Urban Cowboy (1980)reviewed by Benn "Where's the Humanity?" Farrell
"Urban Cowboy" follows Bud, played by Travolta (Primary Colors), a Texas country boy who strikes out on his own in Houston, staying with his aunt and uncle. He quickly gets sucked into the Houston country nightlife and grows an ego bigger than the Stetson hat he wears. He meets Sissy, played by Debra Winger (Radio), and marries her, only to treat her like shit, while trying to prove to her he is a legitimate cowboy and not just full of bulls**t. Unfortunately, Bud IS full of bulls**t, and when Sissy meets a real cowboy like Wes, a professional bullrider, played by Scott Glenn (Backdraft), than Bud's jealousy gets the best of him. The picture is a study of the Texas urban cowboy lifestyle, where the only bullriding most people do is on a mechanical bull inside a roughneck bar for $2 a pop. Travolta is absolutely awesome as Bud. He plays his arrogant, piece of s**t, small town minded husband to perfection. He is a complete a**hole in this, something I haven't seen Travolta ever do. Winger is of course the cutest thing ever, except her character gets on my nerves. At first, she leaves Bud cause he's abusive to her physically, so she gets with Wes. THAN, life with Wes gets boring and wants to come back to Bud. WHY? If that's not bad enough, Wes becomes physically abusive to her, but she won't leave HIM. WHY NOT? Winger is one of my favorite actors in her age range and she did great in this picture, BUT her character's inner motivation completely escaped me. Glenn was a very cool cat in this picture, and it's kind of funny to see him as a billy bad ass bull rider in this movie. The worst thing about "Urban Cowboy" was the sound mixing. Hollywood's sound department hadn't come along to today's standards until the mid to late 1980's. So, dialogue in some scenes is extremely hard to hear. What's worse, the story takes place in several Houston night clubs, one most of all, when there is ALWAYS a live band playing. The soundtrack music, including the Charlie Daniels Band and Bonnie Raitt in cameo performances, are so overly LOUD, it is aggrivating to turn down the TV volume for bar scenes and have to turn up again for at home scenes. The picture in general is a slice of life movie. It is simply a story about a woman who will terminally end up with the wrong man, and a man who will always BE the wrong man, no matter who he's with. I found it interesting a movie about a cowboy wannabe could be as entertaining as it was. If you like contemporary classic country music, and you like hanging out in cowboy bars and riding mechanical bulls, or you're a woman who loves being smacked around for some reason, than this picture may be interesting to you too. Benn - Where's the Humanity?
If you're looking for an older movie where John Travolta plays a completely childish a**hole unlike any other, and Debra Winger plays an adorable little urban country girl, than this movie is for you.