The Essential James Garner by Stephen H. Ryan & Paul J. Ryan

Author:Stephen H. Ryan & Paul J. Ryan [Ryan, Stephen H. & Ryan, Paul J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2018-03-28T00:00:00+00:00

Commentary

Although most critics didn’t swoon over the film when it was released, this gentle comedy has retained its appeal over the years, which is not an easy feat for films of the 1980s.

When Field and director Ritt pushed for Garner to play Murphy over Marlon Brando, they were right, of course. Despite Brando’s revered acting skills, it’s hard to picture Garner’s Sayonara costar in the role of Murphy. Garner and Field play off each other with a sense of ease that seems to come naturally to the pair. In fact, Field has publicly said on more than one occasion that Garner delivered the best kiss she’s ever had on-screen (perhaps even better than what she has received off camera). In an appearance on Bravo television’s Watch What Happens Live, Field was asked by a viewer who was the worst kisser in her career. Struggling for an answer, the actress offered an alternative response: “Best without a doubt is James Garner. I could close my eyes and go there.” When host Andy Cohen prodded her to reveal how good a kisser her new film’s costar—thirty-four years her junior—was, Field replied, “He was pretty darn good, but you know he wasn’t Jimmy Garner.”7

Hollywood has been guilty of producing some May–December romances that stretch credibility. For decades, the studios have often paired starlets with aging leading men they assumed could still produce virile box office numbers—but those films rarely acknowledged the differences between the leading man and woman, or at best downplayed the issue by shrinking the on-screen age gap, so that it didn’t appear quite as alarming.

Such was not the case for this movie. In fact, the filmmakers undertook a different approach regarding Garner and Field’s characters, whose age difference is very much at the forefront of their minds. When Murphy’s Romance finished filming, Garner was fifty-seven,8 nineteen years older than his costar, but in the film, the filmmakers stretched the truth—in the opposite direction—spreading the characters’ ages by twenty-seven years.9

Despite the leads’ age difference, the film is credible because Field and Garner looked so comfortable together. Said Garner, “It’s a cliché, but we had great chemistry on the screen.”10 Indeed, they did. Field and Garner fit perfectly, not only into their roles but as a couple tentatively leaning toward each other, not quite sure if they should. Murphy addresses the sexual tension of their burgeoning relationship late in the film, when he declares,

“You want advice? Write Dear Abby. You’ve got problems? Take them to your local minister. Your head isn’t on straight? The mental health clinic is in the phone book. I’m not a lifeguard. I don’t put up bail and I’m not your damn Dutch uncle.”

Murphy spins her around on the stool to face him and kisses her, then lifts her off the stool and walks her to the door. “Now if you don’t know how things are, you’re not as smart as I thought you were.”11

Clearly, the only thing keeping the two apart from each other is the age

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