Jamie Garrett Shares His Top-5 James Garner Movies

James Garner was a dinosaur among the Hollywood elite of the 21st century, pedicures and cucumber facials among a roughneck. James Garner was a man's man in a town that is very short on true men.

I'm not of Garner's generation. Most of my James Garner knowledge comes from watching TV on the living room floor with my dad. Even as a young child waaaaay back in the 80s, James Garner was an antique. That means something different 30 years later, and a deep appreciation for what he brought to the movie & TV screen is only enhanced by the lack of tabloid drama that came off the job.

Trying to come up with my Top-5 James Garner movies was easy. I've only seen five James Garner movies that I can remember. Ranking them in order was a little tougher.

5
Space Cowboys
Want more proof that I've only seen five James Garner movies? Look no further. The fact that this trash heap (cash grab for the actors, I'm sure) made a Top-5 of any kind shows my lack of depth in James Garner's imdb page.
4
The Notebook
I know, I know. This is the greatest movie of all time, ladies. But despite my girlie name, I'm not much of a rom-com guy. Sure, I cried like a baby at times during the movie, and James Garner's role as a husband desperately trying to bring his wife back from the depths of dementia was the catalyst of the waterworks, the movie still ranks lower than the other, more manly James Garner movies.
3
Maverick
Before you get your panties all bunched up because I put this cheesy comedy in my Top-5 ahead of The Notebook, just remember that IT'S MY LIST. I saw this movie sometime during my two fabulous freshman years in college, and it's only appropriate that this movie stuck with me since I was failing out of school in Norman, OK, his hometown.
2
Tank
Choosing between my top two James Garner movies is tougher than one might think. My dad owned a copy of Tank on Beta (remember those?) and I used to watch it ALL THE TIME. Yes, the cheesiness is probably more than I could handle in my advanced age now, but at the time it was the coolest movie ever made.
1
The Great Escape
This is one of those movies that, while we didn't own it on Beta, I remember seeing at least twice a year every single year of my childhood. Looking back now, how could this NOT be James Garner's finest movie? Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, James Coburn. That's a whose-who list of people that could kill you just by their stare alone. I'm convinced the men named above were the inspiration for the Most Interesting Man in the World.

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