Murphy’s Romance

Romantic drama about a widowed chemist (James Garner) who finds himself falling in love again, in spite of his best intentions to make the best of his new-found single life., A widowed small-town pharmacist develops a reticent affection for a spunky divorcé, but soon her ex-husband returns and moves back in with her, claiming things will be different. Based on the novella by Max Schott., Newly divorced Emma Moriarty (Sally Field) moves herself and her young son to a small Arizona town, hoping to establish a horse farm. Town pharmacist Murphy Jones (James Garner), the town’s most eligible bachelor, develops a platonic friendship with Emma, but he decides to keep his distance when her ex-husband Bobby Jack (Brian Kerwin), who claims he’s changed his irresponsible ways, moves back in with her. At a party at Emma’s ranch, Murphy and Bobby Jack get into a verbal row, but nothing is settled until Wanda (Anna Levine) shows up with two babies in tow, claiming that Bobby Jack is the father. Once rid of her ex, Emma commisserates with her friend Murphy at his drug store–and is quite surprised to discover that she’s fallen in love with the older man, and he with her. Murphy’s Romance is a very gentle romantic comedy; even Murphy’s cast-away lady friend (Georgann Johnson) behaves like a civilized human being instead of a woman scorned.