James Garner in The Thrill of It All

James Garner in The Thrill of It All, originally uploaded by a75.

This is the most hilarious scene I've ever watched - bar none. Not only that, I laugh out loud every time I see it - which has been many times!

In fact, this picture is making me break up....

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Get Well Wishes For A TRUE American Idol

As must be well known by now, Jim Garner is recovering in the hospital, having had surgery following a minor stroke. By all accounts he is expected to make a full recovery, but the details haven't yet been made public.

I'm sure this self-effacing, very private man would prefer that none of this had been made public, but he's long since realized that it's the price of fame. And, despite his shyness, he does deeply appreciate - and has always been puzzled by - the actual love and real concern of his millions of loyal admirers.

I have been among that group since I was 13 and watched the premier of a new western series called Maverick in the fall of 1957. James Garner was my very first celeb crush. Actually, he's also my only celeb crush, because in all these years I've never seen anyone who impressed me quite like he always has.

What started out as a teen crush became something more over the years, as I learned about James Garner the person. He became a father figure to this only child of a man who had never wanted children and never attempted to hide his resentment at my unwanted presence in his life. James Garner came to fill that void for me. He was my male role model as I grew up.

I'd never want to embarrass this wonderful man who can't even understand why people think he is special, but, Jim, you are special. I admire you for so many things - I could never list them all.

But most of all, I admire you for being a real hero - without feet of clay - to a young girl who was badly in need of a hero in her life. You've never let me down in all these many years, and for that I could never thank you enough.

God bless and get well soon.

Grand Prix gave him an appetite for speed

The North Bay Nugget - Ontario, CA

Posted By malcolm gunn

Posted 1 day ago

The opening scene of the 1966 flick Grand Prix featured actor James Garner in one of the most memorable movie moments of all time.

The green flag drops amid a deafening roar of Formula One machinery. A blur of drivers in their tube-shaped metal envelopes begin their full-scale assault on the streets of Monte Carlo. Split-screen images projected onto the oversized curved Cinerama screen provides an
all-too-real sense of riding along with the drivers as they frantically jockey for position. Suddenly, in a split-second, two cars collide and you're watching, wide-eyed, as one car violently catapults off course - straight into Monaco's yacht-filled harbour. Fortunately, the hero Pete
Aron, played in his usual easy-going style by James Garner, escapes his metal coffin, gasping for air as a trio of scuba divers swims to his aid.

Pure Hollywood fantasy? Well, not exactly. What Grand Prix director John Frankenheimer chose for his movie's opening sequence happened to real-life driver Alberto Ascari at that very spot 11 years earlier while he was leading the event.

For Garner, working on Grand Prix became an example of life imitating art. As a result of the movie he would become hooked on racing and remain actively involved in the sport for many years after this ground-breaking movie was in the can.

Garner's interest in fast cars goes back to his pre-acting days. Born James Scott Bumgarner in 1928, the Norman, Okla., native was driving hot rods around town as a teenager. But this carpet layer's son couldn't afford his own wheels, so he was usually piloting one of his
buddies' modified jalopies.

Following minor stage and small-screen roles, Garner's first of many breaks came in 1957 when he starred in the TV western series, Maverick. After four successful years, he moved to the big screen, where he played the leading man in a number of fluffy romantic comedies
before landing a major role in The Great Escape. This real-life movie vaulted the suave and debonair Garner into bona fide superstar status.

Grand Prix director Frankenheimer actually wanted Steve McQueen for lead roll as Pete Aron, but the deal fell through after a rocky interview that Frankenheimer was unable to attend.

Garner, who badly wanted the part, was picked.

Before shooting began, Garner took lessons from Bob Bondurant, a successful Grand Prix and sports car driver who would eventually begin his own high-performance driving school. Garner followed that with a session at the Jim Russell Driving School in England where he was
joined by some of the other principal actors. The Russell experience taught him plenty, including the fact that the lanky six-foot-three actor was too big to comfortably fit inside the cockpit of a Grand Prix race car. Garner immediately went on a diet, managing to lose nearly 10 kilograms. Even then, he had to drive with the seat removed from the car so his head would be lower than the roll bar.

Frankenheimer's $8-million epic began shooting in late May 1966. The director employed many well-known Formula One stars as background actors, including Graham Hill, Dan Gurney, Jochen Rindt, Chris Amon and Bruce McLaren.

Some of these drivers were also hired to drive camera vehicles that would chase the mostly fake Grand Prix race cars specially constructed by Jim Russell for the movie.

During production, Garner's skill behind the wheel impressed many of the racers involved in the project. Grand Prix opened in late 1966 to rave reviews. Not only was the film exciting to watch on the giant screen, its special effects and camera techniques created specifically for the movie were technical breakthroughs that are still in use today.

Article ID# 977843

New Movie For James Garner

James Garner is making a new movie with old pal Lou Gossett Jr.

clipped from www.nationalledger.com BACK TOGETHER AGAIN: Oscar-winning actor Lou Gossett Jr. reports that "Capture the Flag," the indie film he's currently shooting, is a reunion for him and veteran actor James Garner, who holds a special place in his heart. "James put me on the map in the '70s film called 'Skin Game,'" recalls Gossett of the 1971 film about two con artists in the post-Civil War south. "Capture the Flag," says Gossett, "is about these kids between 10 and 12 in a military academy. I play one caretaker of the school from the Navy, and Garner plays the other caretaker, who's from the Army. We're retired, and our competition is supposed to be peaceful, but it's our last hurrah. It's all very tongue-in-cheek."

Happy Birthday!

On the occasion of your 80th birthday, Mr. Jim Garner, I just want to thank you. When I became a fan of yours during the first episode of Maverick, I was just turning 13. Instant crush!

Over the years though, a teen crush developed into a deep admiration for you as a person. Not only are you the most fun to watch of any of the actors I've ever seen, you are a genuinely good man. In fact, you were my male role model growing up, and I still think I made a pretty good choice.

So, thank you - not only for all the truly unparalleled performances over the years - but for proving that there really are people worthy of admiration in the way they conduct themselves and live their lives.

I know you'd never think of yourself as a hero, but you are.

Happy birthday, and may there be many, many more.

36 Hours

36 Hours (1965)

36 Hours takes the typical concept of a war movie and tosses it out the window, instead giving us a cynical, suspenseful, psycho-thriller that will make you smirk, think, and it will surprise you.

