[6]

John Travolta and Debra Winger star as impetuous young lovers who meet at a Houston honky-tonk bar, get married, and struggle to keep their relationship together. I enjoyed the first half of the movie more than the second. You believe that the two characters would come together, but in the second half, Travolta’s character’s ugly side really comes out and the movie is downright abusive to Debra Winger’s character. Apparently, 1980 audiences were far more tolerant of domestic abuse from allegedly sympathetic characters. I had a hard time watching Travolta beat Winger’s character and continuing to have any empathy for him at all. I also hated how Winger’s character continued to take the abuse, not just from her husband, from one or two other men who have their way with her. (Girl gets beat up more than once in this movie!) The second half also falls into a rut with formula — there’s an obligatory funeral to help bring the estranged partners back together again, and some Rocky-like mechanical bull riding contest to offer a bizarre third act climax. The whole movie is actually filled with scenes involving the mechanical bull — the early 80s had some funny fetishes, I guess.

Before it starts to fall apart, though, Urban Cowboy features some terrific scenes depicting young love. I admire how director/writer James Bridges relies on the unspoken performance to convey infatuation, rather than clunky dialogue. My favorite scene in the film goes so far as to be downright contradicting. When Winger and Travolta get into a jealous fight in their pickup truck, Winger gets out and threatens to walk home in the rain. Travolta starts up the truck and leaves her, but comes back. Only she still won’t get in. So he gets out and wrestles her to the ground. The two roll in the mud and fight until they get tired, then get back into the truck together. And that’s when Travolta asks her to marry him. That’s great stuff.

With Scott Glenn.