Garçonnière pour quatre

A feline and spacey Kim Novak seems to arrive from another planet in this romantic comedy from the blacklisted director of Pillow Talk. It's James Garner and Kim instead of Rock Hudson and Doris Day -- so underneath the squeaky clean froth, their clinches have just a hint of real sexual chemistry. Clever script has theatrical touches if no depth. Second bananas play their farcical roles well, especially Tony Randall.

However feast your eyes on the apartment, the height of Kennedy-era Mod; don't miss the turquoise kitchen, his-and-her bedrooms, and more.

Would make a nice double feature with the new remake of Stepford Wives. There's a happy ending (of course): The men discover 'boy's night out' is actually more fun if the women come, too. That's progress, in a tiny way.

Fred Williams (James Garner), George Drayton (Tony Randall), Doug Jackson and Howie McIllenny are friends out on the town. Three are married and Fred is divorced. Only it's another night of non-excitement. They catch the train back home and come up with the idea of sharing a love nest in the city and a single blonde. The guys make Fred rent a place. Cathy (Kim Novak) shows up looking to rent. Fred talks her into a 'companion' or 'housekeeper' job.

James Garner is great and I like that Kim Novak is playing the boys. She doesn't have the greatest of range but she's fine in this role. She tries and does well enough. The movie is much too long and it needs some more fun. The four guys are fun with their childish idiocy. It would have been great to keep that tone for the whole movie. The middle drags a little. The problem may be the gang gets inevitably split up.

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.)

Just looking at the lovely Kim Novak is enough for any man (or woman). She most convincingly plays her part in this comedy romp from 1962, a very dated 1962 film at that, although the premise and, really, the events, are timeless. Who can ever tire of her beauty. James Garner was so handsome in his youth as well. We also see the delightful Anne Jeffreys. I enjoyed this comedy and recommend it. It is a rather pleasant not so over the top comedy and an enjoyable film. I repeat again, whatever Kim Novak is in a movie, she brings not only her spectacular beauty but a marvelous acting ability. The dresses she wears in this movie are terribly outdated, but I recommend the movie for one and all.

Blacklisted writer Michael Gordon returned to Hollywood to direct such harmless diversions as this one about four bored middle-class commuters who dream of leaving their humdrum existences and revisiting their idea of a dream bachelor pad, replete with wet bar, long sofa, fantastic view, and what may be the most voluptuous idea of a mistress the Hollywood of the sixties had to offer--a sociology student doing her thesis on the sex life of the suburban male played by Kim Novak. This movie would be a drag without her. She takes her place among the best American movie sex symbol acts of that time: Gina Lollobrigida in "Come September"; Tuesday Weld in "Soldier in the Rain"; Sue Lyon in "Lolita"; Virna Lisi in "How to Murder Your Wife." It was a good year for Novak--1962. Richard Quine ("Operation Mad Ball") directed her opposite Jack Lemmon in what I think is her funniest and most mysterious performance as "The Notorious Landlady." Her best moments on screen have always been the ones where she played smart women, and Cathy and Carlyle Hardwicke are two of the smartest she's ever played.