James Garner and Sally Field make an appealing couple involved in a May-December romance. This theme has been done before in films but Garner and Field bring a freshness that gives the production credibility as they form a casual friendship that intensifies as time passes. Field's troublesome and immature ex-spouse shows up to try to win her back and his presence causes an awkward, strained triangle that resolves itself in due course. Garner is a relaxed middle-aged pharmacist who is comfortable with himself and takes each day as it comes. Field is determined to make a new life for herself and her son as a horse trainer in a small Arizona town. Brian Kerwin and Corey Haim as Field's ex-husband and young son are good in supporting roles.
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NewEnglandPat14 August 2005
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SnoopyStyle8 November 2015Emma Moriarty (Sally Field) is a divorced 33-year-old, mother to Jake (Corey Haim). She moves to the small town of Eunice, Arizona to fix up a run down horse ranch and train horses. She befriends the local druggist Murphy Jones (James Garner). Her ex-husband Bobby Jack Moriarty (Brian Kerwin) shows up and she lets him stay. He promises to be better but he continues to be a thieving cheat. The two men starts competing for Emma.
This is better than most May to December romantic movies. Garner is utterly charming. The beauty is their hesitation. The characters know their age difference and keep pushing away the romance. Sally Field is just as charming. Her horse riding is probably the most impressive thing in the movie. Garner and Field make an adorable couple despite their age difference. -
rustydog2 July 2005Sure, this is a romantic comedy, but I wouldn't call it a chick flick. It's a great story, and all the principals work effortlessly towards making the film just downright entertaining.
Garner is at his best as an understatedly charming small-town pharmacist who becomes entangled in the life of a fiercely independent single mother with a deadbeat ex-husband. Field hits all the right notes with her character, but I can't tell if she's stepping back, or she just doesn't know how to play against Garner's lackadaisical style. Brian Kerwin gives his best screen performance as her ex, and sure, he plays a deadbeat, but he just oozes sex appeal. -
nancysparkle23 October 2004I love this movie. I have watched it numerous times, and I still love it! It is one of those "feel good" movies that we seldom see anymore. No violence, no sex, no "strong language", etc. Just a strong woman, and a strong man, gradually falling in love. No negatives at all. If you want to watch a pleasant movie, and go to bed feeling happy, watch this. James Garner and Sally Field both play very non-Hollywood types, and we love them all the more for it. (Watch for the scene where they are dancing - it is hysterical!)
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evanston_dad8 April 2008A low-key romantic comedy that pairs Sally Field with James Garner, and proves that the two actors have a great deal of chemistry together.
Sally Field is a newly-divorced mom setting up house with her son. Garner is a good 'ol boy who takes a hankering to her and promises to be a positive male influence. The doofus stud of an ex-husband makes a nuisance of himself. Guess who Field winds up with?
The film rides along harmlessly enough on the personalities of its two leads.
Won Oscar nominations for Garner and its cinematography.
Grade: B+ -
gbill-748775 February 2021There's some folksy charm in this film, and it's nice to see a leading male character (James Garner, Murphy) with gentle kindness among his virtues. I like Sally Field and her character is sweet too, but it was unfortunate that she's not as strong as she should be - her fledgling business is saved by Murphy, she's steamrolled by her annoying/shiftless ex-husband into letting him stay with her (grr), and then practically watches on the sidelines as the two maneuver around each other (huh?). It's obvious how it's going to turn out, and I wish the script had been better, though the last line was a nice touch. I have to say, Carole King's chipper soundtrack doesn't fit the vibe of the film very well either. If you like Garner or Field, this isn't an awful way to pass a little time though.
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raymills17 December 2017She might have been the auctioneer's assistant, with no lines.
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johnfuen29 August 2005This may or may not be a chick flick. But who cares. Growing up in the 60s and 70s, Garner and Fields were two of my favorite television stars. So to see them together in a movie is a treat. While Garner's character is about 30 years older than Sally's, there is an undeniable chemistry between the two.
Also, there is a gentle, mature humor in this movie. It will bring a smile to your face without the gross physical comedy or profanity so prevalent in modern movies.
I have to admit that I am a romantic at heart, and this movie certainly hit home. If you like a film with a touch of romance, humor, and good performances by the lead actors, this is a movie you should add to you DVD collection. -
But it's a progressive Texas town because among its population is "a" homosexual and a man who wears his wife's nightgown. That's the intro that the divorced Sally Field gets from town pharmacist James Garner, having a hard time getting settled in town and refused a loan at the bank. "I'd go out on the streets, but you only have one", she tells the very officious bank loan manager. Her romance with Garner starts off just through friendly encounters, a few a bit spikey, but hey, romance, even in May-December one needs to start somewhere.
