City Slickers (B+): I consider this one of the ten essential Westerns you should watch.. Near the beginning of the film, on his 39th birthday Billy Crystal tells his station manager, "Have you ever had that feeling that this is the best I'm ever gonna do, this is the best I'm ever gonna feel... and it ain't that great?" He's in midlife crisis mode. His friends, played by Bruno Kirby and Daniel Stern, are also broken men in different ways. Together they decide to go on a two week vacation to the New Mexico where they can be cowboys and drive a herd - they think it will help them "find their smile" and figure things out. Figuring out the secret of life, dealing with death, these are pretty deep things to deal with for a comedy right? The film is surprisingly able to juggle these hefty themes along with a lot of great comedy. The men arrive at the ranch, meet their tripmates, and trail bosses - the head of which is manly man Curly. Jack Palance's Curly is an iconic performance as the grizzled cowboy boss who loves the life and doesn't suffer fools; he has great chemistry with Crystal. In fact, the whole cast really has great chemistry - especially the three leads. City Slickers is one of those movies that is able to wring a lot of comedy out of a genre picture while simultaneously embracing many of the things that make Westerns great. In other words, it doesn't need to cut the genre down to get most of its laughs. This isn't the East coast looking down its nose at flyover country - everyone is fair game here. By the time our three leads are guiding a herd across a river to the swelling of the outstanding film score - it's hard not feel the awe and wonder that would be normal in a movie like Red River. City Slickers isn't perfect, I'm find the "find what matters most in your life and center yourself around it" secular philosophy to be a dud, but it surprisingly hits powerfully in many other areas - the biggest being genuine and hearty laughs. It's my favorite "Western" comedy.
Review of City Slickers
