Boys' Night Out (1962 movie)

Boys' Night Out is an American comedy film released in 1962. It starred Kim Novak, James Garner and Tony Randall and was directed by Michael Gordon. The movie is about three well-to-do middle-aged men planning to commit adultery.

Warning: Wikipedia contains spoilers

They rent an apartment in the city as their proposed love nest, intending to tell their respective wives from time to time that they have to work long hours at the office and, rather than taking the commuter train to their suburban homes, will stay in the city. They rent out the apartment at a low price to an attractive young woman called Cathy who they hope they will be able to take turns in seducing.

However, unknown to the men, Cathy is a sociology student writing her thesis on married men's propensity to be unfaithful to their wives. When they start calling on her individually in the evenings she encourages them to talk, which they do, while she is collecting data for her thesis by secretly recording all their conversations. Soon it turns out that there is no need whatsoever for Cathy to stall them as none of the men is actually prepared to have sex with her although each of them brags about having slept with her whenever talking to the others. No sex occurs anywhere in the movie, and in the end all three are repentant and fall in love with their own wives again.

Although generally considered a mediocre film, Boys' Night Out -- with what must have been considered a risqu� plot more than 40 years ago -- gives an insight into the predominant social mores of the late 1950s and early 1960s WASP middle classes. It should be noted though that not all comedy films made at around that time excluded pre- and extra-marital sex from their plots; see, for example, Boeing Boeing (1965, based on a 1960 farce), where male and female roles are reversed.