Urban Cowboy Trivia
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This Urban Cowboy trivia quiz has 49 free questions with answers and covers the 1980 film that put a mechanical bull in every honky-tonk: Bud Davis arriving in Pasadena, Texas, for a refinery job, meeting Sissy at Gilley's, the marriage, the bull, the ex-con Wes Hightower, Pam the oilman's daughter, Uncle Bob's death and the $5,000 rodeo contest. It also covers the Esquire article and real couple behind the story, director James Bridges, the cast including Scott Glenn, Madolyn Smith and Barry Corbin, the cameos by Mickey Gilley, Johnny Lee, Charlie Daniels and Bonnie Raitt, the triple-platinum soundtrack, Gilley's Club itself and the 'Urban Cowboy movement' that boomed country music and line dancing. Early questions suit anyone who has two-stepped to Lookin' for Love; later ones reward fans who know the choreographer, the Broadway musical and how Gilley's met its end. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing. No lyrics are quoted.
30 of 49 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Which director, fresh from The China Syndrome, made Urban Cowboy and co-wrote its script?
James Bridges
James Bridges filmed inside the real Gilley's rather than on a set, and the film's end credits thank the club for the use of its wide open indoor spaces.
Q 02John Travolta's Urban Cowboy character goes by Bud, but what is his given first name?
Buford
Buford 'Bud' Davis took real practice: Travolta had a mechanical bull installed at his Santa Barbara home and rode it for weeks before filming began.
Q 03Who plays Sissy, the wife of Travolta's Bud, in Urban Cowboy?
Debra Winger
Debra Winger won the part in a toss-up with one other unknown, after both flew to Texas to dance with Travolta and ride the mechanical bull at Gilley's.
Q 04In which Texas city stood Gilley's, the vast honky-tonk at the heart of Urban Cowboy?
Pasadena
Pasadena was home to a club that took the name Gilley's over Mickey Gilley's own objection: his business partner insisted, because Gilley was the headline act.
Q 05In Urban Cowboy, where does Bud find work after leaving his small hometown?
An oil refinery
An oil refinery is the point of the title: the magazine story behind the film found Texas's modern cowboys clocking in at chemical plants and riding a mechanical bull, not the range.
Q 06In Urban Cowboy, what is the name of Bud's West Texas hometown, where he hopes to buy land?
Spur
Spur is a real town, and the birthplace of the film's co-writer, who gave his hero the same roots.
Q 07In Urban Cowboy, where do Bud and Sissy live after their wedding?
A mobile home
A mobile home is where the newlyweds settle, and where Bud throws Sissy out after she rides the mechanical bull better than he does.
Q 08After Urban Cowboy opened in 1980, sales of what boomed across the United States?
Western wear
Western wear became a costume for a night out, and the craze travelled: mechanical bulls turned up in bars as far away as Belgium, Sweden and South Africa.
Q 09What is Wes Hightower when Gilley's hires him to run its mechanical bull?
A convict out on parole
A convict out on parole, Wes was the star rider of a prison rodeo, which is why he outshines Bud on the machine until the final contest.
Q 10Which actor, later Jack Crawford in The Silence of the Lambs, plays Wes Hightower in Urban Cowboy?
Scott Glenn
Scott Glenn learned the mechanical bull well enough to do his own riding on camera, as did both of the film's leads.
Q 11How does Bud break his arm in Urban Cowboy?
Wes swings the mechanical bull around hard
Wes swings the mechanical bull around hard while Bud is trying to top Sissy's ride; with his arm in a cast Bud cannot work, which is why he enters the club's contest.
Q 12In Urban Cowboy, who is Pam, the woman Bud takes up with after throwing Sissy out?
A rich oilman's daughter
A rich oilman's daughter, Pam is the one who finally sends Bud back to his wife: after the contest she sees he still loves Sissy and tells him to go to her.
Q 13In Urban Cowboy, what does Pam do with the note Sissy leaves for Bud at their home?
Q 21Travolta turned down American Gigolo before making Urban Cowboy; which actor took that role instead?
Richard Gere
Richard Gere had been here before: his part in Days of Heaven was also one Travolta had been cast in and could not take.
