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City Slickers

year 1991decade 90sdirector Ron Underwoodgenre Comedygenre Western

114 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Billy Crystal Mitch Robbins
Daniel Stern Phil Berquist
Bruno Kirby Ed Furillo
Patricia Wettig Barbara Robbins
Helen Slater Bonnie Rayburn
Jack Palance Curly Washburn
Jayne Meadows Mitch's mother
Lindsay Crystal Holly Robbins
Jake Gyllenhaal Danny Robbins
Karla Tamburrelli Arlene Berquist
Noble Willingham Clay Stone
Bill Henderson Ben Jessup
Phill Lewis Steve Jessup
Josh Mostel Barry Shalowitz
David Paymer Ira Shalowitz
Kyle Secor Jeff
Dean Hallo T.R.
Tracey Walter Cookie

City Slickers | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Chris Ryanhost Sean Fennessey
Explore episodeClose episode

Producer credits not yet identified.

Apex Mountain

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:52Read transcript
  • Apex is spoiled early: this is the Apex for Billy Crystal.
  • Palance winning the Oscar for this while Crystal hosted is called the ultimate apex mountain moment; it wasn't going to get better for Crystal.
  • Billy Crystal: yes.
  • Bruno Kirby: no, because he played young Clemenza in Godfather II.
  • Daniel Stern: unquestionably yes.
  • Cattle vacations get a yes, but another reply says it depends on whether Westworld counts as a cattle vacation, which is called a good call.
  • Shooting the running of the bulls in Pamplona for one scene is called a real Hollywood flex, with a joke about a missed Rossellini movie.
  • Jack Palance: Shane, not this, despite the Oscar.
  • Helen Slater's apex is The Legend of Billie Jean; she also played Supergirl.
  • Patricia Wedig gets a 'definitely' with a thirtysomething reference, which is not clearly a yes for this movie.

Roger Ebert's review

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:54Read transcript
  • An initial guess of three out of four is corrected to three and a half stars.
  • The review is quoted as calling the film much more ambitious and successful than expected, a comedy with the heart of truth, a tear in the eye along with the belly laugh, funny and adding up to something.
  • Craig is teased that he just doesn't have a soul, said to echo an earlier CR take.

Most Rewatchable Scene

Best Day, Worst Day scene; plane ride home from running with the bulls; Nancy confronting Phil at the party

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:04Read transcript
  • The plane ride back from running with the bulls is a favorite: Mitch's sore-rear dad jokes, Ed being told he'll soon be dating sperm, Phil pretending to sleep, and the question of when it will ever be enough.
  • The Crystal-Tambor office scene is called weird, but the pizza ad is perfect, and the 'as good as you're ever going to look' line sets up the movie.
  • The school scene with the guy from Total Recall is called crushing it, and it marks Jake Gyllenhaal's debut with a spiked haircut.
  • The fireplace scene where Kirby and Stern fight is nominated.
  • The harmonica scene between Jack and Billy is quoted and all their scenes together are praised.
  • Curly's 'one thing' secret-of-life scene is quoted.
  • Best Day, Worst Day is called 'my favorite, most rewatchable... the best scene,' with the story of standing up to his father quoted.
  • Mitch's description of first walking into Yankee Stadium after seeing it on black-and-white TV is called pretty awesome, but his being a Mets fan is flagged as the number one nit.
  • One answer says the movie falls apart in the last 40 minutes with no rewatchable scenes there, and picks Nancy the cashier confronting Phil about her pregnancy at the party.
  • Best Day, Worst Day is the pick, and Kirby is phenomenal in that scene. — Sean Fennessey
  • Underwood's staging of the stampede is floated as most rewatchable; the reply grants parts are beautiful but calls it a flat-looking Western with a good script and great bones, likened to Raiders.