Director Martin Ritt and star Sally Field sought out Garner for this role, and indeed, it is up there with his best, his Oscar nomination not in vain because he really deserved it. His character has a way of dealing with life and discussing it with such humor that you can see why he is known as "a bleeding heart liberal" in his very conservative community. Garner also hits it off with Field's son, Corey Haim, and that's a very important detail in a romance that really takes its time to develop.
I would consider this film to be excellent, but it's not a film that requires its audience to search for excellence. It just is. A screenplay of real people with real problems living a real life, and even when characters are grouchy (particularly Charles Lane, the town's feisty oldest citizen), you can't help but love them. American movies don't always get it right when dealing with real people, but when they do, the results are amazing. I may not want to move to where this takes place, but it certainly was worth a 90-minute visit there. -
bkoganbing29 August 2008Murphy's Romance is a pleasant easy to take movie about a May - October romance between widower James Garner and younger divorcée Sally Field. It's set in modern day Texas and it moves with grace of a gazelle and the speed of a Galapagos tortoise. And that's not meant in a negative way.
Sally Field with the ink barely dry on her divorce from Brian Kerwin has moved to a small Texas town where she's now acquired a ranch which could use a lot of improvement. She's got her son Corey Haim in tow and they aim to start anew.
The first and best friend they make in town is 60 year old James Garner, the local druggist. He's part of a disappearing breed in that he owns his own pharmacy. Given the way things are 23 years after Murphy's Romance, Garner's store if it still is operating is probably part of chain now, even in small town America.
A steady reliable guy like Garner is all any girl could wish for, but ambling back into the picture is Kerwin who swears on a stack of Bibles he's a changed man. Why he's even a born again Christian.
The man knows how to ring her bell, but that's about all he's good for. In fact he furnishes his own proof before the film ends.
James Garner got his only Oscar nomination and I remember how much I wanted him to win that night watching the Oscars. It would have been great, but William Hurt won for Kiss of the Spider Woman. Murphy's Romance got one other nomination for cinematography, but it lost to the year's Best Picture, Out of Africa.
Murphy's Romance is a tender and touching story about a couple of mature people, one a bit more mature than the other finding true love. As Garner says this is his last love and Field responds this is her first. It's a film for romantics of any age. -
unc6627 November 2004Slightly better than average romance, well acted by Garner & Fields. Plenty of license taken to allow all these characters to end up inexplicably in BFE Arizona all at one time, but that's just the movies..... Garner and Fields are likable in their roles, and predictably, they end up with each other in the end, overcoming a 27 year old age differential as well as an obnoxious ex-husband who, for some bizarre reason, Fields tolerates living with her in her remote new home that she just crossed half of the country to find following their divorce. Fields' character just never seems to get what's going on, almost inviting, rather than deflecting, antagonism between the two male rivals. However, it's all warm and fuzzy at the conclusion, and it does leave you with a smile. 6/10.
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secragt1 October 2003Aging Garner makes the most of this showcase role, arguably among his best work. Sally Field is also appealing and believable as the much younger woman torn between romancing a ne'er-do-well but age appropriate peer or the warm-n'-fuzzy but still studly sexagenarian Garner. The dialogue exchanges between Garner and Field pop nicely and the direction is tight. Less polished is the plotline, which veers between the simplistic soap operatics in Field's life (boring and largely cliched) and the gradual courtship process between Garner and Field (sly, entertaining and winning).
Overall, though, this is a satisfying portrayal of may-december romance with the mush women will love and just enough conflict and tension to keep the men around, too. We all know the outcome before the start but it's still a gentle and loving rendition of the blossoming of true love. -
JamesHitchcock9 September 2021Older man/younger woman romances were a long Hollywood staple; I tend to associate them with the forties and fifties, but "Murphy's Romance" shows that they were still popular in the eighties. I have never read the novella on which the film is based, but I understand that in it the two main characters Emma Moriarty and Murphy Jones just remain platonic friends. Someone at the studio, however, obviously felt that nobody wants to see films about older man/younger woman platonic friendships. They even exaggerated the age difference; in 1985 Sally Field would have been 39 and James Garner 57, but we the film tells us that Emma is 33 and Murphy 60, thus stretching the difference from 18 years to 27.
