Urban Cowboy (1980)
Bud Davis is a country boy who moves to the city to visit his uncle and his family. He starts hanging out at Gilley's, the popular nightclub owned by Mickey Gilley himself. He takes a job at the oil refinery where his uncle works, hoping to save enough money to buy some land. He also meets a cowgirl named Sissy, they dance together and fall in love. When a bull-riding contest at Gilley's is announced, Bud decides to sign up. Can he win the contest?
"Hard Hat Days And Honky-Tonk Nights."
Bud: All cowboys ain't dumb. Some of 'em got smarts real good, like me.
Houston, Texas, USA
(2200 South Main. 2016 South Main)
Pasadena, Texas, USA
(Gilley's Nightclub)
2213 Westside Drive, Deer Park, Texas, USA
(Uncle Bob and Aunt Corene's house.)
225 Red Bluff Rd, Pasadena, Texas, USA
(where Sissy is working with a tow truck, towing a car)
1885 St. James Place, Houston, Texas, USA
(The Uptown 3 Level Nightclub where Pam takes Bud, Bob, and Corene.)
2016 S. Main Street, Houston, Texas, USA
(Pam's Houston penthouse condominium.)
Pico Rivera, California, USA
(Mobile Home Park)
Robert Evans sent Debra Winger back from location because he did not think she was attractive enough for the lead; it was only at the insistence of Director James Bridges that she did the role.
After initial box-office returns were surprisingly low, a newspaper poll was taken in the summer of 1980 to figure out why teenagers were not flocking to see the film. One of the main complaints from kids was that they did not know what the word Urban meant.
John Travolta had a mechanical bull installed in his house two months before production began. He became so good that he was allowed to dismiss the stunt double and do the takes himself.
At the time the film was shot, Gilley's, used as the film's main nightclub location, was the largest nightclub in the world in terms of available space for the patrons, according to the Guinness Book of World Records. This was later overtaken quite substantially by Billy Bob's Texas, in Fort Worth. It is so large that it does not have a mechanical bull. It has real ones that are ridden in an indoor arena at the northeast corner of the building.
Patsy Swayze, Patrick Swayze's mother, taught John Travolta how to do the two-step for the movie.
Continuity
When Sissy and Wes are in his trailer and Wes is still in bed asleep. In the shot, he is laying on his back with the fan blowing on him. In another camera angle, his feet hang off the bed with his toes facing the floor, therefore sleeping on his stomach.
When Bud fights Wes at the end of the movie, Wes drops the stolen money. Yet, in the next shot there is no money on the floor. Then, in the shot after that, suddenly the floor is covered in bills.
Factual errors
Bud's truck does not have a Texas Inspection Certificate sticker on its driver's side windshield - a strictly enforced requirement for all Texas-registered passenger vehicles and light trucks since 1950.
Miscellaneous
Bud takes a dip of snuff as he is driving, takes a moment to stuff it in with his finger (which is actually done with the tongue) and within fifteen seconds he spits twice whereas it usually takes a few minutes before he would need to. It is obvious that Travolta had never used the stuff before.
Crew or equipment visible
During the first kissing scene between Wes and Sissy in Wes' trailer, the shadow of a crew person can be seen in the reflection on the kitchen cabinet.
After Bud takes Sissy's blindfold off and shows her their new mobile home, you can see two crewman behind the home next door, one moving quickly to get off camera.
Errors in geography
The terrain of Houston/Pasadena Texas is very flat, yet as Bud and other characters are seen driving down his street in the trailer park, a significant range of hills is easily noticed in the background. (These scenes were filmed in a trailer park in a suburb of Los Angeles called Pico Rivera, California, and the hills are the San Gabriel Mountains.)
Bud comes from Spur, Texas, which is just south of the panhandle in west Texas and in a semi-arid part of the state. While cotton is the major crop there, it is a special hybrid suited for that environment and soil. The cotton fields shown near the start of the film show rich, dark soil, which is definitely not what you find in West Texas.
At the beginning of the film Bud is headed east on Memorial Drive towards downtown Houston. Practically speaking he would not be on this road when driving from Spur to Pasadena, Tx as Spur is North of Houston and Pasadena is far east of downtown. If he happened to be coming from the west he would be traveling on Interstate 10. Memorial drive would be out of his way.
Character error
When Bud fights Wes outside the diner, several people break them up. At this point,Steve calls Wes, " Scotty " ( Scott Glenn )
Scene with Wes drinking tequila with Sissy - he states "la vida luna" - "the crazy life." "La vida luna" translates to: "the moon life." He should have said "la vida loca."
When Bud and Pam are at Uncle Bob's house, Uncle Bob says "We're goin' to Gilley's tonight...haven't been there since we first took you." Yes, they did take Bud to Gilley's when he first came into town, but then they were all back at Gilley's again later for Bud and Sissy's wedding. So Uncle Bob and Aunt Corine actually had been to Gilley's since they first took Bud.