---
title: "City Slickers"
year: 1991
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/city-slickers"
fi1m_id: "city-slickers"
imdb_id: "tt0101587"
tmdb_id: 1406
wikidata_id: "Q1094020"
fi1m_score: 76
critics_score: 66
critics_reviews: 8
published: "2026-09-13"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:21.836005+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# City Slickers (1991)

Directed by Ron Underwood · 1h 54m · MPA PG-13 · Comedy, Western

## Identity

City Slickers

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/city-slickers
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** city-slickers
- **IMDb ID:** tt0101587
- **TMDB ID:** 1406
- **Wikidata ID:** Q1094020
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101587/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1406, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1094020

**Fi1m score: 76** · Critics 66 from 8 reviews

*In a sentence:* Jack Palance has the patience of a man who has already heard quite enough about your forties

> Ron Underwood’s comedy western is worth an evening for Billy Crystal, Jack Palance and the convincing friendship at its centre. The script occasionally insists on a life lesson when the actors have already made the point.

## Synopsis

Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal), Phil Berquist (Daniel Stern) and Ed Furillo (Bruno Kirby) are three city friends who join a cattle drive as middle age gives them reasons to reconsider their lives. The trip brings them into contact with trail boss Curly Washburn (Jack Palance), and puts their ideas about cowboy life to the test. As they take on the cattle drive, the friends trade jokes and discuss the dissatisfactions they have brought with them. Ron Underwood directs this comedy western, with Patricia Wettig as Barbara Robbins and Helen Slater as Bonnie Rayburn.

## Review

*City Slickers* is a good-hearted comedy about men who have reached middle age without much idea of what to do next, and it earns most of its sentiment. Ron Underwood sends three city friends on a cattle drive, where unfamiliar work gives them something new to complain about. The holiday is supposed to interrupt their dissatisfaction, though they have thoughtfully brought that along too. We recommend it for the company, with a warning that the life lessons grow more insistent as it goes.

Billy Crystal makes Mitch Robbins’s readiness with a joke feel like a habit he cannot switch off. In the early lecture on ageing, the ease of the delivery is funny and the prospect he describes is grim. We laughed, then felt a little low, because Crystal makes getting older sound like something Mitch has already decided he cannot enjoy. Screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel understand that a man can be entertaining company while exhausting himself, and they give Crystal enough room to suggest both.

Daniel Stern’s Phil Berquist and Bruno Kirby’s Ed Furillo give the friendship enough friction to prevent Crystal from becoming the entire film. The exchanges have the slightly competitive quality of friends who know how to get a laugh at one another’s expense. Around the campfire, confidences and quips sit naturally together, at least before the writing starts to press for a lesson. The performances keep the men companionable even when their problems begin to sound familiar.

Jack Palance, as trail boss Curly Washburn, is the useful interruption. His severity makes the city men’s chatter funnier, and his restraint gives their busy performances something solid to work against. Underwood understands the comic advantage of putting a tough cowboy beside men accustomed to talking their way through discomfort. Palance scarcely needs the script to underline the difference, which makes some of the more emphatic tenderfoot gags feel unnecessary.

Dean Semler’s cinematography makes the cattle-drive setting inviting enough to explain the men’s choice of escape. The scenery has a welcome chance to hold our attention between their exchanges, and the western feels like a place worth visiting. Lawrence G. Paull’s production design gives the cowboy surroundings a practical feel, useful when the humour depends on visitors being out of place. The setting remains credible even when the men’s discomfort is played broadly.

O. Nicholas Brown’s editing serves the quick exchanges well, but the alternation of wisecrack and personal reckoning becomes easy to anticipate. Marc Shaiman’s music supports the western excursion more comfortably than the invitations to feel moved. Ganz and Mandel sometimes explain an emotion the actors have already made clear, and the accumulated reassurance softens the comedy. The film would lose little warmth if it allowed a few more uncomfortable thoughts to pass without tidying them up.

