Urban Cowboy

Country boy "Bud" (John Travolta) finds himself in the bright lights of Houston where he encounters "Sissy" (Debra Winger) and like grease lightening, they find themselves married. He's a grafter and works hard at a nearby oil refinery, but he also plays hard too - and that quite swiftly drives his new wife into the arms (and fists) of "Hightower" (Scott Glenn) in just about as acrimonious a fashion as you can imagine. "Bud" also tries to move on, befriending "Pam" (Madelyn Smith Osborne) but in his heart, well we just know what he really wants. Then their local bar installs a rodeo horse and with $5000 at stake (or steak), "Bud" decides to have a go at raising the cash and winning back his gal. This sets the scene for quite an head-to-head between the two men, with "Hightower" determined to have the cash, regardless of just how the tournament turns out. It's all watchable enough, this, but I couldn't help thinking that Travolta was just a too under-powered for this role. He has the swagger but not the style nor charisma and when it comes to it, Winger isn't really very impressive either as her character lurches from the feisty to the pathetic somewhat implausibly. For me, the best thing about the whole film is Charlie Daniels's ultimate toe-tapper "Devil Went Down to Georgia", but the rest of the soundtrack works well as a musical template for this otherwise all rather predictable and seriously over-stretched drama.