Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf May 24, 2021

Expectations were low for 1991’s “City Slickers,” which was a modestly budgeted summer release starring Billy Crystal, who was trying to build a leading man career after the success of “When Harry Met Sally.” The picture offered adult audiences relatable themes on aging and friendship, delivering nuggets of midlife crisis awareness while exploring the open world, complete with western-style misadventures and animal encounters. “City Slickers” managed to surprise many by becoming the sleeper hit of the year, becoming the fifth highest grossing feature of 1991 (right below “The Silence of the Lambs”), while Jack Palance collected an Academy Award for his work as the crusty cowboy, Curly. A sequel wasn’t necessary, there was nowhere left to go with the premise, but Crystal thought he had a sure thing with 1992’s “Mr. Saturday Night” (his directorial debut), a hyped dramedy that was envisioned as an awards magnet and box office behemoth, and while the vanity project managed to collect a few nominations, audiences avoided it, knocking the star off-course in his quest to become a bankable name. For Crystal, there was only one way to win back his audience: a sequel. For 1994’s “City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly’s Gold,” Crystal is aiming to please, recycling old jokes, rehashing familiar subplots, and even bringing back Palance to make sure the follow-up generates the same excitement as the previous chapter in the Mitch Robbins saga. It turns out, the “one thing” only really works once.

Having been reborn during his cattle drive adventure, Mitch (Bill Crystal) has settled into suburban life with his family, now working as a radio station manager, and he’s employed pal Phil (Daniel Stern), who’s still trying to get over his divorce. Mitch has turned 40, and he’s haunted by visions of Curly (Jack Palance), a cattle man who helped the miserable 39-year-old man find himself again, only to die during their time together. While playing around with his wife (Patricia Wettig), Mitch discovers an old map inside Curly’s cowboy hat. Excited about the possibility of finding a fortune in hidden gold, Mitch recruits Phil and agrees to take his deadbeat brother, Glen (Jon Lovitz), along for the quest, with the trio headed into the Nevada desert to follow vague clues left on the map. Reuniting with the outdoors, Mitch feels alive again, managing personal issues with Phil and Glen, and also meeting Duke (Palance), Curly’s twin brother, who joins the gang on their perilous expedition to collect a crate of gold bars.

Things are a little different for “The Legend of Curly’s Gold.” Director Ron Underwood has been replaced by Paul Weiland, best known as the helmer of the Bill Cosby bomb, “Leonard Part 6,” and the supporting cast has been mostly jettisoned, including the loss of Bruno Kirby as Mitch’s pal, Ed. Kirby brought a lot of charm to “City Slickers,” creating an appealing dynamic with Crystal and Stern, and Lovitz isn’t the most inspired replacement, largely used for mild weirdness, including Glen’s penchant for quoting dialogue from “The Godfather: Part II.” Perhaps aware of these missing pieces, Crystal hustles like crazy in the sequel (even claiming a co-writing credit), trying to restart the fun with an anxious, cheerleader-like performance that’s quick to bring back old catchphrases and jokes from the original film, to help with the adjustment period. He really, really wants “The Legend of Curly’s Gold” to work, acting like a maniac to make sure the same tone of manly adventure and slapstick shenanigans returns, with the overall theme of sibling relationships taking over for the midlife crisis arc.

The idea driving “The Legend of Curly’s Gold” isn’t bad. There’s promise in the discovery of the map, inspiring a new trip to the old west, offering a gentle rehash vibe that’s common in sequels. The ecstasy of gold drives Mitch crazy, eager to follow the map across dangerous terrain to find a fortune that could change his life…which was already changed in the first film. But that doesn’t matter, the screenplay simply wants the Mitch and the boys back in the middle of nowhere, dealing with personal problems and the wildness of nature, including a horse stampede that destroys all their supplies (“City Slickers” offered a cow stampede). Broadness is encouraged, with Phil believing a rattlesnake has bitten his bottom while relieving himself, requiring Mitch or Glen to volunteer to suck the poison out. Ha-ha? Perhaps a more focused take on the map quest was in order, following the guys as they pinball around the great expanse of America.

Vague pressure is applied by two ranchers looking to claim the map by force, but “The Legend of Curly’s Gold” brightens up with the return of Palance. Sure, the writing doesn’t put much thought into the idea (the twin thing is…fine), but Palance and Crystal have such wonderfully odd chemistry, and this practiced dynamic is most welcome in the follow-up, watching Mitch deal with Duke’s unsettling resemblance to Curly, and the pair continue their work to decode what the “one thing” truly means. Palance isn’t putting in too strenuous an effort here, but his presence brings something positive to “The Legend of Curly’s Gold,” which isn’t without laughs, just nowhere near the amount found in the 1991 endeavor.

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.85:1 aspect ratio) presentation for "The Legend of Curly's Gold" provides a comfortable but aged viewing experience for a catalog title. Detail is slightly softer throughout, offering passable dimension with rugged locations, and desert rocks are textured. Facial surfaces are appreciable as the characters are worn down by the adventure, and cowboy costuming remains fibrous (softer cotton, rougher leather). Colors come through with clearly, offering appealing desertscapes and clothing, and skintones are natural. Blue skies and golden sun are appealing, capturing the outdoorsy feel of the picture. Delineation is satisfactory. Source is in excellent condition.

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA offers a lively listening experience, presenting clear, deep dialogue exchanges that manage all sorts of slapstick screaming without distortion, and more heartfelt encounters retain intended softness. Scoring cues are hearty and wide, with defined instrumentation, including the brassy main theme. Surrounds are engaged, handing music and atmospherics with authority, offering a good sense of outdoor position and office bustle. The cartoon main title sequence is more playful with panning and separation effects. Low-end emerges with deeper strings and thundering cowboy adventures, including a horse stampede.

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Commentary features director Paul Weiland and actors Jon Lovitz and Daniel Stern.

• Making Of (5:47, SD) is an EPK offering that offers a jokey overview of the production effort. Story points and character beats are discussed, along with the casting of Jon Lovitz. Locations and their blazing heat are highlighted. Interviews with Billy Crystal, Jon Lovitz, Daniel Stern, and Jack Palance are included.

• And a Teaser Trailer (1:24, HD) is included.

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Instead of finding a softer landing with a human touch, "The Legend of Curly's Gold" offers a more action-oriented finale set inside an abandoned mine, adding additional bug-eyed antics to an already fatigued feature (the lengthy 116-minute run time doesn't help the cause). The sequel tries to get something going with a tender conclusion about the characters and their bonding experience, but Weiland can't keep the material honest, and the crudely reshot ending basically negates all emotion anyway, keeping the endeavor plasticized. What worked before doesn't exactly work again here, with "The Legend of Curly's Gold" trying too hard to replicate the "City Slickers" experience without fully appreciating what made the original film so special.