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Thelma & Louise (1991)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer (WGA):
Callie Khouri (written by)
Release Date:
24 May 1991 (USA)
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Tagline:
Somebody said get a life... so they did.
Plot:
An Arkansas waitress and a housewife shoot a rapist and take off in a '66 Thunderbird. full summary | full synopsis
Awards:
Won Oscar.
Another 12 wins
&
21 nominations
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NewsDesk:
(27 articles)
Outrage: An Interview with Director Ace Cruz
(From 28 Days Later Analysis. 18 November 2009, 11:22 AM, PST)
Jessica Manafort to direct 'Thelma and Louise' remake called 'Cowgirl Bandits'. Sadly.
(From pretty-scary. 22 October 2009, 11:22 AM, PDT)
(From 28 Days Later Analysis. 18 November 2009, 11:22 AM, PST)
Jessica Manafort to direct 'Thelma and Louise' remake called 'Cowgirl Bandits'. Sadly.
(From pretty-scary. 22 October 2009, 11:22 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
More than an exercise in male-bashing
more (223 total)
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Susan Sarandon | ... | Louise | |
| Geena Davis | ... | Thelma | |
| Harvey Keitel | ... | Hal | |
| Michael Madsen | ... | Jimmy | |
| Christopher McDonald | ... | Darryl | |
| Stephen Tobolowsky | ... | Max | |
| Brad Pitt | ... | J.D. | |
| Timothy Carhart | ... | Harlan | |
| Lucinda Jenney | ... | Lena, the Waitress | |
| Jason Beghe | ... | State Trooper | |
| Sonny Carl Davis | ... | Albert | |
| Ken Swofford | ... | Major | |
| Shelly Desai | ... | East Indian Motel Clerk (as Shelly De Sai) | |
| Carol Mansell | ... | Waitress | |
| Stephen Polk | ... | Surveillance Man |
Additional Details
Also Known As:
MPAA:
Rated R for strong language, and for some violence and sensuality.
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
129 min
Language:
Color:
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Singapore:M18 |
Iceland:12 |
Brazil:14 |
USA:R (No. 31011) |
Canada:18A (Canadian Home Video rating) |
New Zealand:M |
Canada:14+ |
Argentina:16 |
Australia:M |
Chile:18 |
Finland:K-14 |
France:U |
Germany:16 |
Netherlands:12 |
Norway:15 |
Peru:18 |
South Korea:18 |
Spain:13 |
Sweden:15 |
UK:15 |
Portugal:M/16
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
It took producers so long to find someone for the role of Louise that Geena Davis had to sign a contract stating that the producers could cast her in either role if need be.
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Goofs:
Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Towards the end of the film, where Thelma rings Hal Slocumb the state police investigator, the FBI are in the same room as Hal, recording the telephone. Watch for the guy at the tape recorder - he's messed up his headphones so much that the left ear cup is pointing out rather than pointing in. Professionals do often listen with just one cup (to retain some ambient sense), but never like this.
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Quotes:
[first lines]
Louise Sawyer: Decaf or regular?
Girl in diner: Uh, regular, please.
Louise Sawyer: You girls are kinda young to be smokin', dontcha think? Ruins your sex drive.
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Louise Sawyer: Decaf or regular?
Girl in diner: Uh, regular, please.
Louise Sawyer: You girls are kinda young to be smokin', dontcha think? Ruins your sex drive.
more
Movie Connections:
Referenced in Zeruda no densetsu Towairaito purinsesu (2006) (VG)
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Soundtrack:
Drawn To The Fire
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FAQ
Any recommendations for movies similar to "Thelma & Louise"?Is this movie based on a novel?
A Note Regarding Spoilers
more
more (223 total)
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This is an important commercial film aimed at blue collar women who feel victimized by both society and the men in their lives. Directed by Ridley Scott, who directed the science fiction classics, Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982), Thelma and Louise is an on-the-lam chick flick (with chase scenes), a kind of femme Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), somewhat akin to Wild at Heart (1990) and Natural Born Killers (1994) but without the gratuitous violence of those films. Ridley Scott walks the razor edge between femme-exploitation and serious social commentary. Incidentally, the script is by Callie Khouri who wrote Something to Talk About (1995) and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002) which should give you an idea of how men are depicted here.
Susan Sarandon is Louise, a thirty-something Arkansas waitress with an attitude and some emotional baggage, and Geena Davis is Thelma, a cloistered ingenue housewife with a yearning to breath free. Both do an outstanding job and carry the film from beginning to end. The characters they play are well-rounded and fully developed and sympathetic, in contrast to the men in the film who are for the most part merely clichés, or in the case of Darryl (Christopher McDonald), Thelma's boorish husband, or the troll-like truck driver, burlesques.
I have never seen Geena Davis better. Her unique style is melded very well into a naive woman who never had a chance to express herself, but goes hog wild and seems a natural at it when the time comes. Sarandon is also at the top of her game and plays the crusty, worldly wise, vulnerable Louise with tenderness and understanding. Note, by the way, her pinned up in back hair-style, directly lifted from TV's Polly Holliday ("Kiss my grits!") who appeared as a waitress in the seventies sitcoms "Alice" and "Flo."
Harvey Keitel plays the almost sympathetic cop, Hal Slocumb, and Brad Pitt appears as J. D., a sweet-talking twenty-something who gives Thelma the script for robbing 7-11s as he steals more than her libido.
This movie works because it is funny and sad by turns and expresses the yearning we all have to be free of the restraints of society and its institutions (symbolized in the wide-open spaces of the American Southwest) while representing the on again, off again incompatibility of the male and female heart. The male-bashing is done with a touch of humor and the targets are richly deserving of what they get. The ending is perhaps too theatrical and frankly unrealistic, but opinions may differ.
Best and most telling quick scene is when Thelma phones Darryl to see if he has found out about their escapades. Weasel-like, he is trying to help the cops locate them, but he is so transparent to her that all she has to do is hear his voice. "He knows," she says to Louise and hangs up.
Best visual is when the black police helicopter appears suddenly, menacingly like a giant fly beneath the horizon of the Grand Canyon. Also excellent were the all those squad cars lined up like armored battalions aimed at the girls on the run.
I also liked the scenes at the motel with J.D. and Louise's boyfriend. They were beautifully directed and cut, and very well conveyed by Sarandon and Davis, depicting two contrasting stages in male-female relationships.
See this for Geena Davis because she was brilliant, vividly alive and never looked better.