City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Paul Weiland
Written by	Billy Crystal Lowell Ganz Babaloo Mandel
Produced by	Billy Crystal
Starring	Billy Crystal Daniel Stern Jon Lovitz Jack Palance Patricia Wettig
Cinematography	Adrian Biddle
Edited by	William M. Anderson Armen Minasian
Music by	Marc Shaiman
Production companies	Castle Rock Entertainment Face Productions
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures Triumph Releasing Corporation Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution
Release date	June 10, 1994 (1994-06-10)
Running time	116 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40 million
Box office	$43 million

City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold is a 1994 American Western comedy film directed by Paul Weiland. It is the sequel to City Slickers (1991) and stars Billy Crystal, Jack Palance, Jon Lovitz, and Daniel Stern. Although a mild financial success, the film did not reach the popularity of the first, receiving a generally negative responses from critics.

Plot

A year after the events of the first film, Mitch Robbins is a much happier and livelier man, having moved out of the city and become station manager at the radio station where he works, where he has employed his best friend, Phil Berquist. However, he is being plagued with nightmares about his deceased friend, Curly, and comes to believe that he may still be alive. On his 40th birthday, Mitch sees a man resembling Curly on the train, which does nothing to placate his worries, and later finds a treasure map belonging to Lincoln Washburn hidden in Curly's old hat, albeit with a missing corner. He and Phil investigate the contents of the map in the library and learn that Lincoln was Curly's father and a train robber in the Old West who in 1908 infamously stole and hid one million dollars in gold bullion in the deserts near Las Vegas. With an impending trip to Las Vegas for a convention, Mitch decides to venture out to find the gold (which would now be worth twenty million) along with Phil and his immature younger brother, Glen.

Several mishaps ensue, such as Glen accidentally burning a hole in the map with a magnifying glass, Mitch almost falling off a cliff while retrieving it and Phil believing he was bitten by a rattlesnake while he actually sat on a cactus. They are ambushed by the two cowboys who they bought their supplies from, who demand the map, since Phil recklessly told them all about the gold. Just as they are poised to kill them, the man resembling Curly appears and fights them off. He introduces himself as Duke, Curly's identical twin brother, and explains that long ago, their father had plans to find the gold with his sons once he was no longer being monitored, but he died before. On her death bed, their mother gave Curly the map, and he contacted Duke to find him so that they could find the gold together, but he died on the cattle drive the previous year. Duke learned from Cookie that Mitch had Curly's belongings, and so sought him out, though Mitch believed he was Curly. Though Duke is prepared to take the map and find the gold by himself, Mitch chastises him for his attitude, reasoning that Curly would not approve. Out of respect for Curly, Duke relents and allows the others to accompany him and share the gold.

A reckless act by Mitch causes a stampede in which the map and almost all their supplies are lost. Thanks to Glen's memory, they are able to press on and find the location of the cave where the gold is hidden. They eventually find it, but are confronted by two armed cowboys also seeking it. In the ensuing fight, Glen is shot, but Duke discovers the bullets to be blanks with red paint pellets. At that moment, Clay Stone, the organizer of the cattle drive, appears along with some of their old friends, such as Ira and Barry Shalowitz. Clay explains that the cowboys are his sons and he has been looking for Duke for some time. Having left the cattle business, he is now making a living taking men on a trip to find the gold, which is revealed to be lead bars painted gold. Though Mitch, Phil, and Glen feel lost, Duke remains convinced that the gold is out there somewhere, and stays behind as the others return to Las Vegas.

Mitch is visited by Duke in his hotel room, who reveals that the entire time, he knew where the gold truly was and intended to keep it all for himself, but couldn't bring himself to do so, having found his one thing to be honesty. Through Mitch's skepticism, Duke reveals that he had the missing corner of the map, which points to where Lincoln reburied the gold in 1909, and presents a bar of it to Mitch as a gift. He tries to scratch the gold off with a knife, and screams in joy upon realizing that it is real after all.

Cast

• Billy Crystal as Mitch Robbins
• Daniel Stern as Phil Berquist
• Jon Lovitz as Glen Robbins
• Jack Palance as Duke Washburn
• Patricia Wettig as Barbara Robbins
• Noble Willingham as Clay Stone
• Pruitt Taylor Vince as Bud
• Bill McKinney as Matt
• David Paymer as Ira Shalowitz
• Josh Mostel as Barry Shalowitz
• Lindsay Crystal as Holly Robbins
• Beth Grant as Lois
• Jayne Meadows as the voice of Mitch's mother
• Jennifer Crystal as jogger
• Bob Balaban as Dr. Jeffrey Sanborn (uncredited)
• Frank Welker as Norman (voice)

Production

Parts of the film were shot in Arches National Park, Dugout Ranch, Professor Valley, and Goblin Valley in Utah. Bruno Kirby did not return to reprise his role as Ed Furrillo from the original film partly because he was highly allergic to horses and required constant allergy treatments to do his scenes.

Reception

Box office

The film was released July 10, 1994, and came in 3rd place at the box office, behind Speed and The Flinstones. It went on to earn a North American domestic box office gross of $43 million.

Critical response

The film received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 18% based on reviews from 22 critics. On Metacriti the film has a score of 43 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics.

Accolades

It was nominated for a Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel.

External links

• City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold at IMDb
• City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold at Box Office Mojo
• City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold at Rotten Tomatoes