Boys' Night Out (film)
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| Boys' Night Out | |
|---|---|
 VHS cover |
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| Directed by | Michael Gordon |
| Produced by | Martin Ransohoff |
| Written by | Arne Sultan (story) Marvin Worth (story) Ira Wallach |
| Starring | Kim Novak James Garner Tony Randall |
| Music by | Frank De Vol |
| Cinematography | Arthur E. Arling |
| Editing by | Tom McAdoo |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | 1962 |
| Running time | 115 min. |
| Country | U.S.A. |
| Language | English |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Boys' Night Out is an American comedy film released in 1962, starring Kim Novak, James Garner, and Tony Randall, and directed by Michael Gordon. The movie is about three well-to-do men planning to commit adultery.
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[edit] Plot
Three married men, George (Tony Randall), Doug (Howard Duff), Howie (Howard Morris), and bachelor Fred (James Garner) are buddies who commute to work on the same train. What starts out as a pipe dream somehow turns into reality when they rent an apartment in the city as a love nest. They plan to tell their wives that they have to work late or are taking a class and will stay overnight in the city, each on a different day. They tell Fred to find a woman to go with the apartment.
By chance, Cathy (Kim Novak), a knockout of a blonde, also answers the advertisement for the apartment. Fred explains that the place has already been taken, but awkwardly offers to let her stay there for little rent, under certain "conditions." To his surprise, she accepts.
Unbeknownst to the men, Cathy is actually a sociology graduate student writing her thesis on the adolescent fantasies of the adult suburban male. Her sceptical advisor, Dr. Prokosch (Oskar Homolka), worries that she won't be able to fend off the men, but she is confident about her abilities (see Quotes). When they start calling on her individually in the evenings, she encourages them to talk, all the while secretly recording their conversations.
Cathy deftly avoids being seduced by the married men, although each of them brags to the others about having slept with her. In fact, she figures out what they really want to do. Howie just wants to eat more substantial food than his dieting wife will provide, Doug likes to repair appliances that are conveniently broken each week, and George enjoys talking about himself. Fred, however, is a different story. He is very attracted to Cathy and is disgusted by his friends' fabricated stories. He refuses to use his night.
In the end, the wives find out about the love nest and confront their husbands. All three married men confess that nothing happened and Cathy reveals that she is just doing research. Cathy and Fred get married. The wives learn their lesson and the boys' night out is no more. Instead, the couples go out together.
[edit] Cast
- Kim Novak as Cathy
- James Garner as Fred Williams
- Tony Randall as George Drayton
- Howard Duff as Doug Jackson
- Janet Blair as Marge Drayton
- Patti Page as Joanne McIllenny
- Jessi Royce Landis as Ethel Williams
- Oskar Homolka as Dr. Prokosch
- Howard Morris as Howard McIllenny
- Anne Jeffreys as Toni Jackson
- Zsa Zsa Gabor as Boss's Girl Friend
- William Bendix as Slattery
- Larry Keating as Mr. Bingham
- Fred Clark as Mr. Bohannon
- Jim Backus as Peter Bowers
- Billy Halop as Elevator Operator (uncredited)
[edit] Quotes
Dr. Prokosch: Can you look like 'yes' and act like 'no'? Can you entice them, lure them, then postpone, evade, delay? It needs a special kind of experience and skill. This a nice girl hasn't learned.
Cathy: No? This is what a nice girl has learned best.
[edit] Reception
Although generally considered a mediocre film, Boys' Night Out -- with what must have been considered a risqué plot more than 40 years ago -- gives an insight into the predominant social mores of the late 1950s and early 1960s WASP middle classes. It should be noted though that not all comedy films made at around that time excluded pre- and extra-marital sex from their plots; see, for example, Boeing Boeing (1965, based on a 1960 farce).
The film provides an excellent view of "mid-century modern" interiors and fashions.