Picking Nits

Mitch's Mets allegiance; Ed's young wife; Bonnie choosing Phil; Curly's shallow grave; the refund celebration

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:34:56Read transcript
  • Mitch's Mets fandom is the number one nit: at seven in 1959 the Mets did not exist, and nobody that overwhelmed by the Yankees would switch; the explanation offered is a Mets donation to Comic Relief, plus Mandel and Ganz being Mets fans.
  • Nobody flips out like this at 39; it should be about 46, when mortality kicks in, which draws 'I beg to differ.'
  • Helen Slater's character carrying on alone after her friend cancels is doubted, countered that it is more believable in 1991 without cell phones.
  • Bruno Kirby's character being married to a 25-year-old lingerie model while running a sporting goods store is called absurd, after a nod to his alpha look.
  • Helen Slater's character choosing Phil, about to be economically destitute after sleeping with a 20-year-old, is troubling.
  • Curly was not buried nearly deep enough.
  • A favorite: everyone cheers the ranch owner's refund after one guide dropped dead and the other two tried to kill them.
  • The Mets hat still can't be gotten over.
  • The centrality of baseball, like arguing Clemente versus Aaron, is called wild and antiquated, but also something enjoyed about the movie; today they would argue NBA player empowerment and Kyrie.
  • A skipped nit: Helen Slater's character and Phil never interact before leaving together; she is probably reckless.

What’s Aged the Best?

Midlife-crisis angle; Curly's shocking death; young Jake Gyllenhaal; Palance's one-armed pushups; the title spoken in dialogue; Crystal's one-liners; the classroom life-stages monologue; normal people in a Western setting; the supporting cast

In the discussion (10)
Approx. transcript time · 00:39:20Read transcript
  • The midlife-crisis angle actually works, and Curly's death is still shocking on repeat viewings and well handled.
  • Young Jake Gyllenhaal has aged great and looks pretty similar now.
  • Palance's one-armed pushups became one of the five most famous Oscars moments, recreated the next year when he dragged out a giant Oscar statuette.
  • Saying the title in the dialogue ('you city slickers') is appreciated, along with fortune-cookie one-liners such as 'at this age, you are who you are.'
  • The idea that at a certain age you are who you are is rejected in two replies; 39 is not a peak, and CR is joked to be running an NBA team in ten years.
  • Crystal was 43 during the making, looks 51, and plays a character turning 39; men in older movies like Mikey and Nicky looked far older than their ages.
  • Crystal's terrible one-liners are enjoyed, such as women needing a reason to have sex and men a place; he is said to have written them, sneaking in Tonight Show material.
  • Mitch's classroom monologue on life by decade is played and called really good script writing.
  • Normal people in a Western setting, a fish-out-of-water tale, works well, and the surrounding cast is well cast and fun to be around.
  • One potential item is held back as a probably unanswerable question.

What’s Aged the Worst?

The two drunk cattle hands; the last third; the opening animated credits; the VCR recording conversation; Ron Underwood's filmography; veal; the ranch owner's sale speech; City Slickers II

In the discussion (15)
Approx. transcript time · 00:43:45Read transcript
  • The two drunk cattle hands are bizarre: after Curly dies they play with guns and taunt Mitch about killing Norman, with no hint earlier that they were evil.
  • Many 80s and 90s movies invent two characters to supply 20 minutes of tension; these two only introduce Curly by threatening Helen Slater's character, and a Taylor Sheridan version would have had a shootout.
  • The last 35 minutes fall off, with crossing a river as the major tension.
  • The expensive animated opening credits of a cowboy doing a rope trick are a long time suck, unlike thematically coherent Pink Panther openings.
  • A conversation about recording on a different VCR channel could not have aged worse and would take an hour to explain to Craig.
  • Ron Underwood's IMDb is read: Tremors, City Slickers, Heart and Souls, Speechless, Mighty Joe Young, The Adventures of Pluto Nash and Stealing Sinatra, prompting a 'JV Rob Reiner' comparison.
  • The movie makes you feel bad about eating veal, though veal parm is still enjoyed.
  • The ranch owner's speech about selling the cattle is called a bit of a picking nit and jokingly credited as the birth of veganism.
  • Without being sure it counts as aged the worst, the era's tone, an extra bad dad joke in every scene and Mark Shaman's score with gospel music during the stampede, is called corny and soft and said to belong to an era.
  • City Slickers 2 is called a money grab; Kirby not returning is likened to Duvall not doing Godfather 3, Palance returns as a twin, and Lovitz replaces Kirby with Godfather 2 speeches.
  • City Slickers 2 was not fired up deliberately: it came on during a channel flip while Lovitz was doing Godfather 2, and watching started from there. — Bill Simmons
  • Kirby's absence from the sequel was never explained; a reported excuse is a horse allergy that required shots on set, and internet rumors of a falling-out and blackballing by Crystal are called absurd, though Kirby's IMDb fell apart.
  • Jeffrey Wells of Hollywood Elsewhere is quoted theorizing that actors labeled bad news get avoided, and the host stresses he is not saying Crystal did this.
  • A 2001 USA Today junket exchange for America's Sweethearts is recounted: asked about Kirby, the answer was not having seen or spoken to him in a long time but thinking they were still friends, followed by calling the reporter the worst junket story.
  • Kirby's later career dropped off apart from roles like Donnie Brasco and Sleepers, and he died young.