The formula is familiar: unfamiliar work, bruised pride, a chance to reconsider ordinary life. Crystal, Stern and Kirby make the friendship convincing enough that we can forgive much of the predictability. Underwood also gives the western a fair hearing, allowing the excursion to seem attractive even while laughing at the tourists. Choose it for a companionable evening, provided a little advice about living better will not spoil the jokes.

*Fi1m score 76, published 13 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics find City Slickers an engaging comedy, with praise clustering around its dialogue, fish-out-of-water gags and the rapport between the three city men on a cattle drive. Jack Palance’s tough trail boss is the most consistently admired performance, even among reviewers less persuaded by the film. The warmer reviews also welcome its gentle mockery of Western conventions and midlife anxiety. For these critics, the friendships give the laughs some emotional weight.

The disagreement centres on whether those friendships remain convincing when the life lessons arrive. The Los Angeles Times finds that the personal dramas and male bonding weaken an initially promising comedy. The New Yorker is more dismissive, treating both the tenderfoot jokes and the group therapy as predictable and contrived. The spread is fairly wide: most critics enjoy the mixture of sentiment and wisecracks, while the dissenters find it familiar and too eager to reassure.

## Straight answers

**Is City Slickers worth watching?**

*City Slickers* is worth an evening for Billy Crystal, Jack Palance and the convincing friendship at its centre, and we scored it 76. Crystal, Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby make the three men companionable enough to forgive a familiar formula. The life lessons grow more insistent as it goes, so it suits viewers who can take a little advice with their jokes.

**How long is City Slickers, and what is it rated?**

*City Slickers* runs 1h 54m and is rated PG-13 by the MPA in the US. It is a comedy and western film.

**Where can I watch City Slickers in the US?**

*City Slickers* is streaming on The Roku Channel and Amazon Prime Video in the US, and it is also available to buy from Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV from $14.99. It leaves The Roku Channel on 1 October. Availability is checked daily; the links above go straight to each service.

**How does City Slickers compare to Local Hero?**

*City Slickers* is the broader and busier of the two, while [*Local Hero*](https://film.one/film/local-hero) is the quieter and, we think, the finer film. Both send a city visitor somewhere his priorities get unsettled, but Bill Forsyth trusts his jokes and scenery where Ganz and Mandel tend to explain the lesson. Choose Crystal for a companionable laugh, Forsyth for stranger company and a gentler pace.

**What should I watch after City Slickers?**

After *City Slickers*, try [*Local Hero*](https://film.one/film/local-hero) (1983, Fi1m 86): Another city visitor has his priorities unsettled, with quieter jokes and stranger company. Then [*The Full Monty*](https://film.one/film/the-full-monty) (1997, Fi1m 81): Men face wounded pride together, with sharper economic stakes beneath the jokes; and [*The Straight Story*](https://film.one/film/the-straight-story) (1999, Fi1m 88): A slower rural journey, with age and stubbornness treated patiently.