Q 22Which Johnny Lee song from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack topped the country chart and reached No. 5 on the Hot 100?
Lookin' for Love
Lookin' for Love went to Lee because he was a house act at the real Gilley's, and it became the film's theme, the song Bud and Sissy two-step to.
Q 23Which soul classic did Mickey Gilley take to No. 1 on the country chart thanks to Urban Cowboy?
Stand by Me
Throws it away
Throws it away: Pam also takes the credit for the cleaning Sissy did, so Bud only learns his wife wanted to make up when Pam confesses after the contest.
Q 14In Urban Cowboy, where does Wes plan to start a new life with the bull-riding prize money?
Mexico
Mexico is where Wes means to start over once he wins, but Bud narrowly beats him to the prize, and Wes is caught before he can leave the club.
Q 15In Urban Cowboy, which former rodeo champion trains Bud for the bull-riding contest at Gilley's?
Uncle Bob
Uncle Bob urges Bud to swallow his pride and win Sissy back, then dies in an accident at work, leaving Bud to ride in his memory.
Q 16In Urban Cowboy's climax, what is Wes doing while Sissy waits in the car?
Robbing Gilley's office at gunpoint
Robbing Gilley's office at gunpoint is Wes's answer to losing the contest: he takes the prize money anyway, but it spills from his jacket when Bud tackles him.
Q 17Urban Cowboy was adapted from a 1978 cover story in which magazine?
Esquire
Esquire ran the story in September 1978, and within two months a music manager had bought the film rights and a director was attached.
Q 18Which Texas-born actor was the filmmakers' first choice to play Bud in Urban Cowboy?
Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid was the first name in mind for Bud, but the part went to John Travolta once he had dropped out of American Gigolo.
Q 19Which Travolta hit did critics call Urban Cowboy a country version of?
Saturday Night Fever
Saturday Night Fever shares its origin too: both films grew out of magazine articles about a local nightlife scene, with Travolta as a young man who lives for the club.
Q 20Whose mother choreographed Urban Cowboy, launching her film career?
Patrick Swayze's
Patrick Swayze's mother, Patsy, ran a Texas dance school and taught Travolta the film's dances herself.
Stand by Me, Ben E. King's 1961 hit, also carried Gilley into the pop top 30, as the film pushed country singles onto the Hot 100.
Q 24Which Anne Murray ballad from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack became a country No. 1 in 1980?
Could I Have This Dance
Could I Have This Dance reached the director while he was still filming, so it plays inside the story rather than over it, and it won Murray a Grammy.
Q 25Which 1979 Charlie Daniels Band hit was reused on the Urban Cowboy soundtrack?
The Devil Went Down to Georgia
The Devil Went Down to Georgia is played on screen by the band itself: Charlie Daniels and his group appear in the film as themselves.
Q 26Which Boz Scaggs ballad from Urban Cowboy reached No. 3 on the adult contemporary chart?
Look What You've Done to Me
Look What You've Done to Me, co-written with David Foster, is the film's seduction ballad; Scaggs was a client of its co-producer, who put six of his own acts on the album.
Q 27Which Eagles guitarist had a solo hit with 'All Night Long' from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack?
Joe Walsh
Joe Walsh's hard-rock single reached No. 19 on the Hot 100; the album's producer wanted rock and pop names beside the country acts and kept hard-core country to a minimum.
Q 28In which Texas city did Urban Cowboy hold its June 1980 premiere before a party at Gilley's?
Houston
Houston's Gaylynn Theater hosted the screening, then the party moved to Gilley's itself, where the cast and studio executives joined the club's usual crowd.
Q 29Which music manager, then steering the Eagles, co-produced Urban Cowboy with Robert Evans?
Irving Azoff
Irving Azoff planned the soundtrack album before filming began, and it paid off: the double album reached No. 3 and spun off six top 40 singles.
Q 30The real Gilley's from Urban Cowboy sold its own brand of which drink?
Beer
Beer was only one line: the club's co-owner also put the Gilley's name on T-shirts, caps, belt buckles and even underwear.