Paramount Home Media To Release Urban Cowboy: 40th Anniversary Edition On Blu-ray On June 2

Paramount Home Media brings to Blu-ray, for the first time on June 2, director James Bridges’ 1980 blockbuster hit, Urban Cowboy: 40^th Anniversary Edition.

It is hard to fathom that 40 years have passed since Bud (John Travolta) and Sissy (Debra Winger) lit up the screen with their rocky romance, which included the villainy of Wes (Scott Glenn), the honky-tonk mystique of Gilley’s and all backed by a sizzling soundtrack that featured the likes of Anne Murray (“Could I Have This Dance”), Boz Scaggs (“Look What You’ve Done to Me”), The Charlie Daniels Band (“The Devil Went Down to Georgia”), Bonnie Raitt (“Don’t it Make Ya Wanna Dance”) and Johnny Lee’s show-stopping, “Looking for Love.” 

Based on Aaron Latham’s 1978 Esquire Magazine article, “The Ballad of the Urban Cowboy: America's Search for True Grit,” the late Robert Evans, head of production at Paramount from 1967 through 1974, and then as a producer for the studio, saw the possibility of turning Latham’s looking for the modern cowboy story into a major theatrical production.   He was spot-on.

Indeed, Evans, as a producer or head of production, was uncanny in his commercial judgment and delivered such films as Rosemary’s Baby, Love Story, The Godfather, Harold and Maude, Chinatown and The Great Gatsby.

The film itself went a couple of million dollars over budget as a result of delays in shooting  — Travolta’s dog almost took his face off, which delayed the beginning of the production by some three weeks, torrential rains (some of the refinery scenes were shot in some pretty sketchy weather) and more.   Despite the delays, Urban Cowboy was — and remains to this day — a musical romance that never ceases to delight and entertain.   A hit then … a hit now!!

 

Bonus features, in addition to vintage DVD material, include the featurette titled “Good Times With Gilley: Looking Back At Urban Cowboy” and deleted scenes. 

Also getting added to the release calendar by Paramount Home Media this past week is Australian actress-turned-filmmaker Rachel Griffiths’ biopic, Ride Like a Girl.   The street date for the DVD of this Down Under theatrical hit will be Apr. 28.

Ride Like a Girl is the story of jockey Michelle Payne (Teresa Palmer — Hacksaw Ridge, Lights Out, The Grudge 2, etc.), who won the Melbourne Cup in 2015, the first woman to do so in the race’s rich 155-year history.

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