JohnHowardReid 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!

williwaw 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.

maryszd Boys Night Out (whose title now sounds like a double entendre) was one of a number of early sixties comedies that show how American culture was shifting even before the advent of the later sixties counter-culture. James Garner plays Fred Williams, a handsome and weak-willed young guy henpecked by his mother and bullied by his married buddies on the commuter train to Manhattan. Kim Novak plays Cathy (do we ever learn her last name?), a sociology grad student whose dependence on her father-figure of a professor mirrors Fred's on his mom. Fred and his married pals, who want to have affairs on the side, rent a garishly decorated apartment (vacated by a call girl) and "trick" Cathy into renting it. Cathy, whose dissertation is about the "lives of married men," takes the bait for her own reasons. All the men have problematic (and essentially infantile) relationships with women, including their wives. The wives, on the other hand, are grimly domestic and shrewdly aware of their husbands deficiencies. Looking at the film in retrospect, we can see that Women's Lib is just around the corner. It turns out that the married men simply (or not) want a woman who will listen to their self-centered monologues and Cathy adroitly manages their visits. But she and Fred fall in love and both show that they have the capacity to change, defy their parental figures, and enter into an adult relationship. Even though Fred doesn't know if Cathy's having sex with his friends or not, he wants to marry her. The other couples can only see women in the roles of wives or prostitutes, so naturally they condemn Cathy--but Fred doesn't categorize Cathy, he just loves her. Fred (and his mom, who comes around and appreciates Cathy for who she is) represent the future, where there will be a more nuanced attitude towards marriage and relationships. Cathy's an educated and urbane young woman with great clothes (designed by Novak herself)—she'll marry Fred and things won't ever be the same. As the film ends, we see that the men are forced to include the women in their forays into the city at night. They're no longer shutting their wives out (and then complaining about them). Cathy's part of their suburban group now, but she's wearing a snazzy black leather jacket and is obviously still a bit of a hip outsider. There may still be a few more bombshells she's waiting to drop. Ostensibly this film is about the "mind of the married man," but in reality it's all about what women want.

Scoval71 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.