Just perfect...

A Brilliant Conflict

It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Copyright 20 April 1962 by Filmways/Kimco/Embassy Pictures. Released through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. New York opening at both the Victoria and Guild: 21 June 1962. U.K. release: July 1962. 115 minutes. SYNOPSIS: Four men rent a New York apartment for a sociology student who is writing a thesis on the American male.COMMENT: It's rather nice to be able to fully agree with all one's colleagues for once. In fact we had the grand idea of writing a joint review, but our editors, alas, could not see the light. This coy, non-sex "comedy" sinks almost irretrievably into the quicksands of thanks-but-no-thanks, thanks to the miscasting of glum, non- personable, far-too-old James Garner as chief "boy". Oscar Homolka is also a dead loss (although it's not his fault, it's his lousy lines), but Tony Randall makes a game attempt to rescue the movie by over-acting with style. He even manages to bring off a mildly amusing running gag. Indeed, except for Garner, and Homolka all the players strive their utmost to lighten the ship from the dead weight of a witless, clumsy script. Even normally lackluster Howard Duff contributes to the entertainment and there nice guest appearances by Jim Backus and William Bendix. Anne Jeffreys from "Zombies in Broadway" still looks great, while Patti Page zings out the title tune with all the elan of a Doris Day. Although forced to make a late entrance, Miss Novak looks absolutely delicious. Slinking around in a variety of becoming costumes, she even manages to partly offset Michael Gordon's sluggish, slow-paced, elephantine, non-inventive direction. Mr. Gordon's ability to handle CinemaScope is zilch. All he can up with are TV-style close-ups – and mostly single close-ups of dreary Garner at that!

A feather weight comedy boasting a large cast but precious few laughs. Four men (three henpecked husbands and James Garner) rent a New York City crash pad with a plan for each of them to entertain women once a week. The apartment is sublet to student Kim Novak (as a PhD candidate?), who proceeds to study the four as part of her sociological thesis. It's a slim plot and not much happens save for actors like Tony Randall, Howard Morris and Howard Duff making fools of themselves over Novak. The film is not helped by the fact that Novak (in a role screaming out for the likes of Judy Holliday or even Doris Day) has very little chemistry with Garner. It's directed by Michael Gordon and the script was worked on by Ira Wallach, who would later co-write the very witty HOT MILLIONS. The cast also includes the likes of Patti Page, Jim Backus, Janet Blair, Oskar Homolka, Jessie Royce Landis, Anne Jeffreys and Fred Clark. There's a throwaway cameo by Zsa Zsa Gabor.

This delightful comedy has some great bits, especially from the four commuter buddies (particularly Tony Randall, later one-half of TV's "Odd Couple"). James Garner is excellent as usual as the one buddy who's not married and thus the default romantic lead. The gang consists of Garner, Randall, Howard Duff, and Howard Morris. The great supporting cast includes old favorites William Bendix, Oskar Homolka, Jim Backus, and Fred Clark.The movie is silly, but there are some great lines and lots of fun along the way. The story deals with married men who feel stifled by their wives. They dream up a scheme to share a "love nest" apartment in the city, complete with a blonde. Kim Novak shows up and the plan is put into place, but the boys don't know that Kim is interested only in her secret sociological research. Nothing "happens", but the boys are too embarrassed to admit it to each other and the wives eventually draw their own conclusions. Jessie Royce Landis (NORTH BY NORTHWEST) gets special mention for her performance as Garner's mother, who rallies the three wives against their "cheating" husbands. The movie is a little racy, but only to the point of innuendo, and it's all in good fun.There's a great running gag where the boys will be riding the train to/from work and Tony Randall will start telling this presumably raunchy story when a passing train roars by, leaving the audience to imagine what could have been said under all that noise. James Garner (THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE NOTEBOOK) has some great drunk bits, jumbling the syllables of his speech ("ti many martoonis").Jim Backus ("Gilligan's Island", "Mr. Magoo") has a wonderful scene as an apartment owner willing to haggle his own asking price down as low as it takes to rent out a swanky flat (complete with wine rack and mirrored bedroom ceiling). Fred Clark (AUNTIE MAME) plays a private detective, a master of disguise. His character really shines in the chaotic climax, amid a cyclone of arguing spouses and flying pottery.I've personally never been a big Kim Novak fan. Her performance here is standard, I'd say. Patti Page sings the title song and gets a rare opportunity to act, playing one of the wives.Some among the cast are a real treat to watch. Others, not so much. There are some great witty lines, but the story is pretty flimsy and among the gags that are hits there is the occasional miss. As a film overall BOYS' NIGHT OUT falls a little short, but it is very entertaining light fare. A hidden treasure, well worth checking out if you get the chance.(The movie airs occasionally on TCM and is available for purchase on a burn-on-demand DVD-R from the Warner Archive Collection.)

Some films ought to be seen in the context of the era in which they were made. It's unfair, in a way, to dismiss a lot of them because they appear to be dated, or because they don't hold our attention because one can't identify with the subject which is being treated. This seems to be the case of "Boys Night Out", a mildly amusing comedy from the early 60s. Directed by Michael Gordon, it shows its age, but still, there are a lot of ingredients that show the viewer how we lived during those less complex times in this country."Boys Night Out" would be impossible to make in the present climate. Where could stars of the stature of Kim Novak, James Garner, Tony Randall, be found to play in it? Salaries alone would make such an enterprise impossible by today's standards, and yet, a little more than forty years ago, this sleek package was put together without much problem, or so it appears.The film offers some rewards to the viewer that stays with it. The idea of four men getting together to rent an apartment and get a dream woman to cater to their fantasies would not be easy to do without including a lot of sex. Little do these men realize they are, in turn, being a case study for the same woman they all desire.Kim Novak, at the height of her beauty, does a wonderful job with her Cathy. James Garner also has wonderful moments, especially playing opposite Jessie Royce Landis, who appears as his mother. Tony Randall, Howard Duff, Oskar Homolka, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Jim Backus, Fred Ward, and the rest of the cast are good in the film."Boys Night Out" is a comedy about male fantasy about the best of two different worlds.