City Slickers **** (1991, Billy Crystal, Jack Palance, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby) – Classic Movie Review 1725

Director Ron Underwood’s 1991 blockbuster comedy Western is great escapist fun and deservedly cleaned up at the box-office.

Star Billy Crystal gives a sharp and confident comedy performance and penned the outline of the fresh-seeming story about three townie guys (Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby) turning 40 and going through their midlife crisis by joining a cattle drive in order to ‘find themselves’.

Crystal plays Manhattan radio ads salesman Mitch Robbins, who decides the best birthday gift is to go on a two-week holiday in the wild West, driving cattle from New Mexico to Colorado with his best buddies Ed Furillo (Kirby) and Phil Berquist (Stern). They meet up with eccentric cowboy Curly (Jack Palance), who teaches them how to become real cowboys and a few things about life.

Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel’s funny screenplay and Underwood’s fast-moving direction keep the show moving briskly and happily along the trail. Four other assets are all three bright star turns, Palance’s endearing send-up performance as the old cowboy (though his all too early demise gives the film a temporary dip), the fine character actors and a calf called Norman.

It’s all good, though the ending is a little bit of a letdown. Palance won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar, following his only previous nomination in 1953 for the real classic Western Shane. Palance’s acceptance speech at the 1992 Oscars involved his demonstration of one-armed push-ups, which he claimed convinced studio insurance agents he was healthy enough to work on the film. Crystal was hosting the Awards and used the incident for several jokes. The 1993 Oscars opened with Palance appearing to drag in a giant Academy Award, with Oscars host Crystal riding on the opposite end.

[Spoiler alert] When Palance was unavailable to play Curly, Crystal contacted Charles Bronson only to be rudely rebuffed because the character dies. Palance then got out of his other film to join the cast. After the Oscars, Crystal and Palance had a glass of champagne together. ‘I could only imagine what Charles Bronson was thinking as he went to sleep that night,’ Crystal said.

Jake Gyllenhaal makes his movie debut, at the age of 11, playing Crystal’s son, Danny Robbins. Noble Willingham, Tracey Walter, Josh Mostel, Jeffrey Tambor and David Paymer are all essential ingredients, while Patricia Wettig and Helen Slater have the less rewarding female roles to fill. Rick Moranis, cast as Phil, had to leave due to his wife’s illness and was replaced by Stern. 

Sequel: City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold (1994).

Shot in New York City, New Mexico, Durango, Colorado and in Spain, it was expensive to make at $27 million, but earned $179 million back.

Palance died on November 10 2006, aged 87.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1725

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com/