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 | herman the calf character | cowboy | cattle | new mexico | 

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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:

Colorado, 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

The story that Billy Crystal tells about his "best day" of going to a Yankee game with his father is a true story from his childhood. He notes at one point that, "I still have the program." Not only does he really still have it, but he got Mickey Mantle to autograph it twice: once at the game that day and once again some 20 years later on a talk show they were both guests on.

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Goofs

When Cookie starts driving the wagon while drunk, you can clearly see someone in the wagon looking out from under Cookie's bench.

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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 Decker: Port of Call: Hawaii - Episode 7 (2015)

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Soundtracks

Young at Heart
(1953)
CHERIO CORP. and JUNE'S TUNES
Words by Carolyn Leigh
Music by Johnny Richards
Performed by Jimmy Durante
Courtesy of WARNER BROS. RECORDS INC.
By Arrangement with WARNER SPECIAL PRODUCTS

User Reviews

great comedy

Billy Crystal does a great job in this, and I'm really not a big fan either,, I'm more of a Jack Palance fan, by the way he was great as the trail boss.. I don't know what I would do if I had the money and two weeks off, cattle drive,, maybe not so much , but the movie provides an interesting premise for us guys in their late 30's early 40's . 3 men with jobs in the city , work their butt's off for a year and save up their vacation time to go on a cattle drive,, and in two weeks,, try to find themselves as men,, as each one of them has something different that he wants to accomplish. but the main thing is that they all have fun doing it,, along the way the meet "Curly" ,, Jack Palance as the trail boss,, I don't know why he wasn't in the whole movie,, but that's another subject all together,, my favorite character however without a doubt was little "Norman" the cow,, excellent funny movie,, love the river chase scene, this is one of those movies that I can watch once or twice every year and not get tired of it .