Emma is a divorced mother with a young son who moves to a small Arizona town to make a living as a horse-trainer. She finds it difficult to fit in as the local people are not particularly welcoming to strangers, but she does make a friend in Murphy, the town's widowed pharmacist. This being a romantic comedy, there has to be an obstacle to the love of the two main characters, and one arrives in the shape of Emma's ex-husband Bobby Jack, who arrives in town and moves in with her. As the film is entitled "Murphy's Romance", not "Bobby Jack's Romance", we can tell that this is not going to be a comedy of remarriage, but it's a fairly close-run thing. Bobby Jack may be childish and irresponsible, making it easy to understand why his marriage failed first time around, but he is also young and good-looking and his and Emma's son Jake adores him. Just ten minutes before the end it looks as though Emma and Bobby Jack are about to re-consummate their relationship with a (quite literal) roll in the hay, but their plans are frustrated when Emma's hay fever brings on a fit of sneezing. (This made me wonder why anyone suffering from this particular condition would want to take up horse training as a profession).
My main reason for watching the film was that it was directed by Martin Ritt who also made one of my all-time favourites, "Hud", as well as films as good as "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold", "Hombre" and "The Molly Maguires". "Murphy's Romance", however, is not really in the same league as any of those. It is an amiable enough little movie, and Garner and Field make an appealing hero and heroine, but there is little about it that remains in the mind afterward. Ritt was normally a serious-minded director and specialised in serious-minded dramas; rom-coms do not seem to have been his forte. 6/10. -
moonspinner5520 June 2006Single mom (Sally Field), still hesitantly attracted to her ex-spouse (Brian Kerwin), finds love with an older gentleman (James Garner) in a rural Arizona town. Sally Field radiates so much good will, you like her here even after you realize she doesn't have much of a character to play. Veteran director Martin Ritt has always been exact at finding subtle nuances in backwater towns, yet Ritt is curiously uninspired with this modest, scratchy-and-smooth material; it's a sufficient-enough piece of filmmaking, despite a gratuitous bit from a slasher movie and a horrendously-written tryst in the hay barn. Field (once again caught between two paramours, as with "Kiss Me Goodbye") works nicely with Garner--and if the rest of the film had been as well-crafted as their last scene together, this might have been a more heart-rending picture. It has some ambling charm, but no center--and no driving force. ** from ****
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Murphy's Romance is a great movie. My husband is not a big fan of Chick flicks and he loved it too. I think everyone should see it if they haven't already and I think there should be more films like this. I can't think of one that compares to it. I loved the setting in Arizona and the fact that she was working horses. You don't get too many films like this anymore. It was about starting over and finding love in an unexpected place. Sally Field and James Garner were spectacular. Murphy's Romance contained all the features a great film should possess. It was funny, yet serious and full of romance. It portrayed a mother and son who were close to one another. It was about making tough decisions and real life.
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mossgrymk18 January 2021Can be charming. Can also be annoyingly Hollywood Liberal preachy. In the end the former wins out, thanks to the usual good work of Garner and Field, plus a strong sense of place (i.e. definitely felt I'd spent time in Florence, Ariz by film's end). Give it a B minus.
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Easygoer1021 August 2019This is a wonderful film. James Garner is past midlife, & Sally Fueld is approaching it. It's a true feel good romantic movie. I highly recommend it to all.
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lasttimeisaw31 March 2012This little unobtrusive film made 27 years old is about a romantic love story between a divorced woman and an elderly widower, its western scenery might has already lost its vigor as time goes by and pretty much old-fashioned from our current maxim of aesthetics to define a must- see classic, it certainly has its appeal for a joyful evening viewing even just for some light entertainment with two beautifully all-over-the-place leading performances.
An older-man-with-younger-woman romantic is nothing new and still now it has been considered a preferential relationship mode for our society to endure the time erosion (MODERN FAMILY is the role model here), but its morally self-consciousness could endanger the audience's acceptance and fortunately MURPHY'S ROMANCE has made itself a paradigmatic model against the 27-years age difference.
Two Hollywood old timers take on the leading roles, Sally Field, a two-times Oscar winner (for NORMA RAE 1979 and PLACES IN THE HEART 1985) in her heyday (who might not suffer from the same magnitude of deprecating panning like the limitedly-talented Hilary Swank), gives another passionate performance on which she tags a shade of sincere comedic flavor. James Garner, who has earned his first and only Oscar nomination so far, levels off as a constant warmth and charm generator, contrast to Brian Kerwin's viciously good looking ex-husband, which occasions a feasible option for Field's character and also minifies the happy-endings' corny predictability. Also the gone-too-soon Carey Haim is a gem in the film, in a world copious of repellent children, he is so adorable and rare to be seen on the screen nowadays. -
After 30 years of only hearing about this one, I finally watched Murphy's Romance on Netflix disc with my mom just now. It's a nice drama with some humorous touches throughout. Sally Field plays a divorced mother with a young boy (Corey Haim) who's befriended by James Garner as a druggist who occasionally spends time with them. Ms. Field also has an ex-husband who comes by and tries to rekindle his romance with her. I'll stop there and just say both me and Mom enjoyed the light touches of many scenes. It took a while for something to be going on but it was never boring. Oh, and if you're a big fan of It's a Wonderful Life like I am, you'll probably get a kick of one of its players-Charles Lane-appearing here as an old man who takes a ride in James Garner's car and thinks he's going too fast even though he's only driving at 30 miles! He's also in a later dance sequence with a woman near his age. So on that note, I highly recommend Murphy's Romance.
