When three close friends find themselves in the midst of a midlife crisis, they decide to take a break from the big city and head west for a week of herding cattle and being cowboys. Just as the trio expect some good times and a couple laughs, so do we, but City Slickers is so much more than your typical out-of-place comedy.
The three best friends, Mitch, Ed and Phil, are played sincerely by Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby and Daniel Stern, to the point that you can truly believe they are childhood best buds. Perhaps this is helped by Crystal and Kirby’s turn together in When Harry Met Sally… a few years prior, but the three men have such great chemistry together that you can’t help but fall for their charm.
We are first introduced to our heroes in an incredible opening sequence in which they find themselves running with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, setting up both the film’s heart and its humour. With some hilarious slapstick comedy, some jaw-dropping stunts and some impressive visuals that will make you think “how did they shoot this!?” It pulls you in immediately and doesn’t let you go until the credits start to roll.
When we see the boys flying home, and getting back to their everyday lives, it becomes clear that these yearly vacations are an escape for the three men; Mitch and his partner seem out of sync, Phil’s wife is so insufferable that he has developed psychosomatic narcolepsy as a way of dealing with her, and Ed’s latest girlfriend is even younger than the last, which causes Mitch to quip “Ed, have you noticed that the older you get, the younger your girlfriends get? Soon you’ll be dating sperm.” So, naturally, a year later, they find themselves in need of yet another vacation, this time spurred on by Mitch’s wife in an attempt to get her husband back.
Admittedly, once the guys find themselves on the ranch, the plot unfolds along fairly predictable lines. You have your scenes where we see how out of place these urban cowboys are in the real world of cattle herding and, naturally, several instances in which we see the trio battling stubborn cattle, macho cowboys and nature. What really brings these scenes to life, however, is the wonderful writing by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. Not only is the dialogue sharp and witty, but the screenplay has a great skill at combining comedy with moments of quiet truth about the human condition and of the problems of being a son, a father and a husband.
Sure, there are at least a hundred great gags in this film that you’ll be laughing at for weeks, but the moments that will really stick with you in City Slickers are the moments of insight, of secrets sincerely shared, and the moments of philosophical speculation about the meaning of life. Most of these come from moments between Mitch and Jack Palance’s character Curly, an old-fashioned cowboy who has found peace out on the range, and shares his wisdom with Crystal’s character. The scenes between the two really get to the centre of the picture, bringing the film back down to earth after some of the more over-the-top comedic moments. It’s no wonder Jack Palance won an Oscar for his role.
However, perhaps the most touching scene of the whole film is one in which Mitch, Phil and Ed discuss the best and worst days of their lives. It’s a scene in which they discuss their relationships with their fathers, their marriages, and it really gets to the heart of the characters, their friendships, and, therefore, the film as a whole. It’s sure to bring a tear to your eye.
City Slickers is one of the greatest examples of why you should never judge a book by its cover (or a film by its poster). From the outside, it seems like your typical 90s comedy, but in reality, it is not only one of the best comedies of the 1990s, but one of the best films of the decade, period. Hilarious, beautiful, well-written and with excellent performances from Crystal, Kirby, Stern and Palance, Arrow Video’s release of City Slickers is a must-have for movie lovers everywhere.
Limited edition Blu-ray Special Features
- 2K restoration from a 4K scan
- High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
- Original lossless stereo audio and optional DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio
- Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Audio commentary with director Ron Underwood and actors Billy Crystal and Daniel Stern
- Go Cowboy!, a newly filmed interview with director Ron Underwood
- Top of the Class, a newly filmed interview with actor Robert Costanzo
- Country Bumpkin, a newly filmed interview with actor Kyle Secor
- Escape to the Country, a newly filmed interview with actor Josh Mostel
- Back in the Saddle: City Slickers Revisited, an archival behind-the-scenes featurette with insights and interviews from the cast and director
- Bringing In the Script: Writing City Slickers, an archive interview with Billy Crystal, screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel
- A Star is Born: An Ode to Norman, an archive interview on how Norman’s birth was filmed
- The Real City Slickers, an archival featurette where guests share why they chose a working ranch for their dream vacation
- Deleted scenes
- Theatrical trailer
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Sam Hadley
Collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Barry Forshaw
City Slickers will be released on Blu-ray by Arrow Video on 19 January.