James Garner plays US Army Major Jeff Pike, who's dispatched to Portugal on a mission just before D-Day. He's privy to the details of operation Overlord, and the Germans know it. Through their nasty network of Nazi spies they manage to kidnap him, and then the real fun begins.

Read the rest of this great review of 36 Hours at 36 Hours (1965) starring James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Taylor

Heartsounds

Heartsounds (1984) – Glenn Jordan helmed one of the finest telemovies of the last thirty years with this delicately-handled yet emotionally charged docudrama about the difficult experiences of Martha Weinman Lear, when her husband, Harold, suffers an ongoing series of heart attacks. As the leads, Mary Tyler Moore and James Garner are nothing short of perfection. Working with Jordan, from a script by Fay Kanin (adapted from Weinman's bestselling memoir) the two actors bring to fruition a series of moments dazzlingly poignant and authentic; seldom has a film struck so many real and deeply resonant chords, mirroring the tensions and emotional contradictions of real life experience. Screens on the Encore Love Stories Channel, 4/1 at 5:45am, 4/5 at 9:10am, 4/15 at 9:30am, 4/25 at 7:15am.

I remember seeing this when it was first broadcast. It is incredible. It's so unfortunate that this wonderful telemovie doesn't seem to be available anywhere - even to watch, let alone purchase. In fact, this is the first time in all these years I've seen it listed at all. If you haven't seen it, don't miss a chance.

This is the very vehicle in fact that made the "big time" critics sit up and take notice of what they had been missing in James Garner's performances. Since then, they've been moaning about how underrated he is as an actor because he makes it look so easy that he doesn't get the credit he deserves for the enormous talent it takes to do that.

So, how come we, his ignoramus fans, knew this all along, while the elite, professional critics missed it for almost 30 years? Makes you wonder, doesn't it...

James Garner interview

Great interview with Jim during the release of "My Fellow Americans."

James Garner Attacks!

I know every blog in the Universe already has this, but I couldn't resist. Jim Garner is a great guy, but, as he himself will tell you, don't push him too far or their will be consequences. His older brother, Jack, has said, "He's tougher than Dick Tracey." He might be even tougher than Jim Rockford!

Agree?

I think I must agree, although sometimes I think TV has gone a bit too far trying to be like movies because In my opinion, movies went way too far a long time ago.

HW: It used to be that television wasn't something everybody wanted to do, but that's changed. Why do you think so many actors are doing TV now?

EI: I've studied that from the beginning just because I s interested in acting and Hollywood and films, and I think the first three that made it across were Steve McQueen, Clint Eastwood and James Garner There wasn't supposed to be a bridge there. I think it's because the writers were given the power to run the thing. They became the executive producers, so some really good writers said, ""Hey, I'm going to write some stuff and produce it too."" Like with The Sopranos, it was like, ""Okay, get out there and do edgy, dark, interesting, real life, independent film feeling television. Put it out there."" So they did this and then good actors thought, ""I'm going to do some of this stuff."" Then the bridge started going backwards and forwards and it almost feels like a level bridge now.

Film festival at Sooner honors James Garner’s visit to Norman

The Norman Transcript - Actor James Garner, who is best known to some for his roles as the Western man Brett Maverick and the cool private eye Jim Rockford, will pay his hometown, Norman, a visit Oct. 16-18. Weekend events with Garner will be hosted by the Norman Film Society, which includes OU, The City of Norman, the Downtowners Association, Campus Merchants and the Sooner Theatre.

The Sooner Theatre will host the James Garner Film Festival Oct. 17-18. The public is invited to a presentation for Garner as well as a double feature, with films chosen by Garner himself, Oct. 17 at 7:45 p.m. at the Sooner Theatre, 101 E. Main St.

Beginning at 7:45 p.m., Garner will be recognized for his invaluable contribution to films and will be presented with a key to the City by Mayor Ron Henderson. The double feature will follow at 8 p.m. and costs $20, which includes one free popcorn.

There is no confirmation Garner will be at the Sooner later than the award ceremony, said Amy Wood, marketing director of the Sooner Theatre. “Garner is a very private man, so it’s a great honor for him to agree to speak to the audience,” she said. “So many different generations know who James Garner is. From his TV career, to his older films to some of his newer films with Mel Gibson — he spans such an age group that it really hits a vast audience here in Norman."

The James Garner Film Festival will continue Oct. 18 at 9:30 a.m. with a showing of one of Garner’s favorite Westerns at the Sooner Theatre, which is open to the general public. Admission is free on a first-come, first-serve basis (555 seats are available).

Although Garner is not scheduled to be at Saturday’s film screening, the event is something the community of Norman has not had an opportunity to do, Wood said. “This is a unique opportunity for a native to come back to Norman, for us to celebrate his film career and for the public to show their appreciation of his success,” she said.

Wood said people of all ages are going to come see Garner for what they remember him for — “from 50 years ago to 15 years ago. It’s a neat variety and we’re thrilled,” she said.

Jennifer Heavner Baker, artistic director for the Sooner Theatre, said a committee at the Sooner Theatre chose Garner for the festival because he is one of Norman’s favorites. “We just brought back films to the Sooner Theatre a month ago and now we have James Garner,” she said. “It just seemed natural to start with Garner. I’m tickled pink.”

At first, Garner wasn’t sure he would be able to make it to the film festival because of his current production work in England; however, the filming was post-poned and he was able to come for the festival, Wood said.

“I think there are a number of different things people will enjoy about this film festival,” Wood said. “Number one, seeing a double feature in the historic theater. It brings it back what a lot of people remember the theater being — the moviehouse on Saturday afternoons. I think that will be a big draw. Number two, seeing James Garner himself. They’re going to be able to come watch and listen to him talk about his movies.”

The Sooner Theater is lending its space for free for the festival. The City of Norman also donated a film projector to the Sooner Theatre earlier this year, which makes events like the James Garner Film Festival possible, Wood said. “A lot of this would not happen if it were not for the support of the city,” she said. “It not only allows us to do our Sunday films, but we also can do film festivals like this now without any rental fees or costs.”

Although the film titles cannot be named due to advertising restrictions, a screening schedule for the James Garner Film Festival is available at the Sooner Theatre and at www.soonertheatre.net.

When asked which Garner flick was her all-time favorite, Heavner Baker was almost stumped. “Oh my goodness, that’s a hard question for me,” she said. “I love ‘Murphy’s Romance.’ That’s probably one of my favorites. I also love ‘Victor Victoria’ because, you know, I’m Miss Musical Theater.

