City Slickers II: The Legend of Curly's Gold (1994) is a comedy film directed by Paul Weiland. It is the sequel to City Slickers (1991). Although a financial success, the film did not quite reach the popularity of the first movie, receiving a generally mixed response (a 20% Top Critic rating and a 46% RT Community rating on Rotten Tomatoes). It was nominated for the Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel.
Plot
It is the 40th birthday of Mitch Robbins (Billy Crystal), and he is welcoming it. The extraordinary cattle drive vacation he took has had a lasting effect which allows him a much more satisfying life. For instance, his career is going well and he regularly jogs with Norman, the calf he helped deliver who has grown into an adult bull.
As a present, Mitch's wife is going to have the kids sleep at their aunt's house so that they can have sex alone. But prior to making love, Mitch finds an old map in the hat of his now deceased friend, Curly (who was played by Jack Palance), and sees that it is a treasure map, but it has a small corner missing. After researching over a few days about the legend of the 1908 gold theft of the Western Pacific Railroad led by Lincoln Washburn (portrayed by an old newspaper photograph of Jack Palance), Curly's father. Mitch, along with his best friend Phil (Daniel Stern) and his younger, Godfather-obsessed brother Glen (Jon Lovitz) set out on a journey to find the gold in the deserts and canyons of Spencer Town, with hilarious accidents ensuing soon afterwards, such as Glen setting fire to the map with his magnifying glass, and Phil sitting on a cactus with his bare bottom but believing that he had been bitten by a rattlesnake.
But along the way, Mitch, Phil and Glen encounter two robbers who turn out to be the men (Bud and Matt) who sold them horses and food for the trip, looking for the map (Phil had stupidly bragged to Bud and Matt about Curly, Lincoln, the hidden map and the stolen gold). Just before they are killed, a Curly lookalike intervenes and fights the robbers off. Convinced that his dreams of accidentally burying Curly alive were true, Mitch is ready to be slain by the man when he miraculously frees them from being tied up. He then reveals himself to be Duke (also played by Palance), the twin brother of Curly and similar to Curly in both demeanor in personality, except Duke was a career man who spent his life in the Navy (as Duke puts it: "Curly loved the land, and I loved the sea."). Duke explains that the chef from the cattledrive, Cookie (unseen but played in the first film by Tracey Walter) told him that Mitch had Curly's things, and presumably the hat as well, explaining why he followed Mitch to New Rochelle in the first place.
The trio-turned-foursome carry on with their quest, until a reckless act from Mitch causes a stampede, and everything is gone: the food, the tents, the sleeping bags, and worst of all, the map. Fortunately, Duke and Glen remember the rest of the way, and just as Mitch and Phil are about to turn back and leave for home, they find the lost cave where the gold is supposed to be.
When they find the gold, the foursome are then cornered by two different robbers, they begin to fight, and then Glen is shot in the stomach. Phil mercilessly attacks the robber (the other one was knocked out) while Mitch mourns his brother, and Duke unloads the gun, only to see that the bullets are really blanks with red paint pellets. At that moment, Clay Stone (Noble Willingham,who organized the Cattle Drive the previous year) shows up. Clay Stone reveals that he knew Duke and was looking for him for a long time, and that the two robbers are really Clay Stone's sons and not the robbers. The treasure map was actually part of a new adventure tour for Stone's ranch. The gold, much to Clay Stone's amusement, turns out to be lead painted gold, and that Lincoln and Curly had played a trick on Duke. Clay Stone also says that he and his sons had orchestrated the supposed "robbery" to scare them and deliberately shoot one of them with red paint pellets to make it look real, but had never intended it to break out into a fight. Laughing his head off, Clay Stone leaves the cave, leaving Mitch, Phil, Glen and Duke feeling lost.
After eating with Clay Stone and a few old friends (like the Shalowitz Brothers from the first film), Mitch, Phil and Glen leave for a convention in Las Vegas, but Duke stays behind for an unknown reason.
Afterwards Duke makes a surprise visit to Mitch's hotel room in Las Vegas and speaks personally to him, telling him that he has found out what his one thing is: honesty. Duke reveals that he was planning to cheat Mitch and his friends out of the gold, but he couldn't find it in his heart to do so. Duke then reveals that he had the missing corner in his hat, just as Curly had the incomplete map in his hat, and he places a piece of gold on the table. Mitch tries to scratch the gold off, but it won't come off. Delighted, Mitch screams at the top of his lungs. They're going to be rich after all.
A post-credits scene, omitted from most versions, shows a pregnant Barbara enter the hotel room and see the gold on the table. Mitch enters to surprise Barbara, but sees that she has fainted.
Cast
Bruno Kirby was unavailable to reprise his role as Ed Furillo from the first film, so the character of Glen was used to replace him. Interestingly enough, the film which Glen is obsessed with, The Godfather Part II, was one of Kirby's earliest films, and the initial relationship between Mitch and Glen is shown to parallel that of Fredo Corleone and Michael Corleone in said film.
References
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