| Urban Cowboy | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | James Bridges |
| Produced by | Irving Azoff Robert Evans |
| Written by | James Bridges Aaron Latham |
| Starring | John Travolta Debra Winger Scott Glenn Barry Corbin Madolyn Smith |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | June 6, 1980 |
| Running time | 132 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Urban Cowboy is a 1980 American romantic drama film about the love-hate relationship between Bud Davis (John Travolta) and Sissy (Debra Winger). The movie captured the late 1970s/early 1980s popularity of Country Music with John Travolta's starring after Grease and Saturday Night Fever.
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Bud Davis moves from the small town of Spur, Texas to Pasadena, Texas, located near the heavily industrial eastern side of Houston, and a better paying job in the city's oil refinery in hopes of saving enough money to move back to his hometown and buy some land.[1] Bud moves in with his Uncle Bob (Barry Corbin) and his family, whom Bud is close to. Bob takes Bud to the local honky tonk, Gilley's (at the time, an actual bar in Pasadena, co-owned by singer Mickey Gilley and his record producer Sherwood Cryer which was then claimed to be the largest indoor (enclosed) bar in the world.). Bud quickly embraces the local nightlife there. Most of the movie's events take place in and around Gilley's.
At the club, Bud is approached by Sissy (Debra Winger), who asks if he is a real cowboy. The two dance together, showcasing Travolta's dancing abilities, and they fall in love. Bud and Sissy have many lovers' quarrels, some very intense, mainly due to their different views of men and women in society. Sissy is a fiery independent woman, with a strong belief that anything men can do women can do, while Bud still believes in very traditional gender roles, and that "there are just some things girls can't do." However, their love for each other always brings them back together again, and they are married in Gilley's. Their lives settle into a routine of hard work during the day and living it up at Gilley's during the night. (The movie's tagline is "Hard hat days and honky-tonk nights.")
The movie also highlights the many fights between cowboys at Gilley's and the mechanical bull, which causes a rift in Bud and Sissy's relationship, leading to a break-up and to Sissy moving in with Bud's arch-rival, Wes (Scott Glenn). Bud seeks solace with Pam (Madolyn Smith).
Pam eventually realizes that Bud still loves Sissy and encourages him to reconcile with her. Meanwhile, Wes has been beating Sissy, and then steals the prize money from the bull riding competition, resulting in a fight with Bud. Bud punches Wes and all of the money that Wes had stolen falls from his jacket. The club's manager, discovering the attempted robbery, detains Wes at gunpoint. Bud and Sissy finally depart Gilley's (the source and location of most of their troubles) together.
The film's screenplay was adapted by Aaron Latham and James Bridges from an article in a men's magazine on Western nightlife written by Latham. The movie was directed by Bridges. Some film critics referred to the movie as a country music version of Saturday Night Fever. The film grossed almost $54 million in the United States alone, more than Saturday Night Fever (plus a further $24,000,000 in video rentals) and is considered to be John Travolta's last major hit before a series of flops in the subsequent years of the decade.
The movie spawned a hit soundtrack album featuring such songs as Johnny Lee's "Lookin' for Love", Mickey Gilley's "Stand by Me", "Look What You've Done to Me" by Boz Scaggs, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" sung by the Charlie Daniels Band, the Anne Murray mega hit "Could I Have This Dance"(#3 A/C) and the top 5 Country hit "Love The World Away" by pop-country superstar Kenny Rogers. The film is said to have started the 80s boom in pop-country music, known as the "Urban Cowboy Movement" also known as Neo-Country or Hill Boogie.
| Urban Cowboy | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album by Various Artists | |
| Released | 1980 |
| Genre | Country, Pop |
| Label | Asylum Records |
| Producer | Irving Azoff |
Released as a 2× vinyl record album,[2] re-released on CD in 1995.[3]
Side A:
Side B:
Side C:
Side D:
| Chart (1980) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 3 |
| Canadian RPM Country Albums | 2 |
| Canadian RPM Top Albums | 21 |
| Preceded by Music Man by Waylon Jennings Horizon by Eddie Rabbitt |
Top Country Albums number-one album August 2 – September 6, 1980 September 20–27, 1980 |
Succeeded by Horizon by Eddie Rabbitt Honeysuckle Rose by Willie Nelson |
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