Casting What-Ifs

Charles Bronson as Curly; Rick Moranis as Phil

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 00:56:01Read transcript
  • By the account attributed to Crystal, Palance was the first choice but had another film; Charles Bronson was contacted and said no because the character dies; Palance then got out of the other movie.
  • Crystal's story of Bronson on the phone insisting 'I don't die' is great given the movie turns on Curly dying, Palance won the Oscar, and Palance came back as a twin anyway.
  • Bronson, younger than Palance but in the same Western-hero space, would have been good.
  • Curly should not have died since the movie falls apart after; alternatives like a broken leg are floated, countered that Ganz and Mandel's rules require testing the main character.
  • Rick Moranis was originally cast as Phil but left because his wife became ill with cancer; Stern was added about three weeks before filming, and Moranis left movies for 25 years, returning in a Honey, I Shrunk the Kids sequel said to be called Shrunk.

The Ruffalo / Hanna / Rubinek / Partridge Overacting Award

Arlene, Phil's wife

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:06Read transcript
  • It has to be Daniel Stern's wife, Arlene.
  • Daniel Stern in the 'if he was a country, I'd be China' scene is an alternative, carrying over his Home Alone energy.
  • Stern put together a billion-dollar box office year with Home Alone and this, narrated The Wonder Years, and Sandlot was coming.
  • Kyle Secor, on the brink of Homicide, is raised for playing a mean-spirited cowboy, called pretty weird.

The Dion Waiters Award for Best Heat Check Performance

David Paymer and Josh Mostel as the Ben and Jerry's guys

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:00:27Read transcript
  • Nominees are Robert Costanzo and Noble Willingham ('find the fish or find new jobs').
  • A rare combo team vote goes to the Ben and Jerry's guys, Pamer and Mostel, with agreement that they are great in every scene.
  • A 1991 blockbuster scene hinging on pairing ice creams with meals is a riveting 90 seconds and a parody of Western showdowns, though the flavors like rum raisin are basic.
  • The ice-cream scene almost made the most rewatchable scenes list.
  • Mostel is more this character than Billy Madison's principal, got weirdly market corrected by Wayne Knight, and should have been in Jurassic.

Recasting Couch

Daniel Stern and Jeffrey Tambor switch parts

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:11Read transcript
  • Stern and Tambor switching parts would make a better movie, which draws 'that would be pretty funny.'
  • Another recasting idea bleeds into a 10-episode Netflix remake and is saved for that.

Half-Assed Internet Research

Fantasy-vacation TV origin; plot borrowed from The Cowboys; Jake Gyllenhaal's debut; the true best-day story; 10 or 11 Normans; river-crossing trouble; Lindsay Crystal as Mitch's daughter

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:02:11Read transcript
  • Crystal got the idea from a TV show about middle-aged men on life-changing fantasy vacations, borrowed the plot from John Wayne's The Cowboys, and hired Lowell and Babaloo.
  • Ten-year-old Jake made his film debut as Crystal's son, and a Crystal quote about him always performing and singing South Pacific is read and questioned.
  • Kirby's horse allergy is repeated, defended as half-assed internet research.
  • Crystal's best-day story really happened, 10 or 11 cows played Norman, and Norman's birth scene was shot in three states.
  • The river crossing was the toughest to shoot because the cows kept mounting each other, and Mitch's daughter was Crystal's real daughter Lindsay, called the best casting ever.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Distance from civilization; the ranch owner's finances; Norman's fate in New York; the calf at the airport; would CR run with the bulls; Palance's cigarette; retiring out West

In the discussion (8)
Approx. transcript time · 01:08:43Read transcript
  • How far are they from civilization? Parts of Wyoming, Colorado and Montana are that remote.
  • If the ranch owner lost the cattle, would his life be over? Patricia Wedig's character would sue him, and refunding everyone is a terrible business.
  • What happened to Norman in New York City? He probably goes to a petting zoo.
  • The family leaves the airport with a calf in the van with no questions about how it got on the flight; Mitch's big tip shows he isn't cheap, and airports allowed hanging out then.
  • Asked whether CR is man enough to run with the bulls, the answer is yes. — Sean Fennessey
  • The response to running with the bulls is that avoiding unforced errors and not dying come first, with a Grantland 10th-anniversary piece joke.
  • How did Palance keep the cigarette dangling but not burning? It might have been a stunt cigarette.
  • Would you retire to this part of the country? No; cities, restaurants and sporting events matter, though Nuggets games are close.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

