Bud Davis is a young man from the country who learns about life and love in a Houston bar.
John Travolta had to be born sexy, because he definitely exudes a depth of sex appeal that seems to come way too natural and has only gotten better with time, regardless of the role. In this film, Bud Davis (John Travolta) moves to the big city of Houston for a new job at a Texas oil refinery. Before he hits town good, he is introduced to a whole new way of life in the form of Gilleys, one of Houston’s most popular nightclubs. While he is learning the ropes around his job and the city, he seems ripe for overdue fun and a chance to make money on the side. In just a few short trips to the club, he meets up with a mechanical bull and a feisty young woman named Sissy (Debra Winger). Determined to win both of them over, Bud starts spending all of his free time hanging out with Sissy and finding a way to master the bull and become the real cowboy that Sissy thinks he is.
As Bud and Sissy’s relationship starts to blossom into a full-on courtship, Bud becomes extremely possessive of her and also completely overtaken by his desire to be the best mechanical bull rider that Gilley’s has seen. All is well and good until he makes Sissy his wife and new competition in the form of ex-convict Wes (Scott Glen) comes to town vying for both Sissy’s attention as well as Gilley’s most talented bull rider. In as quick the amount of time that Bud has adjusted to his new life in the city, he seems to have turned into a spiteful city slicker and husband who doesn’t care about his job or his reputation of being hell on wheels.
Once Bud gets off his high horse and realizes he has lost everything he worked hard for, including Sissy, who had done the most to make him happy, he tries to make a rebound to regain the trust from the community as well as the relationships he had severed including the only true love he had ever known. In a crazy twist of fate, he decides to try to fix the mess by going back for Sissy and ends up saving her and the beloved Gilleys from being robbed blind by Wes. In the end, Bud and Sissy are back together again trying to recapture the honkey-tonk feelings that brought them together in the throes of the city life, which turned Bud from being an untamed country boy into being a mechanical, bull-riding Urban Cowboy.
Paramount did an excellent job with the issuance of this 40th Anniversary Blu-ray edition with new bonus features. The Travolta fans who have amassed his collection of films throughout the years will be equally satisfied returning to the roots of this young, stetson-headed cowboy who is still capturing hearts forty years later.
Now available in a Special Edition 40th Anniversary Blu-ray
