A Texas oil worker (John Travolta, who would not look out of place at a dude ranch) experiences deep emotional fulfillment with his success in riding the mechanical bucking bronco at Mickey Gilley's Texas-sized saloon (three and a half acres, capacity of 7,000 -- and y'all come now, hear). His fun is soon spoiled, though, when his willful wife becomes almost as good at it as he is, and when a mean-looking stranger in a black fishnet shirt proves himself to be even better. This barroom rivalry would have lent itself well to the mock-heroic mode, and can hardly help leaning that way from time to time. As the slice-of-working-class-life it wants to be, the movie is awfully thin on work life (if you blink at the wrong moments you may miss the oil fields altogether), on locale, and on the cowboy mystique that's supposed to be laid bare. With Debra Winger and Scott Glenn; directed by James Bridges. (1980) — Duncan Shepherd
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