”The James Garner Film Festival is sponsored by The City of Norman, the Sooner Theatre and the University of Oklahoma.

For more information or for tickets to next Friday’s double feature screening, call the Sooner Theatre at 321-8091 or visit www.soonertheatre.net.

BIOGRAPHY: Born James Scott Bumgarner in Norman in 1928 as the son of an Oklahoma carpet layer, James Garner dropped out of high school at 16 years of age to join the merchant marines. He worked in a variety of jobs and received the Purple Heart when he was wounded during the Korean War.

Garner had his first chance to act when a friend got him a non-speaking role in the Broadway stage play “The Caine Mutiny Court Martial” (1954). The play lead to small television roles, television commercials and a contact with Warner Brothers.

After co-starring in a handful of films from 1956-1957, Warner Brothers gave Garner a co-starring role in the television series “Maverick” (1957). Originally cast as an alternating series between Bart Maverick (Jack Kelly) and Bret Maverick (Garner), the show quickly turned into the Bret Maverick Show.

As Maverick, Garner was cool, good-natured, likeable and always ready to use his wits to get him in or out of trouble. In the early ‘60s, Garner portrayed many character roles similar to “Maverick.” His successful films included “The Thrill of It All” (1963) “Move Over, Darling” (1963) “The Great Escape” (1963) and “The Americanization of Emily” (1964). Garner appeared in the automobile racing movie “Grand Prix” in 1966 and got the bug to race professionally. Soon, this ambition turned to supporting a racing team, not unlike what Paul Newman would do in later years.

Garner found success with his role in a Western comedy “Support Your Local Sheriff!” (1969) and followed it up with “Support Your Local Gunfighter” (1971).

In 1974, Garner became the classic television private eye in “The Rockford Files” (1974), a role that made him a very well-know actor. In 1977, he won an Emmy for Best Actor in his portrayal of Rockford.

In 1985, Garner was nominated for both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for “Murphy’s Romance.” Three years later, Garner returned to the Western mode and co-starred with the young Bruce Willis in “Sunset,” a mythical story of Wyatt Earp, Tom Mix and Hollywood in the 1920s.

In 1994, Garner reprised his role of the leading Western man in “Maverick,” a movie co-starring Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster.

Garner continues his acting career to this day. In 2002, he starred with Sandra Bullock in “The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.” Garner’s lastest project, “Notebook,” is due out sometime in 2004. The film, directed by Nick Cassavetes, stars Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling and Gena Rowlands and centers around a lost love from World War II.

— Pop staff

By Helen PryorThe Norman Transcript

Happy To Give Back

I think it's fun - and revealing - to see what Jim's old friends and his hometown newspaper have to say about him.

The Norman Transcript - 4/4/03

Best known for his roles in the popular television series “Maverick” and “The Rockford Files,” actor James Garner won over a whole slew of new fans Thursday when he made a $500,000 donation to the University of Oklahoma to create an endowed faculty chair within the School of Drama.

OU will request matching funds from the State Regents for Higher Education to create the James Garner Chair in Drama, the first endowed position in the drama school’s history. The position will be designated for the director of the school.

As OU President David Boren made the announcement to a packed Weitzenhoffer Theatre, drama students and faculty members jumped from their seats and offered up a standing ovation accompanied by loud cheers.

“I don’t think anyone would dispute he’s Oklahoma’s favorite son,” said Boren. “We’re so proud of him. We’re especially proud to claim him because of the kind of person he is. He has never forgotten his roots.”

Garner, a Norman native and former OU student who still keeps up with the Sooners, choked back tears — hidden by dark sunglasses — and requested a box of Kleenex as he addressed the crowd.

“Oh dear. I’m not good at this,” Garner said, voice cracking and admitting he suffers from agoraphobia. “It’s touching to me, as you can see, that I’m at a time in my life where I can come back here and do this.

”The gift to the university was originally something Garner intended to leave in his will, but longtime friend and OU graduate Bill Saxon convinced him about two months ago to go ahead and make the donation.

Garner said he felt privileged and honored to have the means to make the contribution to his alma mater. He said his family members, former high school teachers and a lot of former Norman business owners would be surprised to learn of the gift.

“Having been raised here and watched this university grow, I’m so proud of it,” he said. “It never entered my mind that I’d be able to do this.”

Garner ended his visit by answering questions from OU drama students, offering them words of advice and signing autographs.

“Acting professionally can break your heart,” he told the students. “If you have it in you and you want it, you’ll do it. Just keep in mind who you are.”

Throughout his 50-year acting career, Garner has kept close ties to Oklahoma, Norman and OU. Several members of his family — the Bumgarners — have been active in the community.

Garner has made gifts to OU since 1979 and lends his stardom to OU’s annual Sooners in the Desert golf event in California, served on OU’s Reach for Excellence Committee and as an honorary member of the Campaign Council to build the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. OU awarded him an honorary doctorate of human letters in 1995.

Garner is scheduled to be in Norman again in October when Norman holds its first film festival. The actor said he may not be able to make the engagement, however, because he’ll possibly be in England shooting his next film.

Transcript Entertainment Editor Tami Watson can be reached at 366-3533 or via e-mail at tamiwatson@normantranscript.com.Tami Watson

The Norman Transcript

Fortunately, Jim was able to make the Film Festival. Details later...

Barbarians At The Gate

Barbarians At The Gates (1993) *** 1/2

11.09, 2007 Author: MMM

Director: Glenn Jordan

Starring: James Garner, Jonathan Pryce, Peter Riegert, Joanna Cassidy, Fred Dalton Thompson, Leilani Sarelle, Matt Clark

This Emmy-winning made-for-TV movie takes a humorous look at actual events in a big 1980s takeover war. It falls somewhere between a light drama and a comedy, but the seasoned professional acting (particularly lead James Garner) and experienced direction is far above usual TV standards. There is a pretty good story about excess and the battle for big bucks.

James Garner is F. Ross Johnson, who has gone from being a hardworking paperboy in Winnipeg, Canada to a jet setting, big spending CEO in NYC. When Johnson is faced with an expensive project that seems headed for failure, he chooses to deflect shareholder backlash by trying to raise the money to buy the company himself. It might have worked, but when a couple other green sharks get the whiff of possible profit, the bidding war is on. What follows is corporate juggling, scrambling, and general skulduggery in a world where all the numbers have nine zeroes.