### Reviews we read (9)

- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (85/100, inferred): The film delivers as a slapstick comedy about city guys on a dude ranch while being more ambitious than expected, with genuine emotional payoff alongside the laughs. The critic praises the quality of the dialogue and the convincing male bonding among the leads. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/city-slickers-1991)
- **Radio Times**, John Ferguson (4/5): City men join a cattle drive to confront midlife issues in this engaging comedy that gently mocks both crises and the Wild West. Jack Palance shines as the tough cowboy, and director Ron Underwood handles gags and set pieces well. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-p04k81/city-slickers/)
- **Empire**, Lloyd Bradley (75/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's focus on the absurdities of midlife crises through witty one-liners and fish-out-of-water comedy as three city men attempt a cattle drive. Jack Palance's trail boss Curly and the send-up of Western clichés are highlighted as strengths in this reasonably dry-eyed comedy. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/city-slickers-review/)
- **Slant Magazine** (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film ambitious and counterintuitive in blending fatherhood themes with the western genre and praises its self-aware parody of classic westerns along with strong performances, particularly Jack Palance as the trail boss. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/city-slickers/)
- **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (70/100, inferred): Three middle-aged friends join a cattle drive to escape midlife dissatisfaction, leading to confidences and quips around the campfire. The review notes the film's sentimental streak and the appeal of the cowboy experience for those feeling mundane. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/07/movies/review-film-3-men-at-dude-ranch-in-comedy-of-good-will.html)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Peter Rainer (55/100, inferred): The uneven comedy features a strong early sequence and funny moments from Crystal and Palance but devolves into wishy-washy male-bonding blather after the trail boss exits. The critic notes that the added personal dramas and consciousness-raising undercut the humor. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-06-07-ca-278-story.html)
- **Time Out**, CM (50/100, inferred): Familiar tale of men facing midlife crisis on a cattle drive, with predictable rapid-fire quips after a promising start featuring Crystal's lecture on ageing. The formulaic comedy offers little new. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/city-slickers)
- **The New Yorker**, Terrence Rafferty (40/100, inferred): The film is a depressingly efficient piece of product that alternates banal life lessons with wisecracking in the style of the writers' earlier work. The critic finds the tenderfoot gags predictable and the group-therapy elements ludicrous, with only tiny smiles from Palance and the animals. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1991/06/17/1991-06-17-099-tny-cards-000145278)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Jeff Menell: The critic calls the film an uproarious buddy comedy certain to be one of the summer's biggest hits and a welcome treat after recent tame films. He praises the fresh humor, poignant dialogue, credible performances especially from Crystal, Stern, Kirby and Palance, while noting a few rough spots and predictable elements. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/city-slickers-review-1991-movie-1010723/)

## Details

- **Director:** Ron Underwood
- **Director:** Ron Underwood
- **Screenplay:** Lowell Ganz, Babaloo Mandel
- **Cinematography:** Dean Semler
- **Editor:** O. Nicholas Brown
- **Music:** Marc Shaiman
- **Production design:** Lawrence G. Paull
- **Costume design:** Judy Ruskin Howell
- **Producer:** Irby Smith
- **Cast:** Billy Crystal as Mitch Robbins; Daniel Stern as Phil Berquist; Bruno Kirby as Ed Furillo; Patricia Wettig as Barbara Robbins; Helen Slater as Bonnie Rayburn; Lindsay Crystal as Holly Robbins; Noble Willingham as Clay Stone; Jack Palance as Curly Washburn
- **Runtime:** 1h 54m
- **Certificate (MPA):** PG-13
- **Release (the US):** 7 June 1991
- **Genres:** Comedy, Western
- **Also in:** [Golden Globe Best Musical or Comedy winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-comedy.md) (Nominee, 1991)
- **Budget:** $27 million
- **Box office:** $179 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4k7AK6oK9U

## Where to watch in the US

- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd, leaving 2026-10-01
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy $14.99, hd

*Checked 2026-09-13.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 1992: Best Supporting Actor (won)
- MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance 1992: MTV Movie Award for Best Comedic Performance (won)
- Golden Globes 1991: Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy (nominated); Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy (nominated); Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture (won)

## If you liked this

- *Local Hero* (1983), Fi1m 86: Another city visitor has his priorities unsettled, with quieter jokes and stranger company. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/local-hero.md)
- *The Full Monty* (1997), Fi1m 81: Men face wounded pride together, with sharper economic stakes beneath the jokes. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-full-monty.md)
- *The Straight Story* (1999), Fi1m 88: A slower rural journey, with age and stubbornness treated patiently. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-straight-story.md)
- *The Castle* (1997): Australian family comedy whose affection for ordinary lives earns its sentiment.
- *Dersu Uzala* (1975), Fi1m 82: An outdoor friendship built on the gap between book learning and practical knowledge. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/dersu-uzala.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/city-slickers