John Travolta is among the pre-eminent craftsmen of the flop, amassing an unimaginable seven motion pictures with 0% Rotten Tomatoes scores in his profession. How does he do it? Solely the grasp is aware of for positive, but it surely absolutely has one thing to do with regularly going full tilt on patently shaky and misguided premises, such because the time he made a sci-fi field workplace flop primarily based on a e-book by the Scientology founder that haunted its author for years. Then there was 1996’s “Michael,” which noticed Travolta play a literal angel in a film whose tagline was “He is an angel, not a saint…” It is simply wonderful stuff.
However what followers of Travolta’s many duds could not notice is that the person additionally showcased an actual expertise for making the sorts of films that ought to have been full flops however which one way or the other managed to etch out a big place in mass tradition. Take the 1980 romantic Western “City Cowboy,” for instance, which is mainly the precise level at which nation turned pop.
Directed by James Bridges, the movie is loosely primarily based on a 1978 Esquire article titled “The Ballad of the City Cowboy: America’s Seek for ‘True Grit’,” which chronicled a real-life love affair that flourished in a legendary Texas bar. The film model stars Travolta and Debra Winger because the fictionalized model of the couple, who ultimately get married solely to interrupt up earlier than a dramatic mechanical bull-riding competitors ties issues up in a neat little bow. Intrigued? Learn on for all the small print on this gem of a Travolta film, which was surprisingly influential in its time however which has been largely forgotten as we speak. As such, now’s the time to stream the film on Paramount+, the place it is accessible at no further price for subscribers.
City Cowboy stars John Travolta and Debra Winger as Texas lovebirds
“City Cowboy” is definitely one among John Travolta’s higher movies. He performs Buford “Bud” Davis, an oil employee who strikes to Pasadena, Texas, to work on an oil refinery. The bold teen is ready on saving sufficient cash to purchase land close to his hometown, however does not let his dedication to frugality cease him from having fun with the native nightlife, the head of which is native honkey tonk Gilley’s — a real-life bar that continues to be legendary to today, partly on account of “City Cowboy,” which introduced the beloved native into the mainstream.
It is at this standard bar that Bud meets and falls in love with cowgirl Sissy (Debra Winger). This being 1980, Sissy’s quirkiness is exemplified by her perception that — get this — the sexes are equal, a view that the extra conventional Bud merely cannot abide. Regardless of this obvious deal-breaker, the couple ultimately marries, however the mismatch of perspective results in bother, and by bother, I imply Bud is a downright misogynist who ultimately hits his spouse. Not precisely the charming union you would possibly anticipate from a romantic film about lovebirds who meet at a vibrant honkey tonk, however there you go.
Sadly, Bud and Sissy’s troubles are exacerbated by Bud’s jealousy over rival suitor Wes (Scott Glenn). The pair ultimately break up, however Bud turns into decided to win Sissy again. How? By heading all the way down to Gilley’s and profitable a mechanical bull-riding competitors, in fact. Sound kind of insane? Properly, it’s, however solely in a captivating ’80s kind of approach (minus the entire home violence factor). It additionally has a sure authenticity to it, and Travolta and Winger’s chemistry is plain. However the lasting legacy of City Cowboy is that it kicked off a pop nation pattern that persists to today.
City Cowboy is perhaps largely forgotten, however its impression stays
“City Cowboy” is not remembered as one among the most effective 80s romantic comedies, but it surely was well-received on the time, and nonetheless has its followers as we speak, as evidenced however its Letterboxd web page. What’s extra, it was surprisingly influential when it comes to its cultural impression. For one factor, that bull Travolta rides? It is the very first mechanical bull ever made. Created by the real-life Gilly’s proprietor, Sherwood Cryer, the bull was put in in his membership and had develop into a success with locals earlier than being featured all through “City Cowboy.” After Travolta, Debra Winger, and Scott Glenn all examined their using abilities, the bull gained rather more recognition as a kind of cultural artifact of the late-Twentieth Century that maintains a big presence to today. Should you noticed Netflix’s rom-com “The Improper Paris” in 2025, for instance, you may at the least partly thank/blame Travolta and his cowboy film for the scene by which the women experience a mechanical bull to win the guts of Pierson Fodé’s Trey McAllen.
“City Cowboy” was additionally credited with bringing nation and western music to the mainstream within the Eighties. The truth is, as Rolling Stone put it throughout a fortieth anniversary retrospective, the movie’s “Wranglers, cowboy boots, and leather-based equipment of City Cowboy offered an genuine and all-American various” to the widespread disco tradition of the time. As such, “City Cowboy” is among the chief architects of the sort of pop-country tradition that also pervades the zeitgeist to today, so you too can thank/blame Travolta for Machine Gun Kelly and Jelly Roll desecrating John Denver’s “Take Me Dwelling, Nation Roads.” Nonetheless, “City Cowboy” does have a stable 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it an odd entry within the already surreal world of forgotten Travolta initiatives.
