MovieChat Forums > City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994) Discussion > Was it originally going to be Curly in C...

Was it originally going to be Curly in City Slickers 2?

posted 15 years ago by Tiberius27-1
2 replies | jump to latest

I remember reading Billy Crystal talking about City Slickers 2 before it came out, before they even made it, and he was describing what the coming attraction for it would be. The following is a paraphrased recollection as best I can remember it.

"Helicopter shot over the dessert. We focus on a wooden cross in the dirt. Suddenly a hand comes up from the ground. Jack Palance crawls out of the grave, does ten one armed push-ups, looks in the camera and says 'City Folk.' Then we flash forward to Jack & me walking in New York where he says 'I suffer from Narcolepsy. My heart beat slows to 13 beats a minute(Guessing) but you dont BURY a guy!"

Now based on this description I was REALLY looking forward to City Slickers 2 and was then REALLY disappointed to see the idiotic plot device of Jack Palance playing Curly's TWIN BROTHER! I didn't find out about it until seeing it & I thought up until the ending that they were going to say that Curly was just ACTING like a fictional twin brother for some reason. The fact that they did make it Curly's twin is a large part of why it's inferior to the original in every way in my opinion.

I've heard talk recently that suggested that City Slickers 2 HAD been filmed with Palance playing Curly but that it was changed to the stupid twin brother thing in post production.

Does anyone KNOW anything about this or have any links?
This question is why I came to this page in the first place after watching the original again. Thanks for your help.

"Be nice until it's time to NOT be nice."

[–] canuckteach 14 years ago

hi, Tiberius - my guess is that Billy was just kidding around.. I have both City Slickers with Director's narratives, and there's nothing said about Curly surviving. His death in #1 was essential to trigger the plot developments with the drunken, bullying trailhands, leading to our boys bringing in the herd.

I'm sorry you were disappointed by the sequel, but Billy was excited about a sequel, and there couldn't be one without Jack; so, the screenplay had to be squeezed to accommodate a lookalike 'Curly'. Palance was edgier and funnier in this one in an expanded role. Regardless of the plot 'defects', it's what the actors do with the material that determines the 'punch' of the film. I thought Jon Lovitz was an admirable replacement for Bruno, and there were lots of laughs. Maybe try watching again? the DVD can be picked up for $5 at any Walmart.

I was more disappointed by the protracted 'makeout' scene with Billy and his wife: needlessly explicit, and in poor taste, out-of-place in a PG film. There was nothing but some guy-talk banter in Slickers I. Not the only time Crystal has disappointed me with the editing choices made in films under his production. For a likeable & funny guy, his movies haven't been renowned, have they?

An example is "Mr Saturday Night" - the trailers were light-hearted and hilarious, but the movie itself was gloomy, depressing, and dark. Most of the great stuff was left on the cutting room floor. Maybe you or I could get a job as Billy's creative director? We'd all make more money. (--:

:-) canuckteach (--:

[–] Shaftaire_of_Astora 14 years ago

Both films were PG-13 in the USA.