Ten Best James Garner Movies

James Garner and Julie Andrews in The Americanization of Emily (1964), lobby card image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

James Garner was born James Scott Bumgarner in Norman, Oklahoma, on April 7, 1928. He made his motion picture debut in Toward the Unknown (1956), playing Lt. Colonel Joe Craven. His regular TV series include Maverick (1957-62), Nichols (1971-72) and The Rockford Files (1974-80).

Here are ten movies that no James Garner fan should ever miss. Support your favorite Garner films!

The Americanization of Emily (MGM, 1964)

James Garner plays Lt. Commander Charlie Madison, a Navy “dog-robber” who plies the top brass with creature comforts in World War II London. Garner’s Charlie falls in love with young English lass Emily Barham (Julie Andrews), complicating his carefree bachelor life. A wayward Admiral William Jessup (Melvyn Douglas) decides that “the first dead man on Omaha Beach must be a sailor,” and taps Charlie to lead a Navy photographic unit to film the D-Day landings. Garner, who has publicly stated that The Americanization of Emily is his personal favorite, is absolutely perfect as self-confessed coward Charlie Madison, with Andrews, Douglas, James Coburn, Joyce Grenfell and Edward Binns all lending top support in this biting war comedy-drama.  

• Great Garner Line: “I’m not sentimental about war. I see nothing noble in widows.”
• Director: Arthur Hiller
• On DVD: The Americanization of Emily (Warner, 2005)

Cash McCall (Warner Bros., 1960)

James Garner has the title role, playing a young entrepreneur who ends up buying Austen Plastics in order to romance the owner’s daughter. Garner’s Cash McCall is a slick, handsome corporate raider type who meshes well with his romantic target Lory Austen (Natalie Wood). Dean Jagger, Roland Winters, Nina Foch, Henry Jones and E.G. Marshall also appear in this well-executed romantic drama set in the business world of 1960.

• Great Garner line: “I’m a thoroughly vulgar character. I enjoy making money.”
• Director: Joseph Pevney
• On DVD: Natalie Wood Collection (Warner, 2009)

The Great Escape (United Artists, 1963)

James Garner plays Flight Lt. Bob Hendley a.k.a. “The Scrounger,” an American serving in the Royal Air Force’s Eagle Squadron during World War II. Hendley is currently being housed in a supposedly escape-proof German POW camp where he scrounges up various items necessary for the massive prisoner breakout, including a 35mm camera and various German documents. Garner’s interaction with the almost blind Colin “The Forger” Blythe (Donald Pleasence) provides several memorable scenes, most notably their perilous flight in a stolen Luftwaffe fighter. Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson and James Coburn also make this absorbing drama one of the best war films ever made.

• Great Garner line (to his British friend Colin, who offers a cup of tea): “I only drank tea once – in a hospital.”
• Director: John Sturges
• On DVD: The Great Escape 2-Disc Collector’s Set (MGM, 2004)

36 Hours (MGM, 1965)

James Garner plays Major Jefferson Pike, an American officer who is captured by the Germans prior to D-Day. Garner’s Pike has intimate knowledge of the Normandy landings, something the Nazis go to great pains to learn by drugging the major, setting up a fake military hospital and trying to convince him that it’s five years later and the Allies have triumphed. Garner carries the role almost flawlessly, with Rod Taylor as a German doctor and Eva Marie Saint as a sympathetic woman blackmailed by the Nazis into participating in the elaborate charade. One of the best scenes comes when Garner, suspecting that something is amiss, barks out a command in German, whereby the “American” guards click their heels and come to attention.

• Great Garner line (to his superiors on the upcoming D-Day invasion): “Time magazine predicts it’s going to be the first week of June. You know something, I have a hunch that, uh, German intelligence is almost as smart.”
• Director: George Seaton
• On DVD: 36 Hours (Warner, 2007)

Support Your Local Sheriff! (United Artists, 1969)

James Garner stars as Jason McCullough, a drifter on his way to Australia who makes an unscheduled stop in a lawless Old West boom town. Competent with a six-shooter, McCullough is made town sheriff, later facing off with Pa Danby (Walter Brennan) and his clan who come to town to free one of their own, the mean, ornery Joe Danby (Bruce Dern). Garner is hilarious as the reluctant lawman, engaging in a battle of the sexes with high-spirited Prudy Perkins (Joan Hackett), verbally sparring with the pushy mayor (Harry Morgan) and appointing the town drunk (Jack Elam) as his sidekick deputy.