Imagine a Wall Street where Gordon Gekko is a charming, nice guy (but greed is still good) and with a comedy slant, and you will have some idea of what to expect here. All in all, this is a pretty fun way to learn the difference between a corporate takeover and a hostile takeover. Admit it. You have always wanted to know.

A Small Trivia Quiz

Quite a few trivia sites mention that Jim had the nickname "Slick" when he was a teen. Ah, but does anyone know how he came to have that moniker?

If I don't get any guesses - right or wrong - I guess you'll never know...

Quote From The Notebook

I am nothing special; just a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten. But in one respect I have succeeded as gloriously as anyone who's ever lived: I've loved another with all my heart and soul; and to me, this has always been enough.

-- Noah (James Garner) in The Notebook

When H.G. Wells met Jack the Ripper

One of my favorite actors talking about one of my very favorite actors:

I also loved working with James Garner, who is so unsung. When we were shooting the scene where we have lunch together, I'm throwing grapes up in the air, catching them with my mouth, and he's just sitting there. "Doncha want a cuppa coffee?" I ask him, and he says, "No, you're doing it all." I'd love to work with him again. He's in the same league with Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Gielgud, in a different way. All of them are coming from the inside, and all their thoughts have to be right. James Garner makes acting look effortless – that's hard work.

That's Malcolm McDowelll talking about working with Garner in Sunset. Quote's from an interview McDowell did with N.P. Thompson of The House Next Door. Thompson was focused on McDowell, naturally, so he didn't chase that down---Garner in the same league as those three great British hams? What did McDowell mean?

I'm guessing that when he says that, like those three, James Garner is "coming from the inside" he means that when you watch Garner you have to look into his eyes. He makes you read his thoughts. His characters don't move about much (neither do Olivier's but he vibrates so intensely when he's just standing still you feel as if he's moving as much as Gene Kelly does when he's dancing) but they're always thinking. You can see their minds working, which is how Garner can dominate a scene in which he has few lines, he's playing opposite an actor as volatile as McDowell, and that other actor is doing something as flamboyant as tossing grapes up in the air and catching them in his mouth. McDowell appears to have been worried about upstaging Garner but Garner knew. He can afford to give away space to anyone who's onscreen with him.

Garner once said he learned everything he knows about acting from watching Henry Fonda in the stage version of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. It was one of Garner's first acting jobs. He played a member of the panel of naval officers trying the case and he had no lines. He kept himself occupied by studying Fonda, another actor who I'd say worked "from inside."

That's my guess. I'll find out. I'm making Sunset family movie night next week. Tonight's family movie night is, coincidentally, Time After Time, which stars McDowell as H.G. Wells who, movies being movies, turns out to have actually invented and built the time machine that's at the center of his novel. And, movies being movies, it turns out that Jack the Ripper uses the time machine to escape from the police and Wells jumps in it after him and chases him into the 20th Century to bring him back to justice. Wells, who thinks of himself as a visionary, is shocked but then enthralled by all the things he never envisioned, particularly Mary Steenburgen.

Friday, November 17, 2006 in Now Playing at Cine 1-1000 | Permalink

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Comments

I remember thinking Time After Time was a great flick, but haven't seen it in awhile. I've never seen Sunset, but don't remember ever being disappointed by James Garner's portrayals.

Malcolm McDowell always reminded me of something George Carlin said about cats... Cats he said, always looked like they were getting used to new contact lenses. I always thought Malcolm looked the same way... those kind of bloodshot, wide open eyes with deliberate blinks...

Posted by: Jennifer | Friday, November 17, 2006 at 12:49 PM

Love love love Malcom McDowell. I always thought he shot his career by doing Caligula, but apparently it didn't hurt Helen Mirren, so I don't know.

My favorite scene in Time After Time was when Wells walked into a McDonalds and imitated the redneck in front of him to order food. He picked up his fries, looked at them quizzically, and tasted one. His face lit up. "Pomme fritte!" he exclaimed joyfully.

Also, James Garner is not just an actor. He's a MAN. In all capital letters. I don't care how old he gets, he does me in every time.

Posted by: merciless | Friday, November 17, 2006 at 01:58 PM

Lance,

Watch Twilight to see Garner, Gene Hackman, Paul Newman and Susan Sarandon in a well-modulated little film about getting old in a town where being young is so important. It might not be family night material, but it's a good movie.

Posted by: apocalipstick | Friday, November 17, 2006 at 02:22 PM

Funny... I haven't seen Sunset in an age, and I didn't even remember McDowell being in it(unusual, because he's one of my favorites as well), and probably wouldn't have remembered Bruce Willis being in it if he hadn't been on the poster, but Garner... the one scene that I remember clearly from the movie is where they're shooting the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and someone asks Earp (Garner) if they've gotten it right, and Earp remembers the way it really was... I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it.

Jennifer--have you seen the remake of Cat People, the one with Nastassja Kinski and the Giorgio Moroder soundtrack (Bowie sings the theme song; that version is much better than the one on Let's Dance)? McDowell plays... wait for it... a werecat. Best thing in the movie, really; McDowell can sometimes be the only thing worth watching in an otherwise shitty movie, and frankly, he's done quite a few of those, as well.

Posted by: Tom D. | Friday, November 17, 2006 at 02:42 PM

Almost 30 years on, "Time After Time" is still one of my favorite movies ever.

And as the sadly canceled "Joan of Arcadia" showed, Steenburgen is still Teh Hot.

Posted by: Lex | Friday, November 17, 2006 at 07:20 PM

James Garner really was/is the picture of a pro. If nothing else, we owe him honors for The Rockford Files, one of the first private detective shows actually made for adults. (I mean, Mannix? Come on.) A terrific show, Rockford, the best of that wave of more comedic (and occasionally existential) PI fare that included Harry O and even Cannon, a show that dared you to disbelieve in an obese man's power to fight crime as well as anyone.

But Rockford! A man who often didn't carry a gun. Burdened with no-good ex-con friends. Drove a creaky old American road monster as big as a city block. Way above-average writing for the genre, but everything rode on Garner's likablity and obvious-yet-never-overbearing masculinity. And all those episodes of a one-hour show equal how many movies?

