La chica, el reloj de oro y todo lo demás

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.

In the review listed initially on the site, it's said that the first thing Robert Hays does when he uses the watch is to undo the bikini top of a young girl. Actually, this isn't QUITE true: It's his girlfriend, played by Pam Dawber (who has a beautiful southern accent and a racy sense of humor) who does that, and Hays looks a bit (though not too) disapproving.

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.

I remember first seeing this movie on reruns when i was 4. I'm 22 now and love the fact that i was able to find a copy of this movie and the sequel. The movie was so ahead of its tim. I'm surprised that anyone got the concept. The part of the movie that always pops up in my head is when our hero stops time just before some baddies cap him and his honey. I can't remember and its been a few years since i viewed the tape, but i think somehow the hero reverses the direction the bullets were flying. Anyways, the story was excellent, the sequel was great, and the only movie dealing with time travel that has comes even close to this original idea (besides the HOLY Back to the Future Trilogy) is Frequency. Ok , maybe Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure (you have to admit, the way they got out of jail was cool.) TNT played this movie and its sequel about 3 or 4 years ago during a late night shift (midnight to 4am.) They might do again sometime soon.