MovieChat Forums > Urban Cowboy (1980) Discussion > It's okay to cheat on and beat your wife

It's okay to cheat on and beat your wife

posted 14 years ago by rochelle-rochelle
18 replies | jump to latest

I love this movie, but it's really messed up. Everyone beats up Sissy like it's okay to do. I would expect Wes to, but Bud? Did he beat up Pam too? And you know Bud was going to hit her again. It was like it's okay for him to beat her up, but once he found out Wes hit her, that was it. Bud didn't mind Sissy sleeping and living with Wes, but I guess Bud is the only one allowed to punch Sissy. Talk about white trailer trash.

This COULD have been a Lifetime movie of the week, but nothing really bad happens to the men that beat up Sissy in the movie.

And anyone else find it WEIRD and ODD that Bud's family was okay with him bringing Pam around to dinners and Gilley's and such? I mean, he just married Sissy last week and now he's with some other bar floozy. Pam must've been desperate to be with Bud. I mean, he was only with her to make Sissy jealous. What a waste.

[–] Synthia7 8 years ago

I love this movie, but it's really messed up. Everyone beats up Sissy like it's okay to do

One of the gutsiest themes in this movie is domestic violence. And no where is it made to seem OK. Bud didn't realize how bad his macho violence and oppression were until he encounterd it in Wes at a much more extreme level. He had to learn that it was not OK. That's part of his arc in the film.

Surprised you got the wrong message. Beating up Sissy was not depicted as OK.

I've got a feeling this movie doesn't show more on TV because people don't get the domestic violence angle and are scared of it.

[–] Techto (1075) 3 years ago

> Bud didn't mind Sissy sleeping and living with Wes, but I guess Bud is the only one allowed to punch Sissy.

Well, Bud was himself living and sleeping with Pam, so he really had no standing to object to Sissy’s relationship with Wes. Although still married, they were broken up/separated. Bud was right to object to Wes beating Sissy but you are correct to point out that it makes Bud a bit hypocritical. I think it’s clear that, by that point in the film, Bud had seen the error of his earlier ways.