Urban Cowboy

:"This article is about the 1980 film. For the Broadway musical of the same name, see Urban Cowboy."Infobox_Film
name = Urban Cowboy


caption = "Urban Cowboy" theatrical poster
director = James Bridges
writer = James Bridges
Aaron Latham
starring = John Travolta
Debra Winger
Scott Glenn
Barry Corbin
Madolyn Smith
Coynard Coyle
producer = Irving Azoff
Robert Evans
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = June 6, 1980
runtime = 132 min.
country = USA
language = English
amg_id = A52008
imdb_id = 0081696|

"Urban Cowboy" is a 1980 American romantic drama film about the love-hate relationship between cowboy Bud Davis (John Travolta) and cowgirl Sissy (Debra Winger).

Storyline

The movie starts out with Bud Davis moving to Houston, Texas from Spur, Texas. [http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/52008/Urban-Cowboy/overview] He soon finds work at an oil refinery with his uncle Bob. Bud quickly discovers and embraces the city's nightlife, which is centered around a bar called Gilley's (once,a real country bar owned by country singer Mickey Gilley located in Pasadena, Texas).

Bud meets Sissy in Gilley's, and after a quick courtship, the two get married. It isn't long after the wedding that they visit the bar, and they learn that a mechanical bull has been installed recently. Bud finds himself excelling at the mechanical rodeo, but feels both protective and perhaps a bit threatened by Sissy's desire to learn to ride. Bud forbids Sissy from riding it, causing a rift in their still new relationship.

While Bud is working at the refinery, Sissy decides she is going to learn how to ride the mechanical bull to impress her over-protective husband. She goes back to bar and rides the bull during the day, keeping her lessons a secret from Bud.

) that has begun working at the bar, she decides to reveal her new talent to her husband. Sissy rides and the crowd marvels at how well she does. Jealous of the attention, Bud decides he is going to show her up despite the back injury he had sustained at work that day. Operating the mechanical bull is the ex-convict Wes, who has developed an attraction to Sissy during their daily lessons. Wes sees Bud's attempt to ride as an opportunity to move in on Sissy because of the obvious fight that is escalating between her and Bud at the bar. Bud is thrown from the bull, breaking his arm and further injuring his back. The two separate at the bar.

Sissy then tries to go to bed with Wes, but stops before doing anything. Bud, though, really goes to bed with a girl he met at Gilley's, Pam (Madolyn Smith). The next day, Sissy returns to the trailer and finds it empty. She leaves a note for Bud to meet her at Gilley's, but Pam later hides it. Bud, not knowing of Sissy's note, starts to train for an upcoming bullriding contest and blows Sissy off when he sees her. Sissy, angry at Bud, starts an affair with Wes, who is also planning to take part in the bullriding contest.

Finally, the day of the contest arrives, with Bud and Wes pitted against several other contestants for the $5,000 grand prize. Both Bud and Wes make it to the final round with three other contestants, with Bud eventually emerging victorious by one point. Meanwhile, Wes hit's Sissy after she refuses to go to Mexico with him. After accepting his award, Bud's girlfriend Pam urges him to reconcile with Sissy, since she believes he trained and won for Sissy and not for her. Bud goes looking for Sissy and sees her in the parking lot, apologizes to her and they reconcile. After seeing that Sissy has been beaten, he goes looking for Wes to fight him, not realizing that Wes had just robbed Gilley's. After finding him at the entrance to Gilley's, Bud punches Wes and all of the money that Wes stole falls out from his jacket. The Gilley's manager, discovering the attempted robbery, detains Wes at gunpoint. Bud and Sissy leave Gilley's together and later embrace in Bud's truck.

Influences

The movie'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. 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 mega Anne Murray hit "Could I Have This Dance"(#3 A/C) and the top 5 hit "Love The World Away" by country superstar Kenny Rogers. The film is said to have started the 80's boom in country music appeal. Some film critics referred to the movie as a country music verson 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 upcoming decade.

Trivia

* Patrick Swayze, whose family owned a dance studio in Houston, Texas, taught Travolta how to do the two-step for the movie, while his wife (Lisa Niemi) and mother (Patsy Swayze) choreographed the dance sequences.
* The scene where Wes chews up and swallows the worm after drinking the bottle of tequila was not scripted, but a joke done for the dailies.

* Travolta had a mechanical bull installed in his home two months before production began and became so good that he was allowed to dismiss the stunt double and do the takes himself.

* At the time the film was shot, Gilley's, used as the film's main nightclub location, was the largest nightclub in the world in terms of available space for the patrons, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

* The film was marketed with the tagline "Hard hat days and honky-tonk nights."

* Michelle Pfeiffer auditioned for the role of Sissy.

* The soundtrack album has sold more than 4 million copies around the world to date.

* The 1967 Ford Mustang that Sissy drove in this movie now resides in Evans City, PA (near Pittsburgh). It is owned by two brothers and is often seen in local car shows.

ee also

*Country music
*Paramount Pictures

Notes

External links

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* [http://www.americantheatrewing.org/seminars/detail/urban_cowboy_04_03 Production: Urban Cowboy] - "Working in the Theatre Seminar" video at American Theatre Wing.org, April 2003