City Slickers (1991)
8/10
three men in mid-life crisis go on a cattle drive
13 June 2013
A wonderful, wonderful film, and if you're my age, you'll cry.

From 1991, "City Slickers" stars Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby, Jack Palance, Patricia Wettig, and Helen Slater. Three men (city folk) whose lives range from unhappy to disastrous go on a two week holiday in the wild west driving cattle from New Mexico to Colorado. There, on the open range, away from their responsibilities, they can perhaps sort out what they want and who they are.

Crystal is Mitch, a happily married man with children who hates his job and is depressed most of the time. When he gets a 30th birthday gift from his pals to do the cattle drive, his wife (Wettig) insists that he go rather than visit her family. If he hesitates, it's because his friend Ed's last idea, of running with the bulls in Pamplona, was a horror.

Phil (Stern) is humiliated at Mitch's 30th birthday party when a woman who works for him comes in and announces she's missed her period, thus causing his wife to dump him on the spot - though they've been miserable for years.

Ed has a lingerie model girlfriend who wants a family, but he's having trouble making a commitment.

So all three go.

There, they meet some real cowboys, and the oldest one, Curly (Palance), is one tough cookie. But Mitch is able to spend some time with him, and Curly tells him that only one thing matters. Just one. But you have to figure out what that one thing is. When Mitch has a crisis, he finally finds out what it is for him.

I really loved this film. It was absolutely hilarious, with some of Billy Crystal's fabulous delivery, and yet very touching at the same time. A perfect combination, something that's not always easy to achieve. Very well acted and directed, the film moves along beautifully.

Highly recommended. Full of wit, with some excitement, and poignant moments.
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