Rating: Summary: Pure Guilty Pleasure Review: Although many folks laught this flick off, I have to admit that I am extremely fond of "Urban Cowboy." My wife and I watch it just about every time it comes on television. Granted, Bud slaps around Sissy and that may turn off some folks, but deep inside, there is more love between those characters than most of the couples in film and television these days.
With a giant honky-tonk as the primary setting, you get the expected rowdy crowds and rambunctious country music needed to set the stage. The entire story revolves around the trials and tribulations of a young couple brought together by the bull...mechanical bull that is, and how they're almost torn apart by it. They get "Bud" and "Sissy" license plates for Bud's truck. They are ecstatic over a new trailer house. They are pure white trash, and I love'em for it. Colorful characters such as Bud's aunt and uncle, Gator, the ex-con Wes, Jessie, Mickey Gilley and even the Charlie Daniel's Band make for a great movie. You couldn't make a film about a honky-tonk these days with characters like that. First of all, you'd anger someone for making the working man look like an idiot. Secondly, people will scream about spousal abuse. Lastly, there aren't many real country stars like they had back in those days. Can you imagine Tim McGraw onstage with back hair coming out of his vest instead of the incomparable Johnny Lee? I think not.
Others say the acting is bad, that may be, but it is so bad that it is wonderful to see on screen. Travolta's bathtub scene where he fusses at Sissy(Debra Winger) for not being home when he needs her is just hilarious. Winger is at her sexiest as the somewhat tomboyish Sissy. She's probably the main reason I watch this movie over and over. When Bud's aunt enters the Dolly Parton lookalike contest, her entire character becomes the focus of the film for a few brief, funny moments. Barry Corbin was perfectly cast as Bud's well-meaning uncle. You couldn't have picked a better cast.
Also, the characters are real. Admit it, you've seen a drunk guy at the local bar fall off of his barstool. In this movie, Gator just happens to fall off of a mechanical bull. There are always one or two fights at the bar. Also, I've seen plenty of angry drunks at the local Pitt Grill(an after-honky-tonk hangout with a great breakfast buffett at 3AM) throw fits like Bud did when Sissy gets a hat tipped to her by Wes.
Watch this movie for the time trip it is. It's a perfect rainy-day, holdin' you're better half type of movie. Add it to your collection now.
Rating: Summary: Fiddle, booze, women and bull riding....nuthin better! Review: DVD version. This is a great film and I have seen it many times. Forget what other reviewers think. This movie was hot in when it came out and I was only about 6 or 7 years old, but my parents went to this movie at the drive in with us kids about 7 or 8 times and we loved every minute of it. What is so good is that it shows the classic theme of "Love conquers all". They fight, they flip each other off, they hit, curse and yell at each other but in the end the license plate goes back in the window at the end. The DVD is well worth the beautiful look and the movie is great for the music. I also encourage you to buy the soundtrack. Keep your mind open and realize this was the in thing after disco. I agree with another reviewer who said "Pam" and "Sissy" are well worth seeing this movie. The DVD does not contain much extra footage or extras, but I am just glad it is out on DVD. Pick it up and prepare to two step with your favorite cowgirl.
Rating: Summary: Interesting cultural shock Review: Even if you're not a fan of the Country/Western culture, you'll like UC. It's an entertaining film despite its simpering, too-cutesy women, cheesy trailer parks, and overabundance of testosterone.Having been raised a Yankee and a strict Catholic, and still both to this day, I found this movie to be an interesting introduction to a different culture the first time I watched it as a teenager. In contrast to my own austere culture, I saw Houston, Texas as a place were every man was a cowboy and could dance and charm women every bit as well as he could drink, brawl, and ride the mechanical bull. As for the women, they were all flirty and outgoing, sins which the nuns in school cautioned us against. And, the big shocker, most of the people lived in a trailer park and not in a twin home! Imagine that!I would have dismissed the movie as merely a glorified saga of life in a white-trash world, but it was too engrossing. Here we have Bud, struggling to make a new life in Houston at the oil refinery, and Sissy, the quintessential country girl who's the best dancer at her CW nightclub, where she meets Bud and succumbs to his charms. Then there's Pam, the rich girl who can have anything and anyone she wants, and Wes, the charismatic ex-con who sets his hat at Sissy. They and, it seems, all of Houston hang out at Gilley's, the aforementioned nightclub, where the fists, beer, two-steppers, and testosterone fly. I found the characters and the story to be too interesting to dismiss, even if the culture was vasty different from my own. Therefore, I think UC is a crossover film that appeals to people of different cultures, musical preferences, and geographic locations.
