Tasteful comedy driven to trained audiences from hollywood success formula, the story is compeling with Daniel Stern overcame the power comedians trio,Criystal although be a top billing is unfunny,bad jokes,Jack Palance is another highlights of the casting,died early unfortunately,the sequel is much better!!Resume:First watch: 1998 / How many: 3 / Source: Cable TV-DVD / Rating: 7

As old as the "Men are from Mars, Women are from Jupiter" ponderings is the difference between "guy" films and "chick flicks". Though not trying to stereotype the genders too much here, the camp of movie-goers that will watch "The Notebook" or "A Walk To Remember" have different hormones flowing through them as those that go to "Terminator Salvation" or "Rambo IV". There's just a fundamental difference that often cannot be overcome by either gender."City Slickers", however, is the rare film that, while being a complete "guy" film, also proves to be as introspective as any emotional drama. Basically, "Slickers" tells the story of a middle-aged man named Mitch (played superbly by Billy Crystal) who undergoes a mid-life crisis. He works a dead-end job, has kids that think he is an "old fart", can't keep up on his best friend's big adventures (the film opens with the trio of buds running from the bulls in Spain), and is on the verge of complete depression. However, an opportunity (two weeks herding cattle at a Dude Ranch) presents itself for Mitch to be able to re-capture his youth, and he reluctantly takes it. Over the course of the trip, Mitch (and his pals, by extension) slowly but surely (and with often hilarious results!) begins to recapture the excitement that seemed to have been missing from his life.Besides the inspiring storyline that rivals any feel-good film, "Slickers" vaults itself into the stratosphere with the quality of both its humor and acting. The jokes in this film, while not the physical comedy of, say, Jim Carrey, are still hilarious, and mirror the changes that each friend is going through. Speaking of those friends, Phil and Ed (played by Daniel Stern and Bruno Kirby, respectively), they each in turn provide the perfect compliment to Mitch's old-age crisis...Ed is the go-getter who never seems to slow down, while Phil is stuck in a heartless marriage and wishes he could just start over. The camaraderie, struggles, and real-life discussions between those three guys provides the emotional backbone of the film. Plus, the auxiliary characters (including Jack Palance as the trail-hardened cowherd Curly) each add their own take on life into the picture.Towards the end of the film, Mitch proclaims that he has finally found his "one thing" in life. Though that "one thing" is never revealed, that is actually the point...everyone must go out and find it for him/her self (much like the viewer may begin to contemplate while watching). So guys, the next time your significant other wants to watch another two Kleenex-box romance, suggest this film as a change of pace (but make sure she watches the whole thing...as the meat of the message is saved for the finale). She may not laugh at all the same things you do (which will be pretty much everything!), but she may also come away with a bit better of a perspective on what it's like to be a guy.

I loved this thing as a kid. Loved it. Even the sequel. But that was the young me, the teenage me, the still stuck in the 80s me, the me who'd rent a movie every single day on VHS and watch any old 80s crap, whether it involved Steve Guttenberg, Bobcat Goldthwait, Eddie Murphy, or Billy Crystal.Oh dear, has this movie aged badly. And how about Billy Crystal? He is still doing an incredibly bad impression of Woody Allen, just as he did in 'When Harry Met Sally'. But he's not funny when he whines, just incredibly annoying, not to mention dishonest. I am not buying his whining the way I buy Allen's. That was the first thing that struck me as watched this film again, more than 20 years after the first time I saw it. There is nothing really funny in this film. The ice cream fatso? The irritating high-energy sidekick? The insecure, slightly dumb, introverted sidekick? Oh, what a motley crew it is, conflicts between these personalities is guaranteed to result in funny scenes, right? Fat chance.See, the best thing about this movie has always been that gritty old cowboy, and that's the only redeeming feature of this film. Take that away and you have a film that makes you want to commit suicide. That's how boring, predictable, and outright irritating it is. And just how easily manipulated were we to enjoy that cheap crap about a little calf? Please. Oh, one more thing: Is Crystal meant to learn something during this film? I certainly didn't. And neither did he, but let's pretend we all did. Audiences back then certainly didn't care about anything - not that we are any better today, mind you. We are so cynical that we don't even pretend to care about love and the meaning of life.I'm giving this film one star. I do not like it in any way.

Aside from Blazing Saddles, City Slickers stands as the best comedy western made in the last 25 years. An excellent film starring Billy Crystal, Daniel Stern, Bruno Kirby and the iconic Jack Palance (in his Oscar winning role).The story was deeper than just comedy, and the dialogue was really great. The story itself had a lot of heart, each main character was dealing with something different than the other. And the dialogue between the cast was more natural than one would expect from comedy.If you enjoy comedy and/or westerns, watch this film, you'll be glad you did. You'll be hooked from the beginning and you'll hang on to every scene.