The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything

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!

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.

I haven't watched this since it came out (in 1980 apparently) but I was just remembering it fondly. After watching it I had a lot of childish fantasies of stopping time so I could gobble up all of the candies at the bulk food store. I can't speak to the cinematic quality of this work, but to me as a child, it was highly inspirational. :)

For the first 40 minutes of this film all robert hayes does is sleep ... the rest is even a bigger waste of time

I loved this fresh concept and remember talking about it and the awsome power the watch would give the bearer for years after with one of my friends. I don't know if I have seen it since the first air date, but, I still remember the premise of many of the seens, like never stop time while your in a moving vehicle or you'll hit the dashboard at 60mph.

I also remember the sequil was good. Allthough it still bothers me that in the first seen of the sequil the uncles video message says that they would have already figured out that if they used the watch a certain number of times in so long it would never work again.

Recently I saw a video at my library called "Clockstoppers" it was from Nickelodian Productions and was geared toward young male teens. It wasn't in the same leage as I remember the "Gold Watch" Pair being in, but, It definately provided a fix for a movie I've wanted to see again for years and I would say it's worth the time to see it.

The problems with "Clockstoppers" were; It tried too hard to explane the science of something made up for a movie. It tried to be to hip, allthough the target audience might not mind.