THE MOVIE

With a fantastic cast City Slickers is about Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal), a salesman who sells airtime on a radio station, and his two best friends Phil (Daniel Stern) and Ed (Bruno Kirby). After doing many crazy things together (including running with the bulls), Phil and Ed decide to try and lift Mitch out of his mid life crisis, they will take him to be a cowboy for two weeks. Initially hesitant, Mitch is persuaded to go by his wife to ‘find his smile’ with his mates.

Unlike the holiday they imagined, the guys soon find themselves on a real life ‘cattle drive’ driving a herd of cattle from New Mexico to Colorado. Their leader on this journey is Curly (Jack Palance in his Oscar winning role) a committed cowboy, who is just a little bit fanatical, and a little scary.

With the rest of the would-be cowpeople, Mitch, Phil and Ed have some interesting and fantastic experiences in the quest for Mitch’s smile.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

City Slickers is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1 widescreen and is 16x9 enhanced.

I was not sure what to expect of the transfer, with many brightly lit scenes along with dusty surroundings a video transfer can be difficult. This transfer has been done well without any MPEG artefacts that I expected to see in some of these dustier action scenes. A large amount of the movie is set outdoors and colours are thankfully well presented without any oversaturation.

The shadow detail whilst not excellent is still good, although the print did appear a little soft at times. One noticeable problem is the presence of some light film grain throughout the transfer which is common in transfers of this age. The worst problem however is that the print used had lost some film emulsion in a couple of scenes which shows up as a noticeable white spot onscreen.

Audio:

The DVD contains a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track so there is no use of surround speakers.

This lack of directional effects is unfortunate as it could have been used during a number of scenes to enhance the film. Although the audio is obviously only present on the front soundstage but it still feels very open.

Audio sync was never a problem in this transfer and the dialogue is easy to understand. Overall there is nothing bad about the audio transfer, but the lack of surround or bass channels does not make it outstanding.

THE EXTRAS

Theatrical Trailer
The only “Extra Feature” on this disc is the original theatrical trailer which is presented 1.85:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

SUMMARY

A great comedy about finding yourself, City Slickers is a classic. The audio is disappointing, but the transfer is good given the age of the film. Unfortunately no extras have been included, but it is definitely still worth a look, if only for a laugh.