Malcolm McDowell.... he shoulda been a contender. How I wish that someone around 1985 had shaken him by the shoulders and declared, "You're Malcolm McDowell! Stop with this (&@(*^# you're making! No more Blue Thunders!"

Posted by: KC45s | Friday, November 17, 2006 at 08:49 PM

I'm with KC45s on James Garner in the Rockford Files. I loved it as a kid and have begun watching it on DVD again. As Rockford he can make his character believable as a self-centered coward and as a reluctant, but tough hero. You always believed that he might actually give up when things got hard, even though, he never did, of course. His relationship with Noah Beery seemed natural and tender as well. I will disagree with KC on Mannix though; I used to love that show, but maybe, it was more for the theme song and Mike Connors' hair.

Posted by: OutOfContext | Friday, November 17, 2006 at 09:29 PM

Love both Malcolm McDowell and James Garner. So have put "Sunset" in my Netflix que, not having seen it. I'd expected to not care for "Time After Time" so was surprised at how much fun it was, yet haven't viewed it but once.

Posted by: Idyllopus | Friday, November 17, 2006 at 10:34 PM

The Siren did an essay on how Brit actors aged; well, McDowell did well, unlike so many of that generation. Garner to me will always be part Bret Maverick, part Charley Madison. Get Emily for a family night.

Posted by: Exiled in New Jersey | Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 05:54 AM

James Garner has always been one of my very favorite actors. Wild, Wild, West was an absolutely wonderful show, because Garner made it so easy to suspend disbelief. And The Rockford Files was just awesome. Athough, I have to admit that I enjoyed them immensly as a child. It is notable, that it is one of the few shows that I really liked when I was a child, that I can watch now and actually sit through an episode or two, or more.

I definately think it is presence. I cannot remember the nae fo the movie, it was a bad one, that we went to see as a family in the mid-eighties. He was in substantial portion of the movie - but very rarely said anything. As I say, it was a bad movie - but worth watching, just to see Garner, saying and doing very little - but dominating the screen anyway.

Posted by: DuWayne | Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 09:12 AM

Absolutely agree about James Garner. He's been my personal hfavorite since the original Maverick in 1957.

I don't care how old he gets either - James is still THE MAN!

Posted by: MorganLvr | Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 05:05 PM

ditto on garner. always a great favorite. also enjoyed very much 1994s maverick, in which he played maverick sr to mel gibson's
maverick jr. they (and jodie foster) were magical together.
i have a videotape of tombstone/butch cassidy/maverick. whenever i get too sick of things i play it and am renewed.

Posted by: daveminnj | Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 08:07 PM

James Garner, "Murphy's Romance"...sigh.

Posted by: JD | Saturday, November 18, 2006 at 08:24 PM

JD -

I think that might be the one I was thinking of. Did I say bad. . .Ummm, well, I was only nine when I saw it. . .

Posted by: DuWayne | Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 07:30 PM

Lance, I've mentioned The Rockford Files here previously, though I can't quite remember why. Perhaps my all-time favorite TV show. Superb writing and then James Garner to make it happen.

I've never seen Sunset, and have not heard good things about it (until now). Perhaps I'll give it a shot anyway...

Posted by: Kevin Wolf | Monday, November 20, 2006 at 09:15 AM

Another Birthday Tribute

The Rap Sheet: Happy Birthday, Jimbo

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Happy Birthday, Jimbo

I’ve been thinking a lot about James Garner lately, not just because he is among my favorite actors, but because one of the characters he’s best known for having portrayed--Jim Rockford of The Rockford Files--is contending in The Rap Sheet’s second online poll for the title of “best TV private eye in history.” It’s Garner’s 79th birthday today, and that got me to thinking about a short tribute to him I penned last year for my other blog, Limbo. I’ve used that post as the basis for this longer panegyric.



Born James Scott Bumgarner in Norman, Oklahoma, on this date in 1928, the man who would be Rockford was the son of a carpet layer. His mother (through whom Garner is one quarter Cherokee--a fact recalled in the name of his film and TV production company, Cherokee Productions) died when young James was just 4 years old, and he and his two older brothers, Jack and Charles, were sent to live with relatives. Only after their father remarried in 1934, was the family reunited--but by no means peacefully. According to Wikipedia, “Garner grew to hate his stepmother, Wilma, who beat all three boys, but especially young James. When he was 14, James finally had enough of his ‘wicked stepmother’ and after a particularly heated battle, she left for good. As James’ brother Jack commented, ‘She was a damn no-good woman.’”



At age 16, James Bumgarner joined the United States Merchant Marine, but he had to leave after a year, due to chronic seasickness. He moved west to Los Angeles, where his dad was living since the breakup of his second marriage. There he attended Hollywood High School and modeled for Portland, Oregon-based swimsuit manufacturer Jantzen (at $25 an hour), but he “hated” modeling and returned to Norman, where he played high school football and basketball (“If there was a ball, I played it”) before joining the U.S. Army as an infantryman during the Korean War. (He would receive two Purple Hearts for his military service.)



As the story goes, his first acting experience came while he was still attending Hollywood High. A friend persuaded him to take a non-speaking role in the Broadway production of Herman Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny Court Martial. After that he starred in TV commercials and eventually captured roles on such series as Zane Grey Theater, Conflict, and Cheyenne. His earliest movie appearances were in 1956, when he could be seen in both Toward the Unknown (with William Holden) and The Girl He Left Behind (with Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood). As to why he changed his surname ... the explanation is that one of the film studios he worked for abbreviated “Baumgarner” to “Garner” (without permission), and he eventually went along with it. (He changed his name legally in the late 1950s.)



I was first introduced to Garner’s work during weekend reruns of the renowned Roy Huggins-created TV western, Maverick, one of my father’s favorite programs and also among the inspirations for my continuing interest in the history of the American West. Garner of course played Bret Maverick (1957-1960), a not too rough-and-tumble riverboat gambler who roamed the dusty, sometimes lusty U.S. frontier as much for fast bucks as adventure, becoming--as the theme song goes--“a legend of the west.” After that, I followed his career through a tumbling succession of memorable films--from The Great Escape (1963), The Wheeler Dealers (1963) and The Americanization of Emily (1964), to the better-remembered Support Your Local Sheriff (1969), Marlowe (an underappreciated 1969 film based on one of Raymond Chandler’s private eye novels, The Little Sister), Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971) and Skin Game (1971). Along the way, Garner starred in an unfortunately short-lived NBC-TV series called Nichols, which found him in the comfortable role of a cowardly, apathetic drifter (not so very different from the parts he’d played in Gunfighter and Skin Game) who, in 1914, leaves the army and returns to his small Arizona hometown ... only to be promptly blackmailed into taking the job of sheriff. Garner, who was extremely fond of Nichols, took its cancellation hard; the only good thing about it was that it left him free to take the lead three years later in The Rockford Files, another Huggins-created series.



