In "The Hi-Lo Country" (opening today), Woody Harrelson, Billy Crudup, and Sam Elliott play good ol' boys who know a thing or two about ropin' and ridin'. But truth be told, they weren't all that thrilled to be planted in the saddle.

For Crudup, who plays a lovesick cowboy, just mounting his trusty steed was a humbling pain in the butt. "I was under the ridiculous assumption I could ride based on some YMCA camp experience at age 9," Crudup tells EW Online. "Let's just say I wasn't walking right for about a week." Still, once the city slicker got the hang of riding, he quickly changed his tune... for a while. "When we had a day off, I would usually go out and ride -- I couldn't get enough of it. But when the shoot was over, I found something else to be obsessed about. I'm still waiting for the thing that will stick."

Unlike his costar, Harrelson felt at home on the range. "I probably could have been a cowboy if I wasn't raised in the suburbs," says Harrelson, who once worked on a horse ranch in Oklahoma. "There's something about their fearlessness and toughness, but at the same time their tenderness with their friends, that really appeals to me."

Oddly enough, it's Elliott, who started his career with a bit part in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" and has made a career out of cowboy roles, who's more of a farmer than a rancher at heart. "We've got horses at home, and I kayak and fish, but working in the garden is what keeps me from going crazy," says Elliott. "I'm a real rose grower, and I do a good vegetable garden, too."

You Might Also Like

• Movie Review The Hi-Lo Country (1998)
• Cover Story The Hi-Lo Country
• Movie News empty shell (1998)
• Movie News Holiday Movie Preview (1998)
• Movie News War Path (1998) | Liane Bonin
• Movie Review The Grand (Mar 21, 2008) | Owen Gleiberman