City Slickers (1991)

On the verge of turning 40, an unhappy Manhattan yuppie is roped into joining his two friends on a cattle drive in the southwest.

Director:

Ron Underwood

Writers:

Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel

Stars:

Billy Crystal, Jack Palance, Daniel Stern

Won 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Billy Crystal	...	Mitch Robbins
Daniel Stern	...	Phil Berquist
Bruno Kirby	...	Ed Furillo
Patricia Wettig	...	Barbara Robbins
Helen Slater	...	Bonnie Rayburn
Jack Palance	...	Curly
Noble Willingham	...	Clay Stone
Tracey Walter	...	Cookie
Josh Mostel	...	Barry Shalowitz
David Paymer	...	Ira Shalowitz
Bill Henderson	...	Ben Jessup
Jeffrey Tambor	...	Lou
Phill Lewis	...	Steve Jessup
Kyle Secor	...	Jeff
Dean Hallo	...	T.R.

Storyline

Mitch is a middle aged big-city radio ads salesman. He and his friends Ed and Phil are having mid-life crisis. They decide the best birthday gift is to go on a two week holiday in the wild west driving cattle from New Mexico to Colorado. There they meet cowboy Curly who not only teaches them how to become real cowboys, but also one or two other things about life in the open air of the west.

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Plot Keywords:

fish out of water | cowboy | cattle | new mexico | colorado | 

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Taglines:

Yesterday They Were Businessmen. Today They're Cowboys. Tomorrow They'll Be Walking Funny.

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Genres:

Comedy | Western

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Certificate:

PG-13

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 June 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

City Slickers

Filming Locations:

Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$27,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$13,032,121, 9 June 1991, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$124,033,791

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$179,033,791

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, Nelson Entertainment, Face Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Curly never takes off his hat.

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Goofs

The calving scene is a genetic impossibility. The "mother" is a mixed-breed beef cow, giving birth to a pure-bred Jersey dairy calf.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[running through the streets in front of angry bulls, deliberately]
Mitch Robbins: Whose idea was this anyway?

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Crazy Credits

The opening credits show a cartoon of a cowboy practicing with a lasso

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Alternate Versions

AMC version makes two changes in the scene where Mitch talks to his son's class; Sal's story is removed entirely, and the scene begins with the kids cheering, and Sal's "masturbation" hand gesture during Mitch's speech is replaced with an alternate take where Sal instead makes the "Whoopee!" gesture with his index finger.

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Connections

Referenced in The Dialogue: An Interview with Screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel (2006)

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Soundtracks

Birdland
(1977)
(Playing in the background at the party)
Written By Joseph Zawinul (as Joe Zawinul)
Performed by Weather Report

User Reviews

Sweet funny movie

Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal) is frustrated with his job selling ad time on the radio. Phil Berquist (Daniel Stern) is in a hateful marriage and found cheating with the checkout girl. Ed Furillo (Bruno Kirby) is settling down with an underwear model. The three friends decide to go on a getaway driving cattle. There they meet the beautiful Bonnie Rayburn (Helen Slater) who just was recently dumped, father & son dentists, Barry & Ira ice cream makers, and the harden trail boss Curly (Jack Palance).

What makes this work is the chemistry between the three good comedic talents, and Jack Palance playing up his rough cowboy act. It has a sweet heart and Billy Crystal making jokes when he was still funny. It has some really funny insightful mid-life-crisis guy talk. And Jack Palance delivers some funny memorable punchlines.