Rockford cast Garner as a resourceful, smooth-talking, but distinctly unheroic Los Angeles private eye who never seemed to find an easy-paying client, a regular girlfriend, or a decent place to hang his hat (he lived in a dilapidated Nashua trailer in a Malibu parking lot). James Scott Rockford was effectively Bret Maverick for the 1970s, but with all of his horses under a Pontiac Firebird hood and a father who (unlike the philosophizing “Pappy” in Maverick) showed up more often than not, in the kindly person of Noah Beery Jr., the nephew of film legend Wallace Beery. During its six-year run (1974-1980)--which would have been longer, had Garner not been forced to pull out after injuring himself in the course of doing too many of his own stunts--Rockford picked up an impressive five Emmy Awards (including a Best Actor commendation for Garner) and was ranked by TV Guide as one the 50 finest American television shows ever. “When it came to private eyes--at least, the ones on movies and TV--Jim Rockford ... stood out like a slow curve in a world of fast balls,” opines Ed Robertson, who literally wrote the book on Garner’s gumshoe drama (Thirty Years of The Rockford Files, 2005).



After Rockford signed off as a series for the last time (only to spawn a sequence of popular TV movies during the Clinton era), the then 53-year-old Garner sought to return to his other most familiar small-screen role in NBC’s Bret Maverick (1981), which reimagined the former card sharp and con man semi-retiring to a backwater Arizona town. Sadly, that series--which I thought went a long way toward recapturing the vitality and humor of the original--lasted only a year, after which Garner returned to the silver screen, appearing in Victor/Victoria (1982, along with Julie Andrews), Murphy’s Romance (1985, with Sally Field), Sunset (1988, which had him portraying a crusty-but-romantic Wyatt Earp to Bruce Willis’ cowboy actor Tom Mix), Maverick (1994, in which he played the role of an impatient marshal, while Mel Gibson--in his pre-zealot days--assumed the part of brother Bret), Twilight (1998, with Paul Newman), and Space Cowboys (2000, with Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones). He also signed on for a few TV movies, including Barbarians at the Gate (1993), Breathing Lessons (1994), and Legalese (1998, which included the casually stunning Mary-Louise Parker as Garner’s sexy, thoroughly ambitious junior law partner).



Following The West Wing’s award-winning early success, Garner made another stab at series television, working opposite Joe Mantegna on First Monday (2002), about the U.S. Supreme Court. Garner portrayed a football-loving conservative Chief Justice of the United States (a funny role for Garner, who’s a staunch Democrat, and was briefly courted to run for the 1990 Democratic nomination for governor of California). Unfortunately, audiences didn’t seem to care about earnest debate in the High Court the way they did about political strategizing and character assassination in the White House. First Monday didn’t make it into a second year. Garner went on to play a classically crusty grandfather on 8 Simple Rules ... for Dating My Teenage Daughter, an unremarkable part he took on after the untimely, 2003 death of lead John Ritter. The Internet Movie Database says he’ll be starring in a 2008 film called The Magic Shoe and doing voice work for an animated flick, Terra.



I’ve never met James Garner, and I am sure that he isn’t to be confused with the easygoing, lovable characters he has so often portrayed. But he’s given me four decades of enjoyment on screens large and small, and for that, he earns my best wishes on 79 years down, and many more to come.



SEE IT NOW: In March 1999, Garner was interviewed on-camera for the Archive of American Television. That candid and informative, six-part appearance is currently available on Google Video. Part one can be found here, together with links to the other five installments. It’s not to be missed by Garner fans.

posted by J. Kingston Pierce at 4:58 PM  

James Garner - More Bio

JAMES GARNER

His easygoing charm and dry humor made him one of America's most enduring TV and film stars. But Jim Garner's climb to the top included legendary battles against Hollywood power brokers and serious injuries and depression. Our portrait includes the story of his successful legal fight against Warner Brothers, and features clips from the hit TV series "Maverick" and "The Rockford Files" and from memorable movies including "The Great Escape", "Victor/Victoria", and "Murphy's Romance".

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Search for JAMES GARNER on Biography.com.
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Biographical Stuff

There are many profiles/bios of Jim on the Web. This is one of the better ones.

Actor Profile:
JAMES GARNER
(1928 - )

One of the greatest dangers an actor faces is overexposure. After all, it�s said that absence makes the heart grow fonder. And don�t forget the old showbiz rule to always leave the audience asking for more. But James Garner has ignored these clich�s throughout his lengthy career. He has starred in scores of movies, several TV series, and has also appeared frequently in commercials, often juggling work in all three areas at the same time. Yet, while other stars would burn out with so much exposure, Garner�s star keeps shining brightly. It�s no wonder his most famous role was as a "Maverick."

If his career contradicts the clich�s, his personal story does not. It�s the usual one of a youth spent in poverty until fame and fortune strike as suddenly as lightning. Born James Bumgarner in 1928, the Oklahoma native�s mother died when he was five years old. After his father�s remarriage, the boy, now eight, went to work to help pay the bills. "God, I worked," he told TV Guide in 1975. "I worked harder than anybody."

Garner mowed lawns, mopped floors, worked in the oil fields of Texas, and, after moving to California, laid carpet with his father in the City of Angels. He never wanted to be an actor, but after a stint in Korea (and earning a Purple Heart), an old friend now working as a producer got him into the cast of The Caine Mutiny Court Martial on Broadway. In 1955, Garner was signed to Warner Bros. That year, he did a few guest shots on the studio�s popular TV western Cheyenne. Two years later, he was appearing with Marlon Brando in Sayonara, and had a TV western of his own. As the gun shy gambler known as Maverick, Garner became a star, the hottest actor on television, in fact.

Even in an era when westerns were as conspicuous on the home screen as they are scarce today, the Roy Huggins created series made a lasting impression by spoofing the genre. Slyly satiric and sophisticated in ways that other western series were not, Maverick presented a hero who rarely engaged in heroics, and dreaded violence to the point of cowardice. For three seasons, Garner perfected what would become his trademark: the self-effacing charmer who relied more on his wit than his fists when confronted with danger.

