Urban Cowboy

Say what you will, pardner, but twenty years-plus after its initial release, Urban Cowboy is still the finest film ever made about the competitive world of mechanical bull riding (and stands up as a fun revisionist western to boot). John Travolta's Bud is the playboy of the Southwestern world, an oil rigger by day and a two-stepping, Stetson-wearing stud by night. He falls in love with Sissy (Debra Winger), a woman looking for a “real cowboy” in a world of honkytonks and trailer parks. But Bud's manhood and love life are both put in jeopardy by rodeo star and ex-con, Wes (Scott Glenn), who operates Gilley's famed buckin' bull. Directed by James Bridges, Urban Cowboy is over-plotted and overlong at two hours-plus, but the enormous physical gifts of its stars carry the day: in a role that lets him dance, fight, and love, Travolta is at his most virile (though his Texas accent wavers), while Winger, in her breakout role, is spunky fun, with a teasing bull ride that is as erotic as you can get in a PG-rated movie. Featuring live performances by Bonnie Raitt and the Charlie Daniels Band, Urban Cowboy captured Houston at its cosmopolitan peak and brought the country-western lifestyle into the mainstream. Sporting a serviceable if unremarkable transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, the disc also includes rehearsal and behind-the-scenes footage of Winger and Travolta dancing and riding the bull. Recommended. (D. Fienberg)