10-episode Netflix series with grown-up Danny taking his aging father on a cattle drive

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:10:28Read transcript
  • The pitch: Jake Gyllenhaal's character is now his dad's age, Mitch has divorced and moved West, and Danny takes a 30-year-anniversary cattle drive to reconnect with his aging father.
  • A twist has Gyllenhaal back as Detective Loki investigating Kirby's murder; another floats a Brokeback Mountain twist with Curly Jr.
  • Crystal and Stern would be de-aged like The Irishman, and Lovitz would return doing Godfather 3 this time.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

The first Ganz and Mandel script; the Mets hat; Curly's hat

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:14:50Read transcript
  • The first script from Babaloo and Lowell is one pick, drawing 'I would do that.'
  • The Mets hat is another pick; Norman in the shape of a veal parm hero is joked.
  • Curly's hat is another pick, voted for.

More from the conversation

A Ringer ad plug mentions The Watch, The Big Picture and the Bill Simmons podcast before a trailer cold open.
Approx. transcript time · 00:01:26Read transcript
The movie had been a running joke since the Neighbors episode, where the line was that they just don't make them like City Slickers; the Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel script is praised for story, set pieces and midlife-crisis angst.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:44Read transcript
It is called a corny but incredibly rewatchable midlife crisis movie, the fifth biggest of 1991, that cemented Billy Crystal as a star; modern versions go very dark or give the crisis to someone two years out of college.
Approx. transcript time · 00:02:44Read transcript
The theme is summarized as feeling your life is over, answered by cattle herding and bringing a rescued calf back to New York.
Approx. transcript time · 00:03:40Read transcript
Contemporary comedies like Neighbors or Knocked Up follow the same beats, but these leads actually look like schlubby middle-aged men, and late-80s Castle Rock comedies lead with sentimentality.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:08Read transcript
The film feels like the culmination of the 1985-92 yuppie-in-crisis movie (Lost in America, Christmas Vacation, When Harry Met Sally, Grand Canyon, Parenthood), Reagan-era comedies about stable middle-class people with internal problems.
Approx. transcript time · 00:04:59Read transcript
It is joked that men with normal jobs, a radio ad salesman and a grocery-store worker, somehow support families in Manhattan.
Approx. transcript time · 00:05:52Read transcript
Crystal's early career is traced: Soap, being cut from the first Saturday Night Live, losing Three's Company to John Ritter, Rabbit Test, game shows, and a 1982 NBC comedy hour canceled after two episodes.
Approx. transcript time · 00:06:23Read transcript
Crystal then hosted SNL, joined the cast with Martin Short, Jim Belushi and Christopher Guest, did Fernando Lamas, then Running Scared, Comic Relief, Princess Bride, the Grammys, When Harry Met Sally and four straight Oscars, making him an A-plus lister by City Slickers.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:12Read transcript
Comic Relief was one of the first things watched on cable, and a Letterman bit with Chris Elliott on a boat is recalled.
Approx. transcript time · 00:08:39Read transcript
Crystal always looked like Billy Crystal, like Jerry Seinfeld's weird cousin; talk shows kept him alive, and his do-everything fame is compared to Jack Benny.
Approx. transcript time · 00:10:27Read transcript
In City Slickers Crystal plays a slightly less successful version of himself; Chris Rock is contrasted as never fully accepted as a movie star.
Approx. transcript time · 00:11:51Read transcript
Tom Hanks's career is compared with Crystal's; Ganz and Mandel films are almost entirely Crystal, Hanks, Keaton and Steve Martin.
Approx. transcript time · 00:12:44Read transcript
Crystal made viewers feel they were hanging out with him, as in the riding and Mickey Mantle talk; Robin Williams would not have sold that, though he was probably the better actor.
Approx. transcript time · 00:13:40Read transcript
After 1994-95 Crystal dipped with City Slickers 2 and Forget Paris and turned down Buzz Lightyear, which went to Hanks, before rallying with Analyze This and directing 61 for HBO.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:00Read transcript
Palance won best supporting actor while Crystal hosted, then did one-handed pushups; attempts to engineer such moments are compared to Kimmel during the La La Land and Moonlight mix-up.
