City Slickers (1991)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Theatrical Trailer-2:45
Rating
Year Of Production	1991
Running Time	108:56
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:08)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Ron Underwood
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Billy Crystal Daniel Stern Bruno Kirby Jack Palance Helen Slater Noble Willingham Tracy Walter Jeffrey Tambor Patricia Wettig Josh Mostel David Paymer
Case	?
RPI	$36.95	Music	Marc Shaiman

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Auto Pan & Scan Encoded	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English German French Spanish Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Mitch's mid-life crisis is triggered by his 39th birthday (he's an American - he can't wait for his 40th birthday...). His two best friends are Phil (Daniel Stern) and Ed (Bruno Kirby). The three of them have done some silly things together - the previous year they ran with the bulls in Pamplona (we get to see this before the opening credits). This year, Mitch's pals decide to jog him out of his maudlin self-pity with an exciting new experience. Their present for his birthday is a two week holiday in which they will become cowboys. We're not talking dude ranch here, but real working cowboys, driving a herd of cattle from New Mexico to Colorado. In Australia we'd call this droving, but apparently the Americans call it a cattle drive. A crazy way to spend your vacation, but what the heck! Mitch's initial inclination is to refuse, but he gets an ultimatum from his wife - go, find yourself! He goes. And this movie is about what happens...

    The trail boss on this drive is called Curly (Jack Palance - this role is one he was born to play). He is a marvellous character, and important to some of what affects Mitch the most. He has a fabulous entrance, and makes a big impression. He also gets some of the best lines, but his singing voice leaves everything to be desired...

    Helen Slater, as the only woman on the cattle drive, gets less screen-time than I'd like (she is a pretty lady). She's mainly present to set up some of the scenes between the men.

    I don't want to spoil the movie for you. It is an excellent comedy, and you can enjoy as just a comedy. But it has one or two moments of deeper meaning, like all really great comedy, and you can appreciate those as well, if you choose to. I won't tell you more of what happens, but I can recommend it.

    One small complaint - why is it that DVD manufacturers feel obliged to put their logo at the start of the disc at an ear-splitting volume level? MGM DVD is one of the worst at this, but they are far from alone. It is unnecessary, and puts me in a bad mood when I start watching the disc.

Video

    This movie is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, 16x9 enhanced. I believe this to be the original theatrical aspect ratio.

    The image is rather good - fairly sharp, but not so sharp as to induce masses of aliasing. Shadow detail is good. There's no low-level noise.

    Colour is likewise rather good. No over-saturation, no colour bleed, just some good strong colours. The quality of the lighting changes when they arrive at the ranch - brighter light, stronger colours - it's probably intentional.

    There are a few film artefacts (a white blotch at 22:20, another at 51:06, but not heaps more), but they are not troubling. There's no visible aliasing, no MPEG artefacts and no background shimmer - this is an excellent transfer.

    There are subtitles in nine languages. I only checked those in English (I'm no polyglot!). They are easy to read, accurate and well-timed.

    The disc is single-sided and RSDL-formatted. The layer change lies at 55:08, and it is visible, but is not distracting..

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are four soundtracks on this disc, in four languages. I listened to the English soundtrack.

    The dialogue is clear and comprehensible. There are no signs of audio sync problems.

    The score from Marc Shaiman is fine - it suits the movie well, and is not obtrusive. The choice of Jimmy Durante's Young At Heart for the montage covering the start of the drive was inspired.

    The surrounds and subwoofer are not used by this soundtrack. They aren't missed - this is a dialogue-driven soundtrack, and there'd be few opportunities for them to shine.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The main menu is static and silent. It's easy to operate.

Trailer (2:45)

    This is presented widescreen, which is nice. It's a reasonable trailer, and it is presented 16x9 enhanced, which can't hurt.

    The Region 1 disc has been out for a while. It is quite similar to the Region 4, but the transfer is not quite as good. The Region 1 disc is a bit darker, and exhibits reduced shadow detail, but it is at least as sharp. The difference isn't enough that I'd recommend replacing the R1 with the R4, but it is certainly noticeable. The trailer on the R1 disc is not 16x9 enhanced. The R1 doesn't have subtitles in English, which is odd - if you want languages you're much better off with the R4.

    I recommend buying the Region 4 disc.

    An enjoyable comedy, on a DVD of quite reasonable quality.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is good.

    The extra is minimal.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall