Thelma & Louise

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Thelma & Louise

Thelma & Louise film poster
Directed by Ridley Scott
Produced by Mimi Polk Gitlin
Ridley Scott
Written by Callie Khouri
Starring Susan Sarandon
Geena Davis
Harvey Keitel
Brad Pitt
Michael Madsen
Christopher McDonald
Music by Hans Zimmer
Cinematography Adrian Biddle
Distributed by MGM
Release date(s) May 24, 1991 (USA)
Running time 129 min.
Language English
Budget $16,500,000 US (est.)
IMDb profile

Thelma & Louise is a road movie from 1991 conceived and written by Callie Khouri, co-produced and directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Geena Davis as Thelma, Susan Sarandon as Louise, and Harvey Keitel as a sympathetic detective trying to solve crimes that the two women find easier and easier to commit. Michael Madsen plays Louise's boyfriend and Christopher McDonald plays Thelma's controlling husband. Brad Pitt (in his first significant role in a major Hollywood film) plays a robber on parole who befriends Thelma on the road. The film was released on May 24, 1991.

Contents

[edit] Plot

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film follows the women as they head out in Louise's green 1966 Thunderbird convertible for a two-day adventure that quickly becomes nightmarish but then sees them change from victims of circumstance into icons of feminism.

At a roadside bar, Thelma gets drunk and a man attempts to rape her in the parking lot. Louise shoots and kills the attacker, but only after the danger has likely passed, making any claim of defense somewhat shaky. Louise becomes concerned that the authorities will prosecute her and decides to flee, and Thelma accompanies her.

Thelma and Louise
Enlarge
Thelma and Louise

Louise is determined to reach Mexico but is unwilling to do so via Texas, despite the fact that they are in Oklahoma and the fastest route to Mexico leads through Texas. It is revealed that something bad happened to Louise in Texas years ago, though it is never revealed exactly what it was. Many people who see the movie believe that a specific event was described, but in fact no event is described in detail.

During their travels, they encounter a young robber on parole (played by Brad Pitt) who gives Thelma tips on how to conduct a successful robbery and then seduces her, only to steal Louise's savings. This shortage of cash results in Thelma conducting an armed robbery at a convenience store.

Another character they encounter is a truck driver who repeatedly makes obscene sexual gestures at them. They pull over to demand an apology from him, but he refuses and they shoot his tanker truck, which explodes.

In the end, with the police on their tail, Thelma and Louise are cornered at the Grand Canyon. Rather than be captured or killed, they drive off the cliff into the canyon. The film ends with a freeze frame of the car in mid-air at the height of its arc, so that the audience never sees their fall. End credits begin over a montage of their happiest moments together during the weekend.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia

  • The film shares plot line and visual elements with other road movies, particularly the 1979 movie Messidor by Alain Tanner.
  • Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn wanted to make a movie together and one of the scripts they considered was Thelma & Louise.
  • Cher was offered the role of Louise, but turned it down.
  • The sequence where Darryl slips and falls over the builder's supplies as he was leaving for work was unscripted, as Christopher McDonald genuinely lost his footing. Despite this he remained in character and yelled at the workmen and drove away. Ridley Scott apparently liked the result, and so it remains in the film.
  • Fito Paez was inspired by the film to compose a song called "Dos dias en la vida" (Two days in life), featured in the album "El amor despues del amor".
  • Singer/songwriter Tori Amos wrote Me and a Gun after watching this movie, being stirred to write about her own experience with sexual assault and telling no one about it for 6 years.
  • The song "Today 4 U" from the musical Rent contains references to Thelma and Louise.
  • The song "Bang" by Eve 6 on the album Horrorscope contains references to Thelma and Louise.
  • The original Thelma and Louise were to be played by Michelle Pfeiffer and Jodie Foster, Ridley Scott was going to produce, and Callie Khouri (the screenwriter) would be directing. In the end, the pitching took so long that Pfeiffer and Foster were no longer available, and Scott had been persuaded to direct it himself.
  • The film poster shows a picture of Monument Valley, Arizona (as on Best of the Eagles CD cover) but the picture has been reversed left to right.
  • The ending of the film is parodied by Wayne and Garth in the movie Wayne's World 2, as one of the ways in which the movie could end, but they later decide that they don't want it to end that way, and try a different ending.

[edit] External links


 v • d • e 
Ridley Scott's Films
Boy and Bicycle • The Duellists • Alien • Blade Runner • Legend • Someone to Watch Over Me • Black Rain • Thelma & Louise • 1492: Conquest of Paradise • White Squall • G.I. Jane • Gladiator • Hannibal • Black Hawk Down • Matchstick Men • Kingdom of Heaven • All the Invisible Children • A Good Year • American Gangster
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