Approx. transcript time · 00:15:55Read transcript
Crystal became a Clippers super fan that year; the 1992 Clippers under Larry Brown lost a five-game first-round series to the Jazz, and the roster is read out.
Approx. transcript time · 00:16:53Read transcript
Palance's Oscar is called weird: he arrives at minute 35 and is gone by 53, roughly 12% of the movie, good but not Oscar good.
Approx. transcript time · 00:18:12Read transcript
The supporting category has rewarded comedies like Kevin Kline in A Fish Called Wanda, and this felt like acknowledging 50 years of work.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:04Read transcript
The 1991 supporting nominees are listed; the fix is that Hopkins should have been in supporting, and a JFK episode is planned for the end of the year.
Approx. transcript time · 00:19:32Read transcript
Snubs that year include Val Kilmer in The Doors, Bill Murray in What About Bob?, Laurence Fishburne in Boyz n the Hood and possibly Chris Rock in New Jack City.
Approx. transcript time · 00:20:26Read transcript
Bugsy is remembered as Premiere Magazine's anointed Oscar movie despite being inert.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:21Read transcript
Palance's win is framed as recognition for Shane and early Hollywood, with 40 years between nominations.
Approx. transcript time · 00:21:49Read transcript
In a redo Hopkins would win supporting, or else Fishburne; Gary Oldman and the JFK supporting cast are also suggested, with wig and accent jokes.
Approx. transcript time · 00:22:43Read transcript
City Slickers cost $26 million and made $180 million; the 1991 top grosses are listed, and Backdraft is floated as a future rewatch.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:01Read transcript
Keitel is better in Thelma and Louise than Bugsy; Madsen and Pitt are praised there.
Approx. transcript time · 00:24:54Read transcript
A Ron Underwood coffee-table book is joked about at $99.99.
Approx. transcript time · 00:25:19Read transcript
Boys trips and Vegas last runs are discussed; the movie spurred a couple of years of cattle-drive adventure vacations.
Approx. transcript time · 00:27:55Read transcript
Driving cattle would smell bad and be dusty and uncomfortable for two weeks on horseback.
Approx. transcript time · 00:28:47Read transcript
Bruno Kirby is a takeaway: about 5'6" with a Mario mustache yet an alpha landing young women; a stretch of New York men looked like him and called sports radio.
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:35Read transcript
On the 'one thing': one answer is the process, another trading KJ McDaniels for a second-round pick, another disagrees because one thing is confining; Mitch's one thing is his family.
Approx. transcript time · 00:33:13Read transcript
Yeardley Smith, the voice of Lisa Simpson, plays the cashier and was Helen Slater's sister in The Legend of Billie Jean, which is joked to have created the internet.
Approx. transcript time · 00:37:36Read transcript
Asked about The Legend of Billie Jean, Craig says he has not seen it.
Approx. transcript time · 00:38:28Read transcript
Tremors had momentum and sequels; Stephen Herek is proposed as the JV Rob Reiner, and Heart and Souls aired constantly on HBO.
Approx. transcript time · 00:46:24Read transcript
Ganz and Mandel reportedly did little research, sending the script to someone who had done a cattle drive.
Approx. transcript time · 00:48:47Read transcript
A future Simmons-Ryan feud and kicking Chris off a platform under pseudonyms are joked about.
Approx. transcript time · 00:54:38Read transcript
thirtysomething is hated; Party of Five is named as the only liked sentimental show, drawing pushback with Miami Vice, ER, Six Feet Under, My So-Called Life and Friday Night Lights.
Approx. transcript time · 01:05:13Read transcript
PETA's possible reaction is raised; nobody remembers any, and the birthing scene reportedly used a puppet and was more graphic than remembered.
Approx. transcript time · 01:16:35Read transcript
It is joked that Ganz and Mandel live in Chris's small guest house.
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:29Read transcript
Ganz and Mandel did well from Parenthood and punch-up work; their filmography runs from Night Shift and Splash through A League of Their Own, Greedy, Multiplicity, EDtv and Fever Pitch, after starting as Laverne & Shirley writers.
Approx. transcript time · 01:17:57Read transcript
Craig says he does not know Night Shift, one of Ron Howard's first big directing jobs.
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:27Read transcript