Garner may have been the most popular star on television, but his paycheck did not reflect his success. In 1960, he sued to get out of his contract and turned his back on television for more than a decade.

Making the transition from TV to movies is difficult, and few actors have done it successfully, but Garner, who had already starred in William Wellman�s Darby�s Rangers while still cranking out episodes of Maverick, made the move with no trouble at all. He may have seemed ill at ease opposite Audrey Hepburn and Shirley Maclaine in the overly dramatic The Children�s Hour, but made himself very comfortably at home in no less than four 1963 releases.

As the husband bewildered by his wife�s sudden rise to stardom in television commercials, Garner was memorably teamed with Doris Day in The Thrill of It All, a film in which he demonstrated his already proven flair for comedy. In The Wheeler Dealers, he was hilarious as a Texas oil tycoon with a fondness for "burnt" steaks and a hot Lee Remick.

If a second film that year with Doris Day, Move Over, Darling, threatened to typecast him as a leading man with a light touch, John Sturges� The Great Escape gave him the opportunity to show a tougher side. In what is perhaps the ultimate World War II adventure film, Garner may not have had a moment as memorable as Steve McQueen�s famous motorcycle escape from the Nazis, but as Hendley "The Scrounger," who puts his own life in jeopardy by taking the blind Donald Pleasance under his wing as they escape from the P.O.W. camp, he displayed a warmth not always found in such macho surroundings.

In 1964, Garner appeared opposite Julie Andrews in what would become his favorite of all his films, The Americanization of Emily. With a screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky, the Arthur Hiller directed film asked some pungent questions about war and bravery, hence its appeal to an actor who made his mark playing characters who shunned the typically violent approach to settling cinematic predicaments.

After Maverick, Garner avoided westerns as much as he did TV, but now firmly established as a film star, one big enough for the Cinerama format in which John Frankenheimer�s 1966 racing drama Grand Prix was filmed, he got back in the saddle opposite Sidney Poitier in Ralph Nelson�s offbeat Duel at Diablo. A year later, he made one of the movies� most impressive Wyatt Earps in John Sturges� Hour of the Gun. Advertised with the tag line, "Hero with a badge or cold blooded killer?," the film was less exciting than its ad campaign would have you believe, but it remains one of the more intriguing explorations of the legendary lawman�s character.

Having returned to the range with such impressive results, by 1969 Garner was ready to once more play the genre for laughs. The memories of Maverick were vivid in Support Your Local Sheriff, Garner�s finest comedy to date. Whether asking outlaw Bruce Dern to pretend that the jail cell in which he is being locked actually has bars, or stuffing his finger in Walter Brennan�s gun barrel and admonishing him for rudeness, Garner gives his most winning comedic performance. The film, directed by Burt Kennedy from a screenplay by William Bowers, was popular with audiences, and inspired a spin-off in the form of the less successful Support Your Local Gunfighter two years later. But by then, Garner was contemplating an even stronger return to his roots.

By the close of the sixties, Garner was beginning to look askance at the violence and nudity that was commonplace in movies after the introduction of the MPAA rating system in 1969. That year, Garner starred in Marlowe, becoming the sixth actor to play Raymond Chandler�s legendary private eye (For the record, the preceding five were Humphrey Bogart, George Montgomery, Dick Powell, Robert Montgomery, and Philip Carey who played the role on TV). That nifty credit aside, television was beginning to look attractive again, and, in September 1971, Garner debuted as Nichols (pictured at right), the reluctant sheriff of a small town in turn of the century Arizona. The accent was on characterization and humor of a gentle kind, but even with a pre-Lois Lane Margot Kidder in the cast, it may have been too gentle for audiences in the era of Archie Bunker, and the series struggled through its one season run.

But with The Rockford Files in 1974, Garner struck gold. As Jim Rockford, a private investigator who lived in a house trailer with his father in L.A., Garner won an Emmy and a legion of new fans. As wry and witty as Maverick, but with shades of Chandleresque cynicism, the series ran for six seasons on NBC, and would be revived in the 90s as a series of CBS-TV movies.

By the time Rockford temporarily closed his files, Garner was also prominent as a television pitchman, appearing in commercials for Polaroid with actress Mariette Hartley. Their appearances were so effective that the public believed they were actually Mr. and Mrs, leading Hartley to wear a T-shirt bearing the words, "I am not James Garner�s wife." Before long, Garner became the spokesman for the beef industry, informing us that "It�s what�s for dinner" until open heart surgery made him a less than ideal representative for the artery clogging product.

He still had the movies, though. Garner had little to do but look attentive as the companion of Lauren Bacall in the 1981 slasher flick The Fan, but reuniting with Julie Andrews for Blake Edwards� gender bending Victor/Victoria put him back on the big screen in style. An even better role came his way in 1985�s Murphy�s Romance. As the small town druggist romancing Sally Field, Garner finally received the recognition from his colleagues that the public felt he had deserved for years by nominating him for an Oscar as Best Actor.

If his skill for light comedy made people forget he was also an accomplished dramatic actor, his superb work in such TV movies as Heartsounds (1984), The Promise (1986), My Name is Bill W. (1989), Decoration Day (1990), Barbarians at the Gate (1993), Breathing Lessons (1994), and Streets of Laredo (1995) helped them remember.

And who better than Garner to reprise Wyatt Earp opposite Bruce Willis as Tom Mix in 1988�s Sunset? Or play an ex-president alongside Jack Lemmon in 1996�s My Fellow Americans? And he�ll start the millennium in good company, too, appearing with Clint Eastwood and Tommy Lee Jones in Space Cowboys.

And through it all, there was always Maverick.

"One of the things I can�t stand about television," Garner complained to TV Guide in 1968, "is that they never let you live down your past. I still have people coming up to me and complimenting me on Maverick. And I haven�t made a Maverick in nearly 10 years!" But 10 years after registering that complaint, Garner did make another Maverick, guest starring in a pilot for ABC-TV�s The New Maverick. Retitled Young Maverick when it briefly became a series, Garner guested in the first episode. In 1981, Garner starred for NBC in Bret Maverick, his fourth series, and, in 1994, he joined Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster in Richard Donner�s big screen revival of the series that first brought him fame. By embracing rather than shunning his past, perhaps Garner is suggesting that another showbiz clich�--"give the people what they want"-- is the one he has learned to respect.

