Plot
A mid-life crisis plagued man and his friends find renewal and purpose on a cattle driving vacation.

Release Year: 1991

Rating: 6.7/10 (23,932 voted)

Director: Ron Underwood

Stars: Billy Crystal, Jack Palance, Daniel Stern

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.

Writers: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel

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

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

Release Date: 7 June 1991

Filming Locations: Abiquiu, New Mexico, USA

Gross: $124,033,791 (USA)

Runtime: 113 min

Trivia:
Some trailers feature a scene where someone's spurs are caught on a rail, but this scene is not in the movie.

Goofs:
Continuity: After the cattle drive is over, Clay says, "Let's get some grub". Ira, Ben and Steve, Barry, Cookie, and Bonnie follow, in that order. But when they switch cameras, their order is Barry, Ira, Bonnie, Ben and Steve, and Cookie following Clay and Millie towards the house.

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

First-rate comedy with some serious themes running just beneath the surface.

Rating: 8/10

City Slickers entertained me enormously when I was a teenager because it has some good, solid laughs. Nowadays, as I approach my thirtieth birthday with frightening momentum, it still entertains me but it touches me too. That's probably what makes it such a great film: the skillful intertwining of humour, emotion and action.

New Yorker Mitch (Billy Crystal) has reached crisis point in his mundane life. Bored by his job in the lower reaches of radio broadcasting and frustrated by the alarming rate at which years seem to be passing him by, he senses that his life has been a failure. His two friends, Phil (Daniel Stern) and Ed (Bruno Kirby) buy him a two week vacation for his birthday. No ordinary vacation, mind... a fortnight driving cattle across the Wild West, just like in the good old days. And it is while on this extraordinary vacation that the three buddies learn how to make the most of their mixed-up lives.

The performances are uniformly excellent, especially Crystal who is in sharper form than ever before (or since, come to think of it) and Jack Palance as the leathery trail boss whose simple philosophies are surprisingly insightful. The scripting is outstanding, giving all the stars a chance to do some good character development, while providing terrific laugh-out-loud moments too. The film works on other levels too: the music is stirring, the photography spectacular and the editting very sharp (especially in a superb scene in which Crystal tries on an assortment of ill-fitting cowboy hats, only to opt in the end for his trusty old baseball cap). City Slickers is great entertainment, and one of the truly timeless comedy masterpieces from its decade.

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