Stars:
John Travolta, Debra Winger, and Scott Glenn
Writers:
James Bridges and Aaron Latham
Based
Upon The Story By: Aaron Latham
Director:
James Bridges
Feature
length: 134 minutes
Extras:
Outtakes and Rehearsal Footage
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Surround Sound, and French
Language
Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese
Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 25
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Dolby Surround Sound, and Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1980/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“Urban
Cowboy” did not quite have the same effect that “Saturday Night Fever” had
on pop culture, but it did bring country music to greater audience with a
soundtrack that includes music by Mickey Gilley, Johnny Lee, Bonnie Raitt, and
The Charlie Daniels Band. Travolta plays a young country man who works in an oil
refinery by day and at night lives a modern cowboy fantasy complete with the
mechanical bull and a new wife (Debra Winger), and even has to contend with a
bad old cowboy personified by Scott Glenn. I guess I am not a country music fan
because I found “Urban Cowboy” to be largely dull, but the film earned $54
million dollars in the box office and the film does have it’s fans.
Paramount
Home Entertainment presents “Urban Cowboy” to DVD with an anamorphic
widescreen (2.35:1) aspect ratio that captures the film’s monotone look, but
suffers from a bit of grain that is visible in certain scenes. The English Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround Soundtrack really is riveting and makes up greatly for the
mixed picture quality. An English Dolby Surround Soundtrack and a French
Language Monaural Soundtrack with English Captions and Closed Captions and
Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese Language Subtitles that are encoded on to the
dual layered DVD as options.
(2.35:1)
Two-Channel Monaural Sound outtakes of “Travolta and Winger Dancing” (1:27),
“Travolta Dancing” (2:39) as well as rehearsal footage of “Debra Winger On
the Mechanical Bull” (2:03), “John Travolta On The Mechanical Bull”
(1:03), and “Travolta And Winger On The Mechanical Bull Together” (:56) wrap
up the extra features included on this DVD release.
The
menus feature animated transitions with scenes from the film and are nicely
rendered as well as easy to navigate. “Urban Cowboy” is available on DVD-Video
now separately or as a part of “The DVD Dance Collection,” which also
includes “Flashdance,” “Footloose,” “Grease,” and “Saturday Night
Fever” from Paramount Home Entertainment. “Urban Cowboy” can also be found
in “The Travolta DVD Collection,” which features “Grease” and
“Saturday Night Fever” too.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.