James Garner may not be the "last real man" as People christened him some years back, but he may very well be the last real star--an actor who shines in any medium and loses none of his sparkle with age.

Brian W. Fairbanks

� Copyright 1999, Brian W. Fairbanks. All Rights Reserved.

About the author

On Movies and Criticism
FOREWORD from I Saw That Movie, Too

FILMS:
Toward the Unknown, The Girl He Left Behind (1956), Sayonara, Shoot-Out at Medicine Bend (1957), Darby�s Rangers (1958), Cash McCall, Alias Jesse James, Up Periscope (1959), The Children�s Hour (1961), Boys� Night Out (1962), The Thrill of It All, The Great Escape, The Wheeler Dealers, Move Over, Darling (1963), 36 Hours, The Americanization of Emily (1964), Mister Buddwing, The Art of Love (1965), A Man Could Get Killed, Duel at Diablo, Grand Prix (1966), Hour of the Gun (1967), The Pink Jungle, How Sweet It Is! (1968), The Racing Scene, Support Your Local Sheriff, Marlowe (1969), A Man Called Sledge (1970), Skin Game, Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), They Only Kill Their Masters (1972), One Little Indian (1973), The Castaway Cowboy (1974), H.E.A.L.T.H. (1979), The Fan (1981), Victor/Victoria (1982), Tank (1984), Murphy�s Romance (1985), Sunset (1988), The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), Fire in the Sky (1993), Maverick (1994), Wild Bill: Hollywood Maverick (1996), My Fellow Americans (1996), The Hidden Dimension (narrator) (1997), Twilight (1998), Space Cowboys (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (voice only, 2001), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), The Notebook (2004).

TV MOVIES, MINI-SERIES, SPECIALS:
The Rockford Files (1974), The New Maverick (1978), Bret Maverick: The Lazy Ace (1981), The Long Summer of George Adams (1982), Heartsounds (1984), The Glitter Dome (1984), James A. Michener�s Space (1985), The Promise (1986), My Name Is Bill W. (1989), Decoration Day (1990), Barbarians at the Gate (1993), Breathing Lessons (1994), The Rockford Files: I Still Love L.A. (1994), The Rockford Files: A Blessing in Disguise (1995), Streets of Laredo (1995), The Rockford Files: If the Frame Fits, The Rockford Files: Godfather Knows Best, The Rockford Files: Friends and Foul Play, The Rockford Files: Crime and Punishment (1996), Dead Silence, Big Guns Talk: The Story of the Western, The Rockford Files: Murder and Misdemeanors (1997), Legalese (1998), A Winter Visitor, The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds...It Leads, Shake, Rattle and Roll: An American Love Story, One Special Night (1999), Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows (2000), Making of "Space Cowboys" (2000), The Last Debate (2000), Roughing It (2001).

TV SERIES:
Maverick (1957-60), Nichols (1971-72), The Rockford Files (1974-80), Bret Maverick (1981-82), Man of the People (1991), God, the Devil, and Bob (voice only, 2000), Chicago Hope (guest appearances, 2000), First Monday (2002), 8 Simple Rules...for Dating My Teenage Daughter (2003).

Now This Is Sad

In my ramblings around the Web, I just came across this.I 'm no Fundamentalist - in fact, I'm more of an Agnostic. But I had already noticed the things this writer describes in the reviews.

I don't like being told I have to be a Christian. But I sure wouldn't like to be told I couldn't be one either. Once more, bias raises its ugly head...

The Ultimate Gift" Movie Producer Claims Moral Content Attacked to Suppress Film

Hollywood Critics Skewer, Fans Love, "Little Movie with a Big Heart"

Contact: Chuck Robbins, 704-839-3520

CHARLOTTE, Mar. 15 /Christian Newswire/ -- Veteran film producer Rick Eldridge was sure he had all the ingredients to cook up a successful box office hit. For his film "The Ultimate Gift," based on the a book of the same name that has sold nearly 4 million copies worldwide, he landed veteran Hollywood heavyweight James Garner and young sensation Abigail Breslin to star in a movie that sought to teach the value of a legacy of hard work and integrity in relation to an inheritance of cash.

The film tells the story of an elderly and wealthy man (played by Garner) who leaves behind a video will that requires his grandson to perform various character-building tasks before he can inherit his grandfather's wealth. Add in the likes of Golden Globe winner Brian Dennehy and screen veteran Bill Cobbs, and it's no wonder that The Washington Post (and many others) have noted that the film is "well-acted by a first rate cast." "The film aims to inspire a generation," observed The Arizona Republic.

But what Eldridge didn't count on was that his film would be given tough reviews by the critics because of what they perceived as being hidden religious and social messages.

"Reeking of self-righteousness and moral reprimand, Michael O. Sajbel's "Ultimate Gift" is a hairball of good-for-you filmmaking . . . . The movie's messages - pro-poverty, anti-abortion - are methodically hammered home," says New York Times reviewer Jeannette Catsoulis.

"There's an anti-abortion message jammed into one scene with all the subtlety of an avalanche. Just in case you miss it, it's repeated in the credits too. Some gift, eh?," wrote Chicago Tribune critic Lou Carlozo.

These assessments have been a surprise to Eldridge. "The film's single mom says she was glad she had her child. Calling that an anti-abortion message is a stretch," he said. "And while the film certainly does inspire people to be giving and compassionate, what does that have to do with being 'pro-poverty'? It's hard to know how to respond to that kind of criticism, except to say that it clearly incites the wrong things."

Mostly, it seems that there just isn't any violence, cursing or sex in this movie, so a host of critics are calling it "sappy" or moralistic and wondering why moviegoers would pay to see it.

These days in Hollywood, it seems that it is rare to see a family movie critically acclaimed. "The Ultimate Gift is a people's film, not a critic's film," said Eldridge. "And there is, increasingly, a big difference between those two things."

Eldridge points to this week's independent exit poll results from CinemaScore, which showed that a remarkable 99% of all respondents rated the film in the "A/B" category.

"This 'little film with a big heart', as one critic called it, celebrates the great American values of thrift, integrity, honor and family," Eldridge said.

"I'm hoping that millions of Americans will ignore attempts to keep this film down and vote with their feet to send a message to the movie industry that a values-driven family movie about virtue can be a box-office hit."

http://www.earnedmedia.org/IPA0315.htm