Special Features:
Original Theatrical Trailer  �  French Soundtrack

City Slickers is one of those films that tries to balance its comedy with more serious undertones and for the most part it succeeds very well. In the opening scene we find ourselves following three middle age guys participating in the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. We soon find out that these types of activities are an annual event, where these three boyhood friends try to "recapture their youth". Each of these characters is going through his own form of a mid-life crisis. Mitch (Billy Crystal) is having the "classic" mid-life. He hates his job, he is bored and just doesn't know where his life is headed at the half way point. Phil (Daniel Stern) is married to a ball busting bitch and his marriage is so bad that he pretends he is sleeping all the time so he doesn't have to listen to his wife nag. Phil's life goes into full crisis mode when his 20 year old mistress shows up at Mitch's birthday party and declares that she is late. This leads to one of the funnier scenes in the movie. The look on Daniel Stern's face as his mistress walks in the front door is priceless. Ed (Bruno Kirby) seems to be most at ease of the three. He is former womanizer who has recently married his young model wife. He is ring leader for all of their trips and although he seems to be having the most fun he is also the one we find later is the most conflicted about both getting old and his relationships with women.

For Mitch's birthday Phil and Ed have purchased tickets for a two week cattle drive. At first Mitch declines as he already has plans with his family, but his wife soon realizes that the cattle drive may be just what Mitch needs to get back into the swing of things and get over his depression.

The next hour or so is a mix of comedy (Mitch causing a stampede with his portable coffee grinder) and character self discovery. The most ambitious scene in the movie is a discussion between Mitch, Phil and Ed where each describes the best and worst days in their lives. Each is poignant without being overly sentimental and Ed's really hits hard. It also tells us a lot about why he has made certain decisions in his life. This scene really sets City Slickers apart from the average comedy.

One other performance of note in City Slickers is grizzled cowboy Curly (Jack Palance). Palance won an Academy Award for his performance. He does a great job, but I am not sure if it is Oscar worthy. I will say that film would not be the same without him.

Video quality on the disc is average. I didn't notice many digital artifacts in the transfer, but overall the picture seemed a little soft. I will applaud MGM/UA for the 16x9 transfer. It is nice to see on a budget title (I paid $8.99 for it at Fry's Electronics).

Sound quality is on par with the video. No remix to 5.1, but it does its job well enough.

I love when the studios have a big banner for special features on the back cover and the only thing underneath it is Original Theatrical Trailer or Collectible Booklet. Thanks for nothing. City Slickers has the trailer only.