Thelma & Louise

Plot synopsis:
As the film opens, we meet Louise (Susan Sarandon), a waitress in a diner-style restaurant. She phones her friend Thelma (Geena Davis) and makes reference to a vacation they are about to take together where they will retreat to a friend's rural cabin for the weekend. Thelma is married to a moronic hothead named Darryl (Christopher McDonald), and she is too timid to even tell Darryl that she is going away for the weekend. Instead, she waits until Darryl leaves for work and then writes a note. Louise is unmarried, although she does have a boyfriend named Jimmy (Michael Madsen). Her relationship is not the type that she has to explain anything to Jimmy; it is clear that Louise is an independent and headstrong woman, while Thelma is passive and naive. Perhaps out of fear of being in the woods with no man around, Thelma brings along Darryl's handgun. Together, the two friends set out in Louise's 1966 Thunderbird convertible.Before they have reached their destination, Thelma wants to stop at a roadhouse and have a few drinks. Although Louise does not want to do this, she warily agrees, seeing as it is Thelma's vacation, too. While there, the two women meet a man named Harlan (Timothy Carhart), who takes an interest in Thelma and flirts with her all evening. After Thelma has had too much to drink, Harlan sneaks her away from Louise and takes her out to the dark parking lot, where he attempts to have sex with her. When Thelma protests, Harlan becomes violent and attempts to rape her. He is interrupted by Louise, who appears brandishing the gun. Harlan tries to explain that they were just having fun, Louise warns him that when a woman protests a man's sexual advances, "she isn't having any fun." Although she is able to get Thelma safely away from Harlan, he claims that he wishes he had raped Thelma after all, and Louise immediately shoots him dead. Horrified, Thelma ushers Louise into the car and they drive away.Harlan's body is soon discovered, and it does not take the authorities long to connect Harlan to Thelma and Louise, since many people in the bar saw them together. The waitress who served them says she doesn't think they were the type to commit murder. A state police investigator named Hal Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) is assigned to the case and immediately seems sympathetic to Thelma and Louise; something about the incident does not add up, and he seems to suspect already why Harlan was shot.Thelma and Louise check into a motel and regroup, still in shock over the incident. Thelma feels that what happened was not their fault, and she wants to go to the police, but Louise is convinced that nobody will believe her side of the story and will charge her with homicide, particularly since Harlan wasn't threatening them any longer when she shot him. She is also cynical about how Thelma's story of attempted rape would be received; she knows they were seen drinking and dancing with Harlan, and she feels this would make others feel that Thelma led Harlan on. Unwilling to cooperate with authorities, Louise decides instead to contact Jimmy. She tells him she's in trouble and she needs money; she asks Jimmy for a loan that matches her life savings, to be repaid later, and Jimmy agrees. She asks him to wire the money to her in Oklahoma City. Although she doesn't tell Jimmy any details, she plans to stay on the run and cross the border into Mexico. Thelma is confused when Louise tells her that she doesn't want to go through Texas to get to Mexico, but Louise becomes furious about it and insists that Thelma find another route.At a gas station, Louise asks Thelma to call Darryl, and when she does he refuses to even listen to her; he orders her to return home immediately, at which point Thelma curses him and hangs up. Before leaving the station, Thelma strikes up a conversation with a handsome hitchhiker. Thelma is especially interested in him, and eventually she convinces Louise to offer him a ride. His name is JD (Brad Pitt), and he immediately charms Thelma