Urban Cowboy (1980) ****1/2

Sissy: “You a real cowboy?”

Bud: “Well, that depends on what you think a real cowboy is.”

This exchange defines the movie “Urban Cowboy,” a movie that itself redefined the concept of what a cowboy is, not to mention ushering in a surge in soft-country music sales.

The movie got its start as a September 1978 article in Esquire magazine, which happens to be the same publication that, two years earlier, published “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night,” the article that led to a little film called “Saturday Night Fever.” “The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy: America's Search for True Grit” was born when Esquire editor Clay Felker visited Houston from New York to give a talk at Rice University. Afterwards, a Texas journalist took Felker out on the town, and when Felker saw Gilley's bar, bigger than a football field, with its mechanical bull and giant dance floor, he knew this was something people needed to read about.

Felker summoned writer Aaron Latham, who had roots in Texas. Latham spent his nights at Gilley's, meeting regulars and looking for a hook to hang his story on. He found it in Dew and Betty, a couple of teenagers who met at Gilley's, got married quick, and eventually split up, because, really, what does an eighteen-year-old know about making a marriage work? During one of the periods when their on-again-off-again relationship was on the rocks, Betty started riding the mechanical bull, just because Dew told her she couldn't. A story like that is lightning in a bottle, and Latham wound up with a hit article that got optioned into a hit movie.

John Travolta wasn't the obvious choice to play a cowboy. After “Saturday Night Fever,” he was the disco guy. Debra Winger, on the other hand, was mostly a nobody. They turned out to be perfect as Bud and Sissy, a couple of beautiful, young rednecks, each dumber than the other. The supporting cast has some gems, including Barry Corbin and Brooke Alderson as Bud's aunt and uncle. Madolyn Smith Osborn is excellent as Pam, the rich girl who tries to steal Bud away. Her cheekbones are even better than John Travolta's. Scott Glenn, of course, is pitch-perfect as the dangerous, ex-con cowboy.

And then there's Gilley's, the biggest supporting character of the film. Much of the filming was done in the actual bar, using real Gilley-rats as extras. The point of the story is that all these country people are drawn to the city for oil jobs, and they want something to remind them of their country roots. That's why they wear cowboy boots and drive pickups around suburban Dallas. Gilley's gave them that sense of community with like-minded people.

The country music resurgence spawned by “Urban Cowboy” eventually fell out of favor, criticized as “not real country,” as other, more traditional acts took over the country music scene. It's the same cycle that always goes through styles of music. It's true that a lot of that late 70's/early 80's, highly-produced country music is indistinguishable from the soft-rock of the time, but it doesn't mean the music was all bad. You cannot deny that “Urban Cowboy” has a great soundtrack. It's a mix of classic rock (“Lyin Eyes” by The Eagles, and Mickie Gilley doing a cover of “Stand By Me”), classic country (“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by The Charlie Daniels Band), country-blues (“Don't It Make You Wanna Dance” by Bonnie Raitt), and soft country (“Could I Have This Dance” by Anne Murray). In the end, this question of which songs are “real country” is similar to the question of “What makes a real cowboy?” It depends on what your definition is.

4.5 stars out of 5

PS - It turns out I reviewed this back in 2015. I ranked it higher with this viewing, and I'll stand by that. The movie has really held up over time!