Fox has decided to go forth and drastically change up their DVD presentation of City Slickers. What results is the “City Slickers Collector’s Editionâ€, which provides individuals with the end-all, be-all of matters concerning City Slickers. For those readers that do not remember or did not watch the film when it first came out or when it was first issued on DVD (2002), City Slickers deals with Mitch (Billy Crystal) and eir friends’ midlife crisis.
To combat this problem, Mitch’s friends Phil (Daniel Stern) and Ed (Bruno Kirby) throw in to give Mitch a birthday gift that will get all three of them out of their rut: a two-week vacation helping with a cattle drive. Instead of being the easy, fun trip that all three of them imagined, the trio run into problems opposing them, especially in the trail boss Curly (Jack Palance). Ultimately, the trio (and the rest of the “City Slickersâ€) are confronted with the death of Curly and the duty that they still have to complete – to bring the cattle over a rapid-flowing river – while keeping both themselves and the cattle alive. Aside from just the film, the Collector’s Edition has a number of additional features. This means that there is a stellar audio commentary that plays through the film, containing comments by director Ron Underwood along with Daniel Stern and Billy Crystal. Furthermore, “Bringing In The Script†goes into the creative process and shows how the script eventually took the shape of the film, and what steps needed to be taken to bring the script into a realizable form.
There are two other deleted scenes that viewers may have missed out on that will give further context to the film – “Releasing The Herd†and “A New Jobâ€. Finally, “A Star Is Born: An Ode To Norman†featurette is a tongue in cheek type of piece that shows the issues with working with a calf, and how the cast and crew grew to love the animal. If you have not seen City Slickers since the original theatrical release, if you want to get a little more out of the experience than was present on the VHS or early DVD versions, or if you just want to pick up a copy of City Slickers, make it a point to go and buy City Slickers Collector’s Edition. It has enough in the way of extras to keep viewers coming back for weeks, if not months.
Rating: 7.0/10
City Slickers Collector’s Edition / 2008 Fox / 112 Minutes / http://www.fox.com /
