Ridley Scott – Thelma And Louise (1991)
Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel…
Thelma and Louise have both had enough of their problems with their partners, so they decide to take a trip together. However, early into their trip a man tries to rape Thelma, only to be killed by Louise. The murder immediately puts them on the run as they continue their ‘holiday’ with police on their tails. The two only need to make it to Mexico… (screenrush.co.uk.)
*** *** ***
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(…) What appears to be a simple light-hearted Southwestern working class female adventure suddenly turns dark, dangerous, and absolutely engrossing the moment Louise kills Thelma’s would-be rapist in the country bar parking lot. What follows is their flight from the law and their men until they finally take hold of their own lives and make one strong assertive statement: their death as they drive off the rim of the Grand Canyon rather than face surrender and capture by the “men with guns” packed around them, much like the hundreds of Bolivian troops surrounding Butch and Sundance at the end of their tale.
The ending, however, points a telling difference with and from Butch Cassidy and other road movies. While it’s never quite clear how aware Butch and Sundance are that they are about to die (and they certainly do not express this thought in their dialogue), Thelma and Louise absolutely agree on “Let’s not get caught,” sealed with soulful and joyful glances at each other. Ironically they embrace each other as friends and life itself, free and pure, before plunging to their chosen death.
The film is also memorable for the strong performances by Susan Sarandon as Louise and Geena Davis as Thelma. Rather than busty Hollywood pre-twenty sex kittens, Sarandon and Davis give full bodied character to these thirty and forty-something women who come to enjoy the role-reversing situations they find themselves in. Audiences screamed with delight along with this dynamic duo when, for instance, Thelma blows up the oil tanker truck in the desert.
That said, the men in the film also play their less than flattering roles with brio. Newcomer Brad Pitt is sexy and devilishly dangerous as the hitchhiker who gives Thelma her first orgasm and steals all their money. Harvey Keitel plays the exasperated and sympathetic cop well, while Michael Madsen is “the guy you love to hate” as Thelma’s redneck husband, Darryl… by Andrew Horton (www.filmreference.com)
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