Hard Hat Days and Honky Tonk Nights

High on my list of movies that I'm always happy to catch on cable is Urban Cowboy. Yesterday, I was getting ready to take my "because I can" Saturday afternoon nap, and caught Urban Cowboy right from the start.

It was made in 1980, when I was 6 years old, so it's well within my frame of reference as far as lifestyles go. In fact, my mom has always been a country music freak, so the entire soundtrack takes me back big time, and at that time she was married to a real life good old boy. I was young, yes, but the era is not as foreign to me as say, Breakfast at Tiffany's.

There are so many things I love about this movie, and even more that perplex me. At that time, was it really still ok to smack your woman if she smarted off to you? Was a sullen cowboy who expected a wife to follow his every command really still attractive? Was it really that easy to move in with your cowboy after knowing him for a few days? It just seems weird to me, that in a time period that I have recollection of, attitudes could have been so very different. Maybe it's true, maybe we have come a long way?

All of these questions are overshadowed by the pleasure of watching John Travolta dance, though. I don't know why, but it just really tickles me that he's so good, in so many different kinds of dance. He's just as good two stepping with Debra Winger as he is disco dancing with Karen Gorney, the hand jive with Olivia Newton John, interpretive dance with Cynthia Rhodes, or the twist with Uma Thurman, and I love it.

Also, it reminded me that I've always wanted to ride a mechanical bull. Any takers? There's got to be one somewhere in this town.