Zig Zag (1970 film)

Zig Zag, also released as False Witness, is a 1970 American thriller drama film directed by Richard A. Colla^[2] and starring George Kennedy. The film was remade in India as Majboor (1974).

Zig Zag
Directed by	Richard A. Colla
Screenplay by	John T. Kelley
Story by	Robert Enders
Produced by	Robert Enders Everett Freeman
Starring	George Kennedy Anne Jackson Eli Wallach Steve Ihnat William Marshall
Cinematography	James Crabe
Edited by	Ferris Webster
Music by	Oliver Nelson
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date	April 27, 1970 (1970-04-27)
Running time	105 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$1.7 million[1]

Plot

Paul Cameron is an insurance executive who finds out he has a brain tumor. His family will receive nothing under his current policies, but there is a huge reward for information leading to the arrest of the murderer of a businessman. Cameron frames himself for the murder in the hopes of collecting the reward money for his wife in an anonymous bank account. Cameron is found guilty and sentenced to death, but then is cured of the disease, and escapes in order to find the real killer and clear his name.

Cast

• George Kennedy as Paul Cameron
• Anne Jackson as Jean Cameron
• Eli Wallach as Mario Gambretti
• Steve Ihnat as Herb Gates
• William Marshall as Morris Bronson
• Joe Maross as Lieutenant Hines
• Dana Elcar as Harold Tracey
• Walter Brooke as Adam Mercer
• Anita O'Day as Sheila Mangan
• Robert Patten as John Raymond

Soundtrack

Zig Zag
Soundtrack album by Oliver Nelson
Released	1970
Recorded	February 19 & 20 and April 3 & 16, 1970
Studio	MGM Studios Scoring Stage, Culver City and Hollywood, California
Genre	Film score
Label	MGM Records 1SE-21ST
Producer	Perry Botkin Jr., Don Peake, Mike Curb
Oliver Nelson chronology
3 Shades of Blue (1970) Zig Zag (1970) Berlin Dialogue for Orchestra (1970)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[3]

The film score was composed, arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson, and the soundtrack album was released on the MGM label.^[4] AllMusic's Jason Ankeney noted that Nelson did "a particularly strong job of evoking the grittiness of their urban setting" and said that "Recalling vintage jazz in both its atmosphere and vigor, the music navigates though [sic] a series of mood and tempo shifts with the precision of a race car moving in and out of traffic".^[3] The album also included two tracks with lyrics by Hal David sung by Bobby Hatfield and Roy Orbison singing the Mike Curb composition "Zigzag".

Track listing

All compositions by Oliver Nelson escept as indicated

1. "All You Did Was Smile" (lyrics by Hal David) – 1:41
2. "Main Title from "Zigzag" – 2:30
3. "Guilty, Your Honor" – 1:50
4. "It Was You, It Was You" – 2:30
5. "Love Theme (Bossa)" – 2:39
6. "Earphones" – 2:03
7. "Zigzag" (Mike Curb, Robert Enders, Guy Hemric) – 2:50
8. "The Other Car" – 3:55
9. "Variations of Themes" – 4:50
10. "I Call Your Name"(lyrics by Hal David) – 2:32
11. "End Title" – 1:05

Personnel

Orchestra arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson except:

Tracks 1 & 10:

• Arranged and conducted by Don Peak with Bobby Hatfield – vocals

Track 7:

• Arranged and conducted by Don Peak with Roy Orbison – vocals

Track 9:

• Buddy Collette – tenor saxophone
• Artie Kane – piano
• Joe Mondragon – bass
• John Guerin, Victor Feldman – drums

Remakes

The film has been remade in India four times:

• the Hindi film Majboor (1974)
• the Telugu film Raja (1976)
• the Tamil film Naan Vazhavaippen (1979)
• the Gujarati film Naseeb No Khel (1982)