zkonedog As old as the "Men are from Mars, Women are from Jupiter" ponderings is the difference between "guy" films and "chick flicks". Though not trying to stereotype the genders too much here, the camp of movie-goers that will watch "The Notebook" or "A Walk To Remember" have different hormones flowing through them as those that go to "Terminator Salvation" or "Rambo IV". There's just a fundamental difference that often cannot be overcome by either gender."City Slickers", however, is the rare film that, while being a complete "guy" film, also proves to be as introspective as any emotional drama. Basically, "Slickers" tells the story of a middle-aged man named Mitch (played superbly by Billy Crystal) who undergoes a mid-life crisis. He works a dead-end job, has kids that think he is an "old fart", can't keep up on his best friend's big adventures (the film opens with the trio of buds running from the bulls in Spain), and is on the verge of complete depression. However, an opportunity (two weeks herding cattle at a Dude Ranch) presents itself for Mitch to be able to re-capture his youth, and he reluctantly takes it. Over the course of the trip, Mitch (and his pals, by extension) slowly but surely (and with often hilarious results!) begins to recapture the excitement that seemed to have been missing from his life.Besides the inspiring storyline that rivals any feel-good film, "Slickers" vaults itself into the stratosphere with the quality of both its humor and acting. The jokes in this film, while not the physical comedy of, say, Jim Carrey, are still hilarious, and mirror the changes that each friend is going through. Speaking of those friends, Phil and Ed (played by Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby, respectively), they each in turn provide the perfect compliment to Mitch's old-age crisis...Ed is the go-getter who never seems to slow down, while Phil is stuck in a heartless marriage and wishes he could just start over. The camaraderie, struggles, and real-life discussions between those three guys provides the emotional backbone of the film. Plus, the auxiliary characters (including Jack Palance as the trail-hardened cowherd Curly) each add their own take on life into the picture.Towards the end of the film, Mitch proclaims that he has finally found his "one thing" in life. Though that "one thing" is never revealed, that is actually the point...everyone must go out and find it for him/her self (much like the viewer may begin to contemplate while watching). So guys, the next time your significant other wants to watch another two Kleenex-box romance, suggest this film as a change of pace (but make sure she watches the whole thing...as the meat of the message is saved for the finale). She may not laugh at all the same things you do (which will be pretty much everything!), but she may also come away with a bit better of a perspective on what it's like to be a guy.

richspenc I always liked "City slickers " due to the smart alec comments made by Billy Crystal (Mitch), Daniel Stern (Phil), Bruno Kirby (Ed) and Jack Palace (Curly). The scene where Lisa Simpson, I mean Lisa Yeardly walks into Mitch's apartment is still a classic scene to me. When you hear her talk in this film and shut your eyes you swear you're listening to a Simpsons episode. Yeardly never even put on an acting voice for Lisa Simpson, that high pitched voice was always her real voice. I wonder if anyone ever noticed when Mitch and Phil are talking about how he has to open his store up at 4am, and Mitch asks "don't you have someone else to do it?", and Phil says to Mitch "Arlene's dad always wants me to do it. No free rides Billy boy, no free rides". Did Phil call Mitch by his real life name, Billy as in Billy Crystal, on purpose, or was that an error done when filming? I always wondered that. Anyway, I always found Mitch's obsession with death and getting older interesting. Especially the scene when Mitch is talking to his son's fourth grade classroom and literally walking through each decade of life and the most accurate things that usually occurred during each decade. Every decade he mentioned had a ring a truth and was very funny with the way he put it. I read somewhere once that Billy Crystal in real life has had similar fascinations with the art of aging, and his character in Mr. Saturday night also had similar fixations. I still enjoy watching all of the out west portions of City slickers with the roughneck cowboys, the dentist father and son("that's right, we're black and we're dentists, let's not make an issue about it." His dad's response to him; "they're not making an issue, you're making an issue"), I still find that funny. The ice cream brothers Ira and Barry (an obvious reference to Ben and Jerry's). I still never understood what the 'right' flavor of ice cream was, according to Ira and Barry, to go at the end of every meal. Isn't that always different for everybody? When Mitch asks them "how do you know you're right?", Barry responds "Hundreds of outlets across the country, that's how I know". That never made sense to me. How would the people who are selling the ice cream know what flavor ice cream people are eating after what meal? My favorite parts of the West sequences are, besides all the cows, and the constant mentioning of them, and besides Ed's fixation on the need to sleep with lots of different women instead of just one, are the scenes with Curly, especially with Curly and Mitch. Curly, while riding off with Mitch after the coffee machine/cows running away incident: "You guys go ahead, I'll catch up". Mitch: "you mean we'll catch up". Curly then gives Mitch a look to hint that he could be wrong. Mitch:"hi Curly, kill anyone today?" Curly:"day ain't over yet." Those comments were what helped make this film so good. About the secret of life, it's just one thing bit; realistically that is a little too simplified and vague to be taken as a serious answer to someone really struggling to find happiness, hope, and success in their lives. If finding the secret of life was that easy, there still wouldn't be so many unhappy and troubled people in the world. Mitch tells Phil and Ed that the secret is to find what's most important to you. Sometimes, what's most important is not that easy to get. What if what's most important is to make six figures a year, or to become an airline pilot, not everyone is gonna be able to achieve those things. I'm not saying that some people won't be able to achieve what's most important, I'm just saying it's gonna be a little more complicated than to just say to find that one thing. One last thing, Roger Ebert said that Jack Palace's character really seemed like a survivor of an earlier time. I don't agree. There were a lot of things about his character that were not that similar a match to typical early 20th century people, and I often watch films from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.