• Great Garner line: “What would I want with a reputation? That’s a good way to get yourself killed.”
• Director: Burt Kennedy
• On DVD: Support Your Local Sheriff (United Artists, 2001)

Grand Prix (MGM, 1966)

James Garner plays Pete Aron, a professional driver living, loving and racing the big, fast cars on the Grand Prix circuit. Like his one-time neighbor Steve McQueen, who used to toss empty beer cans down into his fellow actor’s driveway, Garner always maintained an intense interest in racing. While McQueen made Le Mans (1971), Garner beat him to the finish line, making his big racing tribute film five years earlier. Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, Toshiro Mifune, Brian Bedford, Jessica Walter and Antonio Sabato are all on hand in one of Hollywood’s best high-performance racing flicks. Stuff the cotton in your ears, because the high-pitched whine of the automotive big dogs will blow you away.

• Great Garner line: “I don’t think there’s one of us who doesn’t ask himself at least once in the middle of a race, ‘What the hell am I doing here?’”
• Director: John Frankenheimer
• On DVD: Grand Prix Widescreen Special Edition (Warner, 2007)

James Garner in Grand Prix (1966), image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Support Your Local Gunfighter (United Artists, 1971)

James Garner plays Latigo Smith, a con man who jumps the train and ends up in the western mining town of Purgatory. Hoping to recoup his gambling losses, Latigo hatches a scheme passing off hapless Jug May (Jack Elam) as the notorious gunfighter Swiftie Morgan. Latigo and Jug become embroiled in the town feud, backing the Bartons against hated mining rival Colonel Ames (John Dehner). All cowboy hell breaks loose when the real Swiftie Morgan (Chuck Connors) shows up, with Smith meeting him head-on while straddling a donkey loaded down with dynamite. Suzanne Pleshette, Harry Morgan, Dub Taylor and Joan Blondell all mightily contribute to this hilarious western parody, with Garner in top form.  

• Great Garner line: “A man’s gotta be numb on both ends to earn his livin’ sittin’ on a horse. I just don’t like horses.”
• Director: Burt Kennedy
• On DVD: Support Your Local Gunfighter (MGM, 2001)

The Wheeler Dealers (MGM, 1963)

James Garner stars as Henry J. Tyroon, a Texas oil man who comes to New York City to raise some capital for his latest business venture. Tyroon romances stock analyst Molly Thatcher (Lee Remick), coming to her aid when her boss Bullard Bear (Jim Backus) tries to use her in touting a worthless company called Universal Widget. Garner’s slick, good ol’ boy Henry Tyroon is a real hoot, a precursor to his Jimmy Joe Meeker impersonation that he would later use to perfection as TV private eye Jim Rockford. Look for Phil Harris, Chill Wills, Louis Nye and John Astin in hilarious support.

• Great Garner line (on his business dealings): “I’m never illegal. Just close to it.”
• Director: Arthur Hiller
• Not currently available on commercial DVD

The Wheeler Dealers 1963 one sheet poster image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Murphy’s Romance (Columbia, 1985)

James Garner stars as Murphy Jones, a 60-year-old small-town druggist who becomes involved with 33-year-old Emma Moriarty (Sally Field), a divorced mother with a 12-year-old son. Complicating matters is Emma’s ex-husband (Brian Kerwin), who moves in with his former wife for the sake of their son. Paul Newman had turned down the role of Murphy Jones, with Garner then signing on and delivering one of the best comedy-drama performances of his career. One of his best scenes takes place opposite Brian Kerwin, whom he calls a “miserable little son of a bitch,” threatening to kick his ass “from here to the state line…and I’m wearin’ the boots that can do it!”

• Academy Award nomination for Best Actor
• Great Garner line: “I’m a widower. That’s like catnip to a cat, in a town where the ladies outnumber you ten to one.”
• Director: Martin Ritt
• On DVD: Murphy’s Romance (Columbia Tristar, 2000)

Maverick (Warner Bros., 1994)

James Garner plays Marshal Zane Cooper, a legendary Old West lawman in this big screen remake of his classic Maverick TV series. Along with co-stars Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster, Garner romps through the western frontier with his customary easy, laid-back style, tossing out folksy witticisms and kicking a little tail in the process. Garner comes full circle from his Maverick TV days, as he emerges in the final scene as old Pappy Maverick, father to Mel Gibson’s Bret Maverick.

• Great Garner line (to Mel Gibson, after Jodie Foster’s Annabelle Bransford stole their money at gunpoint): “Well, Bret, you know what we ended up with? A half a million dollar silk shirt.”
• Director: Richard Donner
• On DVD: Maverick Keepcase (Warner, 2009)

Ten Other James Garner Movie Gems

• Up Periscope (1959)
• The Thrill of It All (1963)
• Duel at Diablo (1966)
• How Sweet It Is! (1968)
• Marlowe (1969)
• Skin Game (1971)
• They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)
• Victor Victoria (1982)
• My Fellow Americans (1996)
• Space Cowboys (2000)