Hacker Cinema
Urban Cowboy
1980 · Film · 132 min
Directed by James Bridges
After moving to Pasadena, Texas, country boy Bud Davis starts hanging around a bar called Gilley's, where he falls in love with Sissy, a cowgirl who believes the sexes are equal. They eventually marry, but their relationship is turbulent due to Bud's traditional view of gender roles. Jealousy over his rival leads to their separation, but Bud attempts to win Sissy back by triumphing at Gilley's mechanical bull-riding competition.
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5 comments on Hacker News
You missed the third party in that triumverate: pop/country artist and Houston saloonkeeper Mickey Gilley, who owned the (eponymous) night club setting for the film Urban Cowboy in Houston suburb Pasadena, Texas.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mickey_Gilley
This wasn't a "oh, and they are cousins" thing. They played together as children.
Fun Fact: I took "Mickey Gilley Boulevard" as part of my route to a motorcycle dealership last month.
I've always felt Bond's success was due to Sir. Sean Connery.
I don't think it was about race at all, it was about charisma.
I even go further and say we would probally not have a Bond theatrical legacy, if it wasen't for Connery's decision to be an actor.
Oh yea, Rolex owes so much advertising dollars to the estate of Connery.
That iconic wrist shot sold millions of Oyster Subs.
I repair watches part time. There are guys who bring me their overpriced broken watch, and when we meet at the door, I would swear they were brought up watching Bond movies.
Most sub owners just want a working quality watch, but there are others that take on Connery's persona in little ways.
Kinda like the young guys who wanted to be fighter pilots after watching Top Gun, or be Bud in Urban Coyboy, or living Tony's life after watching Saturday Night Fever. Most of you are probally to young, but after Saturday Night Fever, America became disco dancers. After Urban Cowboy, Stock brokers were doing the two step, and had a slight accent overnight. It was funny. And yes--I bought a polyester shirt. And yes--I bought cowboy boots. I let it go though. I'm embarrassed even writing about it.
My point is certain charismatic actors are the reason certain films are great.
The color of America is changing, and there will be actors that out shine some of our greats.
(I am a total movie snob. I don't think Bond movies are magic. I do think Connery, and Travolta, had huge natural star power though. All my great movies were are in black, and white. I've noticed The Last Picture Show is on tv today. If you haven't seen it you must. Peter Bogdonovich captured a certain time in Texas brilliantly. All the actors did a phenomenal job. Billy is Timothy Bottons brother in real life. Have a good weekend guys.)
My favorite movies, but for no particuliar reason:
Platoon
Wall street
Three days of the condor
Chinatown
Sunset Boulevard
The Stranger(actually all of Orson Wells movies)
Any Andy Griffith episode
Bicycle thieves 1948
Niagara
Double indemnity (actually most billy wilder films)
The Misfits (last film for Marilyn and Rhett Butler--forgot his name.)
Giant
Rebal without a cause
Leaving Las Vegas
Blow out (all three)
Saturday night fever
Yes, even Urban Cowboy
One flew over the cocos nest
Deliverance
Hanna and her sisters
East of Eden
Dr. Strange love
Back to the future
Jaws
In cold blood(with Robert Blake)
In cold blood (with Eric Roberts, and forget his name)
The asphalt jungle 1948?
All about eve
The hot rock
Little Haus Big Halsey (Redford said it was his worst movie. Yes, it's masagonistic. Yes, he plays a jerk. But the movie captures the 70's I recall as a kid. The filming is great. His side kick in the movie did a great job playing a sweet, innocent, country teen.)
A lot of foreign films I have yet to see.
I find it odd that in an article about dispelling generalizations, the discussion seems to require a lot of generalization to make the point?
Namely, look at the following:
People in USA don't know anything about smaller countries in Europe, so they assume it's all the same. Availability heuristic.
Not all people in the USA have the same upbringing, world view, or experiences - just all not all people in the EU, Eurozone, or continent of Europe do. All of the hand-waving in the world won't change the fact the people are incredibly diverse in nearly all geographic or national units. You say it's impossible for a nation of 300+ million people whose heritage come from nearly every nation state to have diversity at a level anywhere near a population of 8 million people?
I'm sorry, but this generalization doesn't hold water, and does disservice to any point you are trying to make. When you back it up with People all over the world watch Hollywood movies, so we know at least something about cultural diversity of USA. that makes your point even weaker. "Urban Cowboy" will teach you nothing at all about the strong Chinese and Vietnamese cultures in Harris county, it won't touch at all on the wide diversity of languages and social norms that can change on a block-by-block basis here. "Love and a .45" will not teach you anything about how the culture in the Texas hill country is largely shaped by a blend of European (German and Polish primarily) and Mexican traditions.
No one is denigrating the cultural diversity here but the people claiming there is no cultural diversity in the US. You can tell me you know everything you really need to know about our culture, but then seem to miss the extreme differences in culture, or in some cases by others here, hand-wave away any difference entirely. To say that Southern Louisiana has the same "culture" as Northern California would be considered laughable by those having spent any reasonable time in the two regions. A more in-depth study rather than a few Hollywood movies would help modulate your position.
IMDB reports that 2322 movies were released in 1939 alone, is it really surprising that there were a handful of good movies among them?
1980 for comparision, IMDB lists 6007 movies (8000+ if you include TV movies), and contains modern (popular) classics such as Stir Crazy, Superman II, Empire Strikes Back, Airplane!, The Blue Lagoon, Ordinary People, Urban Cowboy. The Shining, Caddyshack, Raging Bull, Friday The 13th, The Fog, The Blues Brothers.
Hmm, looks like 1980 was a much more 'classic' era than the 40s for hollywood, but you wouldn't have heard that from film buffs in the 80s.
Hollywood has always been a great abuser of the 'sling lots of shit at the wall and see what sticks' approach to 'greatness', they're just slinging a lot more shit these days.
Even if we take a really contemporary year and do the same study, we see a pattern of greats no matter what year, take 2005 at random:
Batman Begins, Sin City, V for Vendetta, Revenge of the Sith, King Kong, Brokeback Mountain, Harry Potter/Goblet of Fire, Serenity, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Mr & Mrs Smith, Wedding Crashers, Munich, Saw 2, Hostel, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Madagascar, Pride & Prejudice, Land of the Dead.
Ah, but the movie buff will point out that they're not established classics like Gone with the Wind, or Wizard of Oz. Not yet, anyway.
Edit: Btw, for 2005, the number of movies was 28,000+. Is it any wonder that there is a lot of formulaic stuff in there as well?