Guide Note

City Slickers is comedy film about a man going through a mid-life crisis who goes on a two-week cattle drive with his two best friends. Jack Palance won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role as weathered cowboy Curly.

Fast Facts

1. Directed by: Ron Underwood
2. Produced by: Billy Crystal, Irby Smith
3. Starring: Billy Crystal, Bruno Kirby, Daniel Stern, Patricia Wettig, Helen Slater and Jack Palance
4. Distributed by: Columbia Pictures, Metro Goldwyn Mayer
5. Release date: June 7, 1991
6. Running time: 112 minutes
7. MPAA Rating: PG-13
8. Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating: 92%
9. Inspired by John Wayne's Red River
10. U.S. box office: $119,828,215
11. French title: La Vie, L'Amour, Les Vaches (Life, Love, Cows)
12. Written by: Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
13. Tagline: Yesterday They Were Businessmen. Today They're Cowboys. Tomorrow They'll Be Walking Funny.
14. Jake Gyllenhaal's film debut at age 11
15. One sequel: City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold was released June 10, 1994

At Mitch's (Billy Crystal) 39th birthday party, his friends Ed, played by Bruno Kirby and Phil, played by Daniel Stern, give him two weeks on a dude ranch in New Mexico. They will learn how to be cowboys, then wrangle a herd into Colorado. Mitch, Ed and Phil are all dealing with mid life issues, and once among the horses and cattle they get off to a rocky start. After Mitch forms a tentative friendship with grizzled cow poke Curly (Jack Palance), the three friends are able to find their inner strength and band together to bring in the herd.