FILM · 1991 · USA
City Slickers
53 archived facts 6 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (53)
- #001
Jack Palance did not watch his own films as a rule, so he did not see City Slickers until he won the Oscar for it.
- #002
Daniel Stern turned down the riding lessons offered for the film so that he could better convey his character's inexperience with horses.
- #003
Another real story from Billy Crystal's life used in the film is the wake-up call his mother made on his birthday. According to the DVD commentary, his mother would call him at around 5 a.m. on his birthday (the hour he was born) and verbally reenact the event over the phone. The scene in the film reflects the word-for-word true story of Billy Crystal's birth.
- #004
Rick Moranis had a major role alongside Billy Crystal and Bruno Kirby but left the project after his wife was diagnosed with cancer.
- #005
Billy Crystal liked the horse he rode so much that he bought it.
- #006
City Slickers was Jake Gyllenhaal's first film.
- #007
Billy Crystal's on-screen daughter was played by his real-life daughter, Lindsay Crystal.
- #008
The horse Billy Crystal rode in the film was named Beach Nut, and it is the same horse he rode in City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994).
- #009
Bruno Kirby was severely allergic to horses. Before every shooting day that involved a horse, he had to be given an allergy injection so he could get through that day's filming.
- #010
Billy Crystal co-wrote the story but did not receive an on-screen credit for it.
- #011
Billy Crystal's father ran a jazz record company in New York, which introduced him to many legends of the jazz world, including Billie Holiday, who took seven-year-old Billy to his first film. The film was Shane (1953), which starred Jack Palance.
- #012
Jack Palance turned down another film in order to make City Slickers because he liked the script.
- #013
Billy Crystal, a die-hard New York Yankees fan, wears a New York Mets cap in the film. As Crystal explained in the DVD commentary, he did so because the New York Mets made a large contribution and helped his annual Comic Relief charity.
- #014
The last scene Jack Palance shot was the moment he and Billy Crystal sat around the campfire singing songs.
- #015
Billy Crystal actually delivered the calf. Three pregnant cows were kept on hand in case a retake was needed. The scene was one of his favorites of the ones he had to do, and he has not eaten veal since.
- #016
According to Billy Crystal, he remembers the first day of shooting with Jack Palance as especially frightening. Palance had reached an agreement with director Ron Underwood. When Crystal later asked Palance why there had been an argument, Palance said it was just first-day nerves on set.
- #017
Clint Eastwood was considered for the role of Curly but was asking for far more money than the budget could afford.
- #018
The characters Ira and Barry were inspired by real-life ice cream entrepreneurs Ben and Jerry. In a 2015 Reddit AMA, the real-life pair revealed that most people assume they actually are the characters in the film. They added that in real life they could not recommend the perfect ice cream for any meal.
- #019
Staying true to Billy Crystal's style and format, Jack Palance performed a vaudeville routine for him at the 64th Annual Academy Awards (1992). Both actors were applauded for this as well as for their awards.
- #020
Each actor performed his own stunts.
- #021
According to Billy Crystal in the "making of" documentary, when he first came up with the story and created the character of Curly, he immediately wrote down Jack Palance's name as the ideal choice for the role. When a scheduling conflict arose, the script was given to Charles Bronson. Bronson turned it down (allegedly because the character of Curly dies in the film), but Palance later became available.
- #022
Although many observers were stunned by Jack Palance's "I crap bigger than Billy Crystal!" remark at the 64th Annual Academy Awards (1992) and did not understand where the line came from, Palance was in fact repeating a line Curly says to Crystal when they first meet at the cattle ranch. People forgot the line because Palance delivered it so quickly and had many other notable quotes.
- #023
While watching television at home about getaway vacations, Billy Crystal hit on the phrase "cattle drive." Within minutes he had sketched out an idea. In five lines he had "the adventures of three men entering middle age who go into the wilderness by joining a cattle drive."
- #024
There is a 38-year gap between Jack Palance's Oscar nomination for Shane (1953) and his win for City Slickers (1991).
- #025
It emerged that Robin Williams was considered for the roles of Mitch Robbins, Phil Berquist or Ed Furillo, but he had already committed to Hook (1991).
