "Mr. Garrity and the Graves" (Script 152), respectively. There is speculation that Michael D. Rosenthal and Mile Korologos were pseudonyms for Rod Serling himself. Both John D. MacDonald and Philip José Farmer (who wrote the story credited to "Mile Korologos") protested to the producers of "Twilight Zone," to no avail.

In the same comment by runar-4, it was suggested that, "One of the contributing factors to the misunderstanding is that the novel quickly went out of print." However, the novel was not out of print when the movie was made. In fact, "The Girl, the Gold Watch, & Everything" was more-or-less continuously in print, appearing in 24 printings through June 1991.

Episode #5.4 of _"The Twilight Zone" (1959)_(qv), "A Kind of Stop Watch", has a storyline that is nearly identical to that of "The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything". The episode, however, aired in October of 1963, the year after publication of John D. McDonald's novel on which the movie is based. Some people, obviously unaware of the novel, considered the movie a ripoff of the episode, and a number of reviewers who wrote unfavorably on this basis had to spend numerous inches of column space apologizing.

One of the contributing factors to the misunderstanding is that the novel quickly went out of print, overshadowed by the author's "Travis McGee" detective series and other adventure novels. In 1980, the year the movie aired, three of his science fiction-oriented novels, "Wine of the Dreamers", "The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything" and "Ballroom of the Skies" were published in 1980 in an omnibus volume titled "Time and Tomorrow" by Doubleday and Science Fiction Book Club. This still, however, did not contribute significantly to clearing up the ripoff accusations because of the limited distribution through the book club.