Urban Cowboy

The music in this movie is worth renting alone. You also get John Travolta and Debra Winger in a wonderful story about bull riding, beer, and finding true love in Texas. The two kiss scenes with John and Debra are classics. The first one on the dance floor makes you want to get up and dance. The final kiss scene completes the film with a happy ending. Even if you're not a "hick" check out this film.

PERSONAL NOTE: I saw this movie in the Palms Theater, in Sugar Land Texas, in August 1980, with my high school girlfriend. The theater, and the girl, are both long gone.

Back to the review....

For those of you who grew up, or lived in and around Houston during the 70's, this is a delight to watch. I tend to endure Travolta, and that horrid "twang" he tries to do, but it's okay, the rest of the flick makes up for that!

-Minor Spoilers-

We start the movie w/Bud coming to town. Just watching him drive thru Houston, thru the 610 loop, and on to his Uncle's place is a treat. There is the Houston of "Big Oil and Big Space". When I was little, and went on vacations, if some one asked me where I was from, their next question was "Do you have a ranch, own an oil well, or know astronauts?" That was part of the joy of being from Houston, back in the old days.

But I'm rambling. The casting on URBAN COWBOY is great, not a dud in the bunch, even counting the Travolta factor. Only he could have pulled this movie off, at the time it was made. On a side note, it was common practice during the filming of "UC", for the local media to have a "Travolta Sighting" comment on the news, or in the newspapers. The biggest spotting occurred in mid 1979 at the sports arena, known at the time as "The Summit". Travolta appeared, in "the white suit" from Saturday Night Fever at a Bee Gee's concert, and hopped up on stage. No one recognized him at first, as he had grown a beard for the opening parts of the movie.

If you grew up around Houston during this long-past era, this is a "MUST OWN". My daughters always ask if I ever rode a mechanical bull when we watch it.

But I have always wondered about one small thing in this picture. And this is simply 'cause I am a car geek. Why, at the end of the movie when Bud and Sissy drive away from Gilley's, is there, parked amongst the F-150's, GMC's, Chevy Big 10's, and other pick-up trucks, a Volvo P1800 wagon? You can't miss it.

There's a part of me that wishes I was cognizant in 1980 when the "Urban Cowboy" craze hit; just to experience the hype if nothing else (I saw it in utero, but that doesn't count). As it stands, this is best viewed as a cultural curiosity; a snapshot both of Travolta in his prime and the Western craze. It's that star power that helps the film retain its potency for decades after the fact. The camera belabors that point with the shot of its lead actor posing against the bar, beer in hand, intensity smoldering (they even used that on the poster to sell tickets).

If we're talking substance, hell there's not much. The allure of bull-riding is lost on me and the men in this movie are absolute pigs. Watching Debra Winger go from one loveless abuser to another is a real drag, and she tends to be the film's sympathetic core.

I can't blame anyone for not being able to relate to this movie if their first watch is in 2020, but I can appreciate the mark it made in its time.

This is a highly underrated movie. It has a decent plot, exceptional acting by John Travolta, Debra Winger, Scott Glenn, and supporting cast, and toe tapping pop country music throughout. Although the emphasis on mechanical bull riding is a little silly, the main characters are plausible in their motivations, their jealosies, and in the end, their abiding love for each other. The popularity of the movie to a wide section of America is proof that it is more than just a movie appealing "country" or "redneck" types. There's something about Debra Winger - her change of moods, her expressiveness, her vulnerability - where you just can't take your eyes off her when she is on camera. And the movie is downright fun with the Charlie Daniels Band, Travolta's Texas 2 step dancing scenes, and mechanical bull riding contests. There's no deep message to this movie, but it has a certain simple honesty about it, and it'll entertain you for its 2-hour duration.

For Urban Cowboy John Travolta plays one of the stronger alpha males ever portrayed on the big screen. He's a decent enough young kid who leaves his parent's homestead and strikes out for the big city of Dallas where his uncle Barry Corbin has promised to find him work in the petrochemical industry. In 1980 that was beginning to boom and Texas was definitely a growing place in the USA.

Travolta does a good job in making we the audience care about his character who when you come right down to it is a sexist pig. He meets and marries Debra Winger who's from the same background, but she's got some ideas that women should not be shadows of their men. And when she beats him at Gilley's mechanical bull, a man's game, that's it for him.

Scott Glenn who's an ex-convict is working at Gilley's and this film was his breakout role. He's a real snake in Urban Cowboy, he gets Travolta's goat with a mere look and he moves in on Winger. Travolta in turn takes up with rich girl, Madolyn Smith Osborne who's slumming at Gilley's.

Despite the characters, Urban Cowboy was really one gigantic commercial for the self-styled biggest honky tonk in the world. Gilley's is no longer there in the suburban Texas community of Pasadena, but the memories do live on. And the best thing about Urban Cowboy is the wonderful score of country/western songs that were featured in the film. I'm not sure if some of the songs were not written specifically for Urban Cowboy, but it's the only reason I can think of why the Motion Picture Academy ignored the musical aspects of this film. I especially liked Johnny Lee's Looking For Love, if it was specifically written for this film, it's a disgrace that it wasn't nominated for Best Song.

I liked Debra Winger's character best in this film. She doesn't lose a trace of femininity, but she stands up to Travolta and does it in style. And this review is dedicated to that yet as unknown woman who will one day be the first woman bull-rider in the Professional Bull Riders.