Rating: Summary: So Bad It's Gotta' Be Good Review: Ever seen a movie that was just so bad it made you feel better every time you watched it? We all have those movies we would never admit to anyone that we like. This is mine. For whatever reason, I just can't get enough! I'm married to a Texan from Houston and this is NOTHING like what I know him to be. To anyone who looks at this movie and believes that this is what a real relationship is, I would recommend seeking out a new relationship. This is trailer park livin' at its funnest - hopefully not its finest! Enjoy it for what it is... a great, hokey flick. Oh, and to the person who entitled their review "Lucky Enough to Live that Life," thanks for the update! I always wondered what happened to Poor Sissy (that little hussie!) and her abusive, neglectful, arrogant drunk husband, Bud.
Rating: Summary: Let me start by saying I loathe country music... Review: Every time this movie is on, my wife and I watch it. Even if we are just flipping through the channels and it's already an hour into the picture...we watch it. It's the universal story of love told in a very simplistic way, and gives you the feeling that true love can strike anyone at any time. The two characters, Bud and Sissy, fall in love instantly, and seem to be made for each other. The passion that they share makes you feel like a kid again, and after watching this movie many times, it still gives me that feeling. It will make some of you laugh, and it will make some of you cry. Either way, you'll get a good feeling from watching this movie.
Rating: Summary: One Of My All-Time Faves... Review: Everybody has a different reason for being fond of a movie. This movie came out around the time I finished high school. It brings back fond memories of my boyfriend and I seeing it at the drive-in. Those were the days...... Besides that...it was a great movie. I understand what the person below was saying when they said they appreciated the fact that the characters didn't try a Texas accent. I don't especially like it when actors try to do a southern accent either. It never does really sound like us down here...know what I mean Vern?
Rating: Summary: Okay story, but not for 2 hours and 13 minutes Review: Farm boy comes to city; boy meets girl; boy marries girl; boy cheats on girl; boy gets girl back. That's essentially the film. Though it does have a fairly memorable soundtrack, you just can't stop watching the timer on the DVD to realize how much longer the movie is going to run. They couldn't have told this story in 92 minutes?
Rating: Summary: Yeeee Haaaawwww!!! Review: Folks, you can almost smell the trailer park as you watch this movie!
For some reason, I am drawn to this film--and I have no idea why. A post-Saturday Night Fever John Travolta plays Bud Davis, a self-proclaimed cowboy who temporarily relocates to the Houston suburbs to get a job and earn enough enough money to "...buy myself a piece of land." His uncle, played by the wonderful character actor, Barry Corbin, introduces Bud to the redneck version of nightlife--as epitomized by the huge C&W nightclub called Gilley's (3 1/2 acres in size!). While there, he meets the cute Sissy, played by Debra Winger, to whom he proposes on their first "date." Her ecstatic reaction to their new home (a trailer) is absolutely hilarious. You'd think they'd just bought a condo in Manhattan.
Things don't go well in the marriage and they quickly separate--with the gorgeous Madolyn Smith-Osborne taking a shine to the unsophisticated cowboy and Scott Glenn, as a bull-riding ex-convict, shacking up with Winger. Throw in a mechanical bull-riding contest with a grand prize of (gasp!) $5,000 and you pretty much have the whole story.
In the end, love triumphs to send Travolta and Winger galloping off into the sunset together.
Oh, as an aside, I would mention that Gilley's, a real-life nightlife cowboy hot spot, burned to the ground under mysterious circumstances a few years after it was featured in the movie. Insurance fraud by arson was suspected, but I don't know if Mickey Gilley ever wound up behind bars as a result.
Rating: Summary: Urban Cowboy Review: Had not viewed this flick in 10 years. In the last 2 months have seen it three times and enjoy it more with each viewing. JT seems to encapsulate an era (ie Saturday Night Fever) this movie and CD will not let you down. A must have for 70's survivors!B Fig.
Rating: Summary: Depicts the late 70's whe I grew up Review: I always liked this movie and was never a JT fan utill I watch him in Gilleys with Debra Winger. I was caught up in that crowd living on the Louisiana Texas border and have all ways related to this movie. It will go down as one of the best movies I have ever seen. It had it all and really relates how a man and a women react through love, hate and life. It is a must see movie
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