Murphys Romance

Plot synopsis

Emma Moriarty (Sally Field) is a 33-year-old, divorced mother who moves to a rural Arizona town to make a living by training and boarding horses. She becomes friends with the towns druggist (pharmacist), Murphy Jones (James Garner), but a romance between them seems unlikely due to Murphys age and because Emma allows her ex-husband, Bobby Jack Moriarty (Brian Kerwin), to move back in with her and their 12-year-old son, Jake (Corey Haim).

Emma struggles to make ends meet, but is helped by Murphy, an idiosyncratic widower who drives an otherwise immaculate antique automobile plastered with political bumper slogan stickers Murphy terms his "causes". While refusing to help her outright with charity or personal loan, Murphy buys a horse and pays to board it with Emma, while encouraging others to do the same. He also introduces Emma to the towns local politics and provides much-needed emotional support for Emma as well as Jake, who is looking for a father figure to emulate. A rivalry soon develops between Murphy and Bobby Jack. This contest of wills continues until a character shows up from Bobby Jacks recent past that surprises everyone, while forcing Murphy and Emma to reevaluate the nature of their relationship.

Cast

Production

Sally Field and director Martin Ritt had to fight Columbia Pictures in order to cast Garner, who was viewed at that point as primarily a television actor despite having enjoyed a flourishing film career in the 1960s (and more recently having co-starred in the box office hit Victor/Victoria opposite Julie Andrews two years earlier).

Columbia didnt want to make the picture at all, because it had no "sex or violence" in it. But because of the success of Norma Rae (1979), with the same star (Field), director, and screenplay writing team (Harriet Frank, Jr. and Irving Ravetch), and with Fields new production company (Fogwood Films) producing, Columbia agreed. But, Columbia then wanted Marlon Brando, or someone with "greater box-office allure," to play the part of Murphy, so Field and Ritt had to insist on Garner.

When Ritt gave the Max Schott story to Harriet Frank, Jr. and Irving Ravetch, the same married screenplay team that also worked on Hud (1963) with Ritt and Paul Newman, they wanted Newman to be in Murphys Romance. Field had worked very successfully with Newman in 1981s Absence of Malice, but Newman declined the project and Garner was the only other actor that Ritt and Field asked.

Part of the deal from the studio, which at that time was owned by The Coca-Cola Company, included an eight line sequence of Field and Garner saying the word "Coke," and also having Coke signs appear prominently in the film.

On the A&E television program Biography of Garner, "James Garner: Hollywood Maverick," Field reported that her on-screen kiss with Garner was the best cinematic kiss she had ever experienced.

Filming took place on location in Florence, Arizona and the towns preserved Main Street appears throughout the movie.

The film was originally scheduled for general release during the 1985 Christmas Day weekend, but Columbia moved it to the weekends of January 17 and January 31, 1986, when they saw the holiday lineup of films. They did a limited, selected, release December 25, 1985.

Reception

Reviews were generally favorable. Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars (out of 4) stating "Much depends on exactly what Emma and Murphy say to each other, and how they say it, and what they dont say. The movie gets it all right." The film holds a 93% on the film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

Divergence from the novella

The screenplay is very different from the Max Schott novella. In the Schott story, Murphy and Emma stay just platonic friends. Murphy marries someone else, and then tries to find Emma a suitable husband.

Awards

Murphys Romance received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role (James Garner), and for Best Cinematography.