source: Boys' Night Out

Trailer—Boys' Night Out

Boys' Night Out

Kim Novak started out at Columbia with the great noir film Pushover and left 7 years later with The Notorious Landlady as the biggest box office female star in the world. In between there were Picnic, Pal Joey, Bell Book and Candle, Strangers When We Meet, among others and on loan out The Man With The Golden Arm and Vertigo. Kim Novak formed Kimco and produced Boys Night Out at MGM with a then astounding salary of $500,000 plus 20% of the gross of the film. Savvy lady. Kim even designed her own clothes for the film. Kim selected James Garner as her male co star and Tony Randall as the comic foil with an all star cast supporting Novak with Zza Zsa Gabor, Anne Jeffrey's etc. Fun film with lush MGM production values.

I saw this movie on TCM, got a copy and I can't stop viewing it. This movie is set in the earlier 1960's when sexual material/theme could be discuss in movies, not like the 1930's through the 1950's where the morality codes kept husband and wife in separate beds, and kissing was limited to six seconds. I enjoy this movie about four men approaching middle age trying to spice up their "Boys' Night Out" with a 24 year old blonde, but they are mostly talk, and the blonde (Kim Novak) realized that they are all talk and played along, except she falls in love with the only bachelor (James Garner) of the group, and he also falls madly in love with her, now the fun start. He wants out, so he can be with her and to marry her, she also want him, but the three other guy have other ideas, they don't want to lose their "24 year blonde" on "Boys' Night Out". She don't want them, she want James Garner, and he want Kim Novak, you get it? I won't spoil it for you, get this movie, you won't regret it.

Group of wolfish businessmen--only one of whom is not married--rent a bachelor-pad for fun nights away from their wives and hire Kim Novak to be their resident play-thing; she agrees, but only because she has plans of her own. Smarmy set-up, surprisingly cynical for 1962, and ultimately a laughless sex farce. The whole scenario is rather offensive, and while the film doesn't exactly push the envelope for bedroom comedies, it's full of limp pseudo-smut, poshly-furnished and yet depressingly lascivious. Kim Novak tries to overcome the situation with her heavy-lidded, low-keyed classiness, but there's not much of a character here and she ends up just being a fashion plate; she's here to be ogled. James Garner is, once again, a handsome hole in the screen. NO STARS from ****

I just saw the film the other night while watching a mini-marathon of other early 60's comedies. This film is the one that stuck out in my mind as being great. This movie serves the purpose that any good movie should serve, that being it is entertaining.

Just watched this with Mom. We both liked this early '60s comedy about four men (three married, one divorced who lives with his mom) who sublet an apartment for themselves and a woman who secretly is studying the sexual habits of middle-aged men like them. It stars Kim Novak, James Garner, Tony Randall, Howard Morris, and Howard Duff. There are also many familiar character actors from various classic movies and TV shows. Silly and funny in spots but mostly pretty enjoyable for what it is. So we say Boys' Night Out is worth a look.

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.

This movie is fun to watch. The morals, the clothing, the furniture, the suits, the hairstyles, the hats, the booze, the husbands and wives--are pure 1962. It captures, in a very exaggerated and silly way, an era in American society that will never exist again. It's a time capsule. That's what makes this film so vintage and enjoyable. It's a "sex comedy" without the sex--very popular in those days. It's amazing to think that only five years later, hippies and war protesters were making their mark on society, and films like "Easy Rider" were being created, changing the landscape of Hollywood and pop culture forever. So think of this film as a showpiece of how America was (in a highly exaggerated way) before we learned to question authority and discard many of the foolish rules and regulations we grew up with. Just enjoy it for what it is! It's fun to see Kim's apartment and her wardrobe is cool!