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zetes27 March 2011Sally Field plays a single mother who moves to a small Texas town with her son (Corey Haim). She befriends the local pharmacist (James Garner), and a small romance starts to develop. It's quickly interrupted by her loser ex-husband (Brian Kerwin), who, despite her obvious signals against it, wants to get back together. Or he just wants to freeload on her, more likely. This is meant to be a small, gentle picture. It's somewhat enjoyable, but it never achieves the small gem status it so desperately wants. In the end, it's kind of dull and forgettable. James Garner received an Oscar nomination for his role. The Academy must have really had a lot of Rockford fans in it. The guy does not give an Oscar-worthy performance. He's an uninteresting character, really, and the fact that he's so much older than Field makes you not root for him to get the girl. Better are Field and Kerwin, though neither of them are exactly award-worthy, either (Field did, however, receive a Golden Globe nomination).
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moveez31 August 2005This is such a cute movie! I remember seeing it when I was a senior in high school and absolutely loving it. I'm a big fan of Jim Garner and romantic comedies. This is just a totally feel-good movie. Garner's dialog and character are perfect. His words are so snappy and funny. Oh, to find a man like Murphy in real life... It was interesting to find out that Garner and Sally Field are really only 18 years apart. He was 56 and she was 38 when they made it. I watch it whenever it's on TV. I hate the way they edit it though. They took out one of the best lines, "How do you like your eggs, Murphy?" Why? I highly recommend this film.
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cgvsluis17 December 2023This is a sweet slow build May-December romance between a hardworking, newly divorced single mom played by Sally Fields and a quirky, drugstore owner who drives around a mint condition vintage car and seems to be around just when she needs him-played by James Garner.
Murphy (Garner) is full of practical wisdom which is just what Emma needs. When her ex-husband shows up it is painfully obvious why he is her ex. She said it best when she said she felt like she had two children.
I have never been enamored with the May-December romance...but I enjoyed the interactions between these two so much that it is a recommendation from me.
It was also really nice to see someone works so hard and for the most part not complain about it.
Love for the last time meets love for the first time. -
devreser1 January 2004This is a romance/comedy that I'll never get tired of watching. (might contain spoilers) Sally Fields is newly divorced and moves to a small southwestern town to start boarding horses. She makes good friends with older gent James Garner and things begin from there.
This is a nice movie to curl up and watch with a cup of hot chocolate (or iced tea). It moves along at a steady pace so you aren't bored and the ending will leave a smile on your face. I gave this movie 10 stars because I'm entertained every time I watch it. On a side note, I usually hate romantic movies, but this one is just different. Especially with the age gap that, in the end, just doesn't matter anymore. -
preppy-32 January 2021Emma (Sally Field) is a newly divorced mother with a son Jake (an unrecognizable Corey Haim). She moves to a small town in the midwest and tries to open a horse ranch. There she meets 60 year old Murphy (James Garner) who helps her. Despite their age difference they start to have feelings for each other. Then her no-good ex (Brian Kerwin) pops up and wants her back.
Thoroughly predictable. You know how this is going to end from frame 1. Still it's well-done and I was entertained. Garner and Field are great in their roles. In fact Garner was nominated for an Academy Award for this, Kerwin is good as her good for nothing ex. Haim is barely in this. This was pretty much ignored by audiences and dismissed by critics but it's very OK. -
pc9522 August 2013"Murphy's Romance" starring Sally Fields and James Garner is an unremarkable mid-80s drama. Seeing it at the library, I honestly could not recall hearing of it around its release time, but caught it recently, and wasn't hugely disappointed or enamored either. Of it's strengths, Garner turns in an excellent sagely and patient performance, while Fields comes off as neurotic. Along for the ride is the late Corey Haim, popular in the 80s, has a smaller role though quite a bit of screen-time. Directed by Martin Ritt, the movie is watchable in the sense of an OK TV drama. Scenes with Garner and Fields are touching, but there's too much of an age gap to detect any actual chemistry. 5/10 - basic melodrama.