ElMaruecan82 As a guy who just turned 30, got himself married and gave up many crazy projects in order to convince the woman of his life that he's ready to raise a family, I'm probably sure I would end up like Mitch Robbins when I'll turn 39, or like his best friend Phil, or who knows, maybe like Ed. Yes sir, maturity, responsibility, practicality turned "City Slickers", a film I laughed at a lot when I was a kid, into a real eye-opening experience, the laughs are still intact, but the whole existential thing cut to my heart, as it never did, making some parts depressingly predictive. This is to the credit of "City Slickers", a great comedy with an original premise; three white- collar New Yorkers decide to spend a two-week vacation, herding cattle from New Mexico to Colorado, like real cowboys. Billy Crystal is Mitch, Daniel Stern is Phil and the late Bruno Kirby is Ed, the film screams '90's comedy' through these three faces, but their friendship is not just believable, I wouldn't believe it if these guys were not friends in real life. They share their childhood, baseball and fathers' memories (sometimes, the three at once) with the kind of passion that can only be expressed between pals. "City Slickers" features real characters, with real problems, real dilemma, and real fears, in a sort of psychological build-up that makes the whole experience even more insightful.Naturally, the film offers the obligatory gallery of supporting characters with their share of goofiness and sympathy, there is a father and his son, both "black and dentist" as states the son, making an issue of it before anyone would do. There are David Paymer and Josh Mostel as Ira and Barry Shalowitz, owners of one of the biggest national ice companies, a la Ben & Jerry's, and a pretext to a hilarious line when they're asked why it's not their faces that are featured in the boxes "would you eat it if it was us?". There's naturally the pretty blonde who might mislead the first-time viewers, but wisely enough, the script avoids any attempt of a romance (the kind that undermined even such classics as "Red River", to which "City Slickers" is a clear homage). These guys have enough problems, Mitch is in a middle-age crisis, contemplating the emptiness of his life, Phil lost his job and wife, Ed lives with a 24-year old girl who wants a baby, whatever the solution is, it's not a woman… not yet anyway. "City Slickers" is a buddy movie and I guess that's what men would enjoy the most: watching guys they can all relate to, having a good time once in their lives, having a break. By taking them to a totally exotic setting, the film illustrates the miraculous effect communion with nature has on men. A poet said once, "it's only when you get at the top of a mountain that you start climbing", in "City Slickers", it's when they'll get at the end of the road that the road of their lives will start. This is what it's all about, a new start, with new decisions, new choices. Each one has to figure what the one thing he cares the most is and stick with it. Like the best comedies, "City Slickers" speaks a powerful and inspirational message about our capacity to change our lives without changing much, just the mindset. And one character embodies this spirit; it's Curly, the veteran cow boy, the toughest man Mitch ever saw. Curly is the character the movie needed the most. Without him, it would have been a bunch of city slickers playing cowboys, but Jack Palance, with his rock-graved face and inimitable grin, is the remaining link to this missed era. The film doesn't just feature a bunch of tender-feet herding a cattle, it's also the celebration of the cowboy spirit, the Old West as a part of history, of pop-culture and cinematic heritage. It's one thing to have the guys yelling "Yee- haaa" like in "Red River", or the trio humming the "Bonanza" theme. Jack Palance's face is the continuation of Hollywood's Golden Age. And when he said "we're a dying breed", I wondered if he was speaking only about cowboys or also about his generation of actors. Palance elevates the film beyond the simple comedy label, and that his brief performance earned him the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor proves how unforgettable he was. That's what a supporting is about, helping the main character to change, to see life differently, without doing much.Directed by Ron Underwood, "City Slickers" belongs to the best breed of comedy. It is full of priceless exchanges, like a Leone-like duel about ice cream-flavor, or an unforgettable stamped caused by a coffee thermos, many tender subplots like the birth of a little calf that made me for one second considering turning into vegetarian, and the growing complicity between Curly and Mitch. It's funny and warm, and although it does sometimes overdo the male-bonding thing, it never gets over the top. I felt for Mitch when he was wondering what his job was about, for Phil when he finally vented his anger repressed for many years on the bullies, and Ed who seems to incarnate this guilty pleasure, we, committed men, fantasize on? And the icing on the cake is the 'Magnificent Seven'-like score of the film which never seems out-of-place."City Slickers" is one of these few comedies that make you both laugh and think like "Groundhog Day" or "Back to the Future", but it doesn't take a fantasy device for that, just an Old West trip. And it's an invitation for each of us to find out this 'one thing' that counts the most, and which 'cowboy trip' would help us to figure out.

Michael_Elliott City Slickers (1991) *** 1/2 (out of 4)Wonderful buddy film/comedy about three men (Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby) facing mid-life crises who decide to go on a two week vacation, which just happens to be a cattle drive. Along the way the three try to work their problems out while at the same time getting to understand their boss (Oscar-winner Jack Palance). CITY SLICKERS is a wonderfully entertaining little gem that really has a terrific set-up, a terrific cast and in the end it's really just a really entertaining way to kill a couple hours. I think the movie works on many levels but its best is simply the cast. The three leads to a wonderful job together and they really come across as life-long friends. The three are such wonderful comic actors that they can handle all of this without any problems. Best of all is the terrific comedy that the three make together as their timing is perfect and they really bring you into their personal stories and make you care about them. The movie is mainly a comedy but there are moments of drama with the three and the actors pull these moments off as well. The supporting players in the cow drive are also very good and make good use of their time on the screen. Of course, one of the biggest draws comes from Palance who delivered his Oscar-winning performance here. You really can't blame the voters for giving him the award even if his screen time isn't anywhere near the longest. The actor is just so tough, charming and fun that you can't help but fall in love with his character. The chemistry between Palance and Crystal is priceless and alone makes the film worth seeing. The screenplay is quite smart in its own right as it's able to create such wonderful bits of dialogue, terrific stories and in the end it really does come together well.