Boys’ Night Out (1962)

The “boys” in this first film to come from Kim Novak’s own production company are George, Doug, Howie and Fred, who all live in suburban Greenwich, Connecticut, and commute daily into Manhattan to work.

George (Tony Randall), Doug (Howard Duff) and Howie (Howard Morris) are married. Fred (James Garner) has been married but is now free again – to the consternation of his mother, Ethel (Jessie Royce Landis) who “wants grandchildren in the worst way possible” and wishes he would spend his weekly nights out in Manhattan with the girls instead of the boys.

It’s the sight of Fred’s boss, Mr Bingham (Larry Keating) with his latest girlfriend (Zsa Zsa Gabor) that really inspires the boys with the idea of sharing an apartment in the city – and a blonde to go with it.

Although Fred was never stuck on the notion, he’s the one who is landed with the job of finding the pad. A fabulous place – voluptuous, luxurious, ravishing – falls into his lap at a third of the usual rent because of something unpleasant that befell the previous tenant.

Then as soon as Fred has signed the lease, Cathy (Kim Novak) calls. She really wants to rent the apartment, but Fred – having drunk a few – thinks that the pale and interesting blonde has answered a certain advertisement of George’s in tomorrow’s paper.

Too late, he tries to conceal the truth from this obviously nice girl. Cathy is definitely interested though and finally moves in, in spite of him.

Cathy of course has an ulterior motive which has to do with a thesis she’s writing called “Adolescent Sexual Fantasies in the Adult Suburban Male”. Her professor Dr Prokosch (Oskar Homolka) is understandably apprehensive about the undertaking but Cathy – with tape recorders strategically hidden – prepares for sociological sessions with ‘the boys’.

Meanwhile, the three wives (played by Janet Blair, Patti Page and Anne Jeffreys) have been told that their husbands each attend different classes at the New School of Social Research. Their suspicions aren’t really aroused until they start receiving loving gifts, and soon after that, they hire a private detective (Fred Clark) who quickly tracks down both the apartment and the blonde.

How Cathy copes with the husbands in her “group experiment” and their wives is shown in a succession of farcical situations.

Cathy
Kim Novak
Fred Williams
James Garner
George Drayton
Tony Randall
Doug Jackson
Howard Duff
Marge Drayton
Janet Blair
Joanne McIllenny
Patti Page
Ethel Williams
Jessie Royce Landis
Dr Prokosch
Oskar Homolka
Howard “Howie” McIllenny
Howard Morris
Toni Jackson
Anne Jeffreys
Boss’ Girl Friend
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Slattery
William Bendix
Peter Bowers
Jim Backus
Mr Bohannon
Fred Clark
Mr Bingham
Larry Keating
Beulah Partridge
Ruth McDevitt

Director
Michael Gordon