Zotz! (1962)

"Zotz" is a run of the mill early 1960s melange that follows the usual pattern. Take a rising comedian (in this case, Tom Poston, best known these days for his long-running stint as handyman George on Newhart), put him in a movie with a semi-popular source novel (like ZOTZ by Thorne Smith wannabe Walter Karig), surround him by about five dependable comedy stalwarts (in this case Jim Backus, Fred Clark, Louis Nye, tough guy Mike Mazurki, and long-time-ago Marx Brothers foil Margaret Dumont). Oh, and throw in a beautiful love interest far outside the hero's league, in this case more chesty than lovely.Then you tone down the source material for family viewing and make it current. The novel ZOTZ took place during World War II but everything in the 1960s had to be updated to the Cold War with spies from the "other side." The surprising thing is that the hero in ZOTZ the novel points his finger and says "Zotz!" to kill. This angle has not been changed, though it has been mollified into stages. Tom Poston with the ability to kill by pointing his finger and saying "Zotz" is worth watching--once. But it's basically a one-joke concept.Another curious thing is, while the James Bond phenomenon is usually accused of starting all this spy-movie stuff, "Zotz" was actually released a few months before the first Bond movie, "Doctor No." So much for conventional wisdom.

Lame comedy from William Castle about a professor (Tom Poston) who gains magical powers from an ancient coin. The premise had potential but this just stinks. I didn't laugh once during the whole thing. Poston running around pointing his finger and yelling "Zotz!" gets real old real fast. Despite his character supposedly being a brilliant professor he acts like a complete moron most of the time. A good supporting cast including Jim Backus, Cecil Kellaway, and the great Margaret Dumont doesn't help much. The version I saw on TCM had these weird breaks where scenes went to black before starting another scene, almost like it was made with spots for television commercials in mind. If you're a Castle completist you'll want to see this but everybody else should just avoid it. It's corny and not funny in the least.

This is a movie that failed--mostly because the writing was very poor and because William Castle was not very adept at comedy (this film and 13 FRIGHTENED GIRLS prove that). The idea itself, though weird and silly, could have worked--but the movie failed again and again--mostly due to a dopey script.The film starred Tom Posten as a goofy professor of ancient languages. His niece receives an ancient medallion from her boyfriend who is on a dig. Posten is happy when he notices that he can read this medallion and finds that it's a powerful charm--allowing the user to cause pain by pointing at someone, make them slow down or even kill. When he tries to show this to the US military, they think he's some kind of nut and the only ones who believe are the evil Russians. There's more to it than this, but frankly it all seemed like a kooky and less well made version of THE ABSENTMINDED PROFESSOR.As I said above, the script was really sub-par. Again and again, Posten's character (who was supposed to be a genius) behaved stupidly. When he was kidnapped by the Russians, though he had these great powers he forgot to use them until the end of the film. When he was trying to demonstrate his powers for his boss, he didn't make sure he had the medallion on him. These sort of brain-addled moments abounded in the film--and made it embarrassing and irritating to watch.A good idea but a failure.

William Castle, director of low-budget horror flicks including the original "Thirteen Ghosts", takes on an adaptation of Walter Karig's novel with mixed results.The best thing about the movie are the changes made to the original novel. While it's rare when a movie improves on its literary source material, Walter Karig's book starts out with the promise of being like a Thorne Smith fantasy romp. There's the professor who accidentally acquires a magic power (in the book, to stun or kill by pointing his finger, but instead of yelling "bang" he yells "Zotz"). There's the beautiful femme fatale who may be a nemesis sent from the gods, and who first appeared nude on his couch in a thunderstorm.The novel then dissipates into a tedious cautionary tale about bureaucracy: the professor has a power that will ultimately lead to a bloodless victory in World War II, but even in a desperate war when the nation's self-defense is at stake he can't seem to he can't climb the chain of command in any military or civilian organization in Washington (in that way, the novel is more than relevant in the early twenty-first century). Part of his problem, too, is his own intransigence. He is so obsessed with the cult of personality, so swept away by his own powers, he refuses to outline or demonstrate his powers to anyone less than the president himself.The movie does a good thing by sweeping away all the bureaucratic detritus that made the book so ultimately tiresome. The movie changes the professor's powers (I won't relate that change but it's more family-friendly). The movie gives us a story that might well have been adapted from Thorne Smith in the early 1960s, in a Disney sort of way.Then there are the missteps. Tom Poston is a funny guy, graduating from the Steve Allen show with the likes of Don Knotts and Louis Nye. His movie persona, while likable, is less than dynamic. And the special effects have unfortunately dated. Still, it's a pleasant diversion. And more than "Thirteen Ghosts" it deserves a remake -- not from the book, but reworking this script.