Your James Garner Movie Roundup (July)

To no one’s surprise, I’ve been watching a lot of James Garner’s movies this month. He’s slowly but surely—actually, make that quickly and surely—becoming one of my favorite actors. I've seen a few more of his films since I last mentioned him on the blog, so here’s your end-of-the-month movie roundup!

Boys’ Night Out (1962)

The spicy premise of this one makes it a “guilty pleasure” movie for me: Four men (three married, one divorced) decide their weekly “boys’ nights” need a little excitement, so they rent a pad and set out to hire a blonde “housekeeper.” But unbeknownst to them, the woman they find for the job (Kim Novak) is actually a sociology student who secretly plans to study them as part of her thesis on “adolescent fantasies of the adult suburban male.”

Like I said: total guilty pleasure movie. James Garner plays the one divorced man of the group (to my relief), and he’s especially darling in this. I’m a bit of a sucker for when my guys wear baseball uniforms (see: Robert Redford in The Natural, James Read in Eight Men Out, and Gene Kelly & Frank Sinatra in Take Me Out to the Ballgame), and James is certainly no exception. In fact, I might even goes as far as to say he’s my favorite baseball boy now.

ANYWAYS. Dare I say it, but I loved this movie. It was really funny, and personally, I enjoyed it more than The Thrill of it All. Plus, two of the other men wooing Novak are played by Tony Randall and Howard Morris. Rockford, Unger, and Bass—now there’s a trio!

Not available to stream for free. The DVD does not have subtitles.

The Great Escape (1963)

Based on the true story of 76 Allied prisoners who broke out of a German POW camp, The Great Escape is suspenseful, thrilling, and heartbreaking. Every actor in this ensemble is phenomenal. The movie comes in at just under three hours, but I didn’t even realize how long it was while I was watching—it kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Definitely my favorite movie out of these five, and in my opinion, one of the greatest films ever made.

Available for free on Tubi, Pluto TV, and The Roku Channel. English subtitles available on all these platforms.

The Thrill of it All (1963)

This is my least favorite of James’ movies so far. It was simultaneously wild and depressing, and I actually felt bad for James’ character. (He was adorable though, in case you’re wondering.) It was fun seeing little Kym Karath, though, two years before she played Gretl in The Sound of Music. I’m even more eager to see Move Over, Darling after this—from what I’ve heard, it sounds like it’s the better one of the James Garner/Doris Day movies.

You can find the movie for free on Dailymotion. No subtitles.

Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)

A very entertaining western parody. Prudy is such a mood the whole time–except for when she tells James’ character “I don’t think that a girl would curl up and die ‘cuz you smiled at her.” LIES. The rest of the cast is great fun, but Harry Morgan (Colonel Potter in M*A*S*H!) is especially delightful.

Available to stream for free on Tubi and Pluto TV. English subtitles available on both platforms. (I watched on Tubi and the subtitles were horribly inaccurate.)

Murphy’s Romance (1985)

I liked this one a lot more than I thought I would. In fact, I just plain liked it! Just like the town Sally Field’s character moves to, the movie itself feels like a world apart from everything else. Admittedly, I was holding my breath the whole time because I kept expecting the plot to get icky or go sour. But it wasn’t that kind of movie, which was very nice. Now that I know everything works out, I’m already looking forward to another cozy night in with this sweet little romance.

Available for free on Tubi and Sling. The Tubi version has English subtitles. The Sling version lists subtitles as an option, but none are actually provided.

I think a couple weeks ago I mentioned that I’d still probably rewatch The Thrill of it All, but now that some time has passed and I’ve thought about it more, I don’t think I’m interested in seeing it again (except for maybe James’ scenes). Although I know I’ll be rewatching The Great Escape more than once, I’d only see when I’m emotionally prepared for it. Boys’ Night Out, Murphy’s Romance, and Support Your Local Sheriff will definitely become comfort movies for me. But I enjoyed watching all of these, and I’m looking forward to a Garner-filled August!

So what’s next? As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m not clicking these off one comprehensive list—I’m seeing what recommendations come my way, what pops up unexpectedly at my local library, etc.:

What I’ve found at my local library:

Marlowe

My Fellow Americans (I also found this at a thrift store on Friday, so I own it now. Heehee!)

noodlesfilmx on Instagram recommended me these!

The Americanization of Emily

36 Hours

The Art of Love

Skin Game

One Special Night

Have you seen any of these? Which one is your favorite?

Before I sign off for the week, I just wanted to let you know that I'm slowly but surely adding titles to the LMV Caption Guide. I had to take a small break due to some health issues, but am back up and at it! The amount of DVDs to enter in are endless, so it will forever be a work in progress. Make sure to check back every once in a while and see what's new! I'll be adding some of these James Garner movies to the Guide very soon, and will update this post with links.

I hope you're all having a lovely Sunday and a wonderful start to the month! Until next time, keep living vintage!

Becca