MovieChat Forums > City Slickers (1991) Discussion > the biggest mistake in this

the biggest mistake in this

posted 12 years ago by fredgarv79
4 replies | jump to latest

Killing off Curly. I'm sure this has been said before but every time I watch this I can't believe the best character in the film is killed off so early. Jack palance's last great role and they cut it off so they could have more time for the two jewish ice cream tycoons and the rest of the boys complaining about their lives back home. I could have watched jack palance for 6 hours as a rough tough old time cowboy. I think they thought hey lets get old jack in here for a few scenes in between us complaining about our middle aged lives for a few laughs, but...he STOLE the movie!

RIP JACK! Your the best

[–] ExplorerDS6789 12 years ago

Maybe they could only get Palance for so long?

[–] Doc80 12 years ago

I'm sure Palance didn't mind when he won the Oscar. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have won if his character didn't die. Besides, they needed something to get the three main characters to drive the herd by themselves. If Curly doesn't die, then the movie has nowhere to go.

[–] johandav 12 years ago

As Doc80 implied, it was a necessity in order for the writers to get the plot where they wanted it to get. We had already seen that Jeff and T.R. (?) were scared of Curly - they never would have tried to pull the crap they did if he was still around to stop them. He was going to have to die during the drive anyway - them bringing in the herd with him would not have given them what they needed to discover within themselves. While I missed his character, I think he died at the right time.

The above is just my opinion. If we disagree, it only means that you are wrong.

[–] fredgarv79 12 years ago

yes I agree according to the plot he died at the right time. I guess I should have been clearer in what I said. it wasn't a huge mistake in the movie that was made to kill him off, it was a big mistake to have not made it so jack palance could have had a much bigger role in a slightly differently written movie. Jack palance was born to play this part, he could have been half the entire movie if it were up to me and less whining from the 3 city slickers. more scenes with him and billy crystal, maybe have crystals' character save his life in a moment of bravery, have them develop a friendship say. but I'm complaining about something that was not meant to be. I just love jack palance and this character was so great

same thing in the series Deadwood where they killed off kieth carridines wild bill cody so early in the first season. I could have watched that actor play that character forever