[6]

Sally Field and James Garner star in this story of a divorced mother who moves to a small town and tries to open a successful horse ranch. She quickly befriends the town pharmacist (Garner) and the two strike up a surprisingly unsentimental relationship. The plot thickens when the ex-husband comes to town trying to patch things up, creating a love triangle that has to sort itself out.

What’s great about Murphy’s Romance is that the affair between Field and Garner is never assumed or declared. In fact, the finale of the movie comes when the two of them are finally able to admit that they are attracted to each other. It’s refreshing to see a romantic comedy that doesn’t consumate early in the runtime, or one that drives a wedge between the lovers for its act two crisis (that’s getting really old). It’s also refreshing to see the antagonist ex-husband (Brian Kerwin) portrayed as a human being instead of a monster. Somehow, this romantic comedy manages to avoid all the genre cliches that make me hate romantic comedies.

Directed by Martin Ritt (Sounder, Hud, Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man). Look for Corey Haim as Field’s teenaged son.

Oscar Nominations: Best Actor (James Garner), Cinematography