- #026
Jack Palance and Bruno Kirby both died in 2006 and were each honored with the "In Memoriam" tribute at the 79th Annual Academy Awards (2007). Their co-star Billy Crystal had hosted the ceremony eight times before that.
- #027
Jack Palance's Best Supporting Actor Oscar was the film's only Academy Award nomination.
- #028
Billy Crystal's character turns 39 in the film. In reality, Crystal was 43.
- #029
Curly never takes off his hat.
- #030
Billy Crystal and Bruno Kirby, whom Rob Reiner had directed in several earlier films, wanted Reiner to direct this film. Castle Rock Entertainment, which Reiner co-founded, also produced it. However, making Misery (1990) was very demanding for Reiner, even if rewarding, and after his last film he turned down friends and colleagues in order to rest. Crystal and Kirby were very reluctant to give the project to another director, but Reiner suggested Ron Underwood, who had been under consideration, and recommended they rent Underwood's directorial debut, Tremors (1990). After enjoying the film, they took Reiner's suggestion into account and proposed hiring him, and so it happened.
- #031
Billy Crystal began taking riding lessons as soon as he got the approval.
- #032
It was included on the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 100 Funniest American Films.
- #033
According to Billy Crystal, Charles Bronson turned down the role of Curly inappropriately; Billy reveals this in his 2013 book "Still Foolin' Em."
- #034
According to Billy Crystal, Jack Palance shot his scenes in 2 weeks.
- #035
Jack Palance was always on Billy's mind to play Curly.
- #036
Harvey Keitel auditioned for the role of Curly.
- #037
In his acceptance speech for the Best Supporting Actor award, Jack Palance repeated the one-armed push-up he had performed 36 years earlier in the role of Joe Costa in Attack (1956).
- #038
Some trailers include a scene in which someone's spurs get caught on a rail, but this scene is not in the film.
- #039
If you hear a raspiness in Curly's voice while Mitch plays the harmonica and Curly sings, it is because Palance was suffering from a sore throat during filming.
- #040
Nancy tells Arlene Berquist that she is 20 years old. Yeardley Smith was 27 at the time of filming.
- #041
This was Lindsay Crystal's debut.
- #042
The film's cast includes one Oscar winner, Jack Palance, and two Oscar nominees, Jake Gyllenhaal and David Paymer.
- #043
Christopher Lloyd was briefly considered for the role of Curly, but after making both Back to the Future Part II (1989) and Back to the Future Part III (1990) back to back, he decided to take a short break from filmmaking. He also did not want to make another Western-themed comedy, since Back to the Future Part III was that kind of film.
- #044
Yeardley Smith and Helen Slater, who appear in this film but never share a scene together, had previously appeared together in the 1985 cult classic The Legend of Billie Jean (1985). Bruno Kirby and Noble Willingham had also shared the screen four years earlier in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987).
- #045
It was included on the American Film Institute's 2005 list of 250 films nominated for AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores.
- #046
Noble Willingham and Bruno Kirby appeared together in Good Morning, Vietnam (1987).
- #047
It reunites Jack Palance and Tracey Walter, who both appeared in Batman (1989).
- #048
Composer Robert Folk, who scored City Slickers director Ron Underwood's previous film Tremors (1990), said he had already signed on to score this film when it occurred to him that Billy Crystal's Las Vegas music director should do the music. That music director was Marc Shaiman, who provided the music for both this film and its sequel, City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994).
- #049
Bruno Kirby and Josh Mostel appeared in The Basketball Diaries (1995).
- #050
Noble Willingham (Clay Stone) and Danielle Harris (Danny's classmate) also appeared in The Last Boy Scout (1991), which premiered five months after this film.
- #051
Jake Gyllenhaal, who makes his film debut here, is Jamie Lee Curtis's real-life godson. Danielle Harris, who plays a classmate alongside Jake in this film, made her own film debut in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) as the daughter of the character Curtis played in her first film, the original Halloween (1978).
- #052
This was actress Walker Brandt's debut.
- #053
The young cashier was played by Yeardley Smith, who despite appearing in more than 800 TV programs is never recognized by viewers. She is best known for voicing Lisa Simpson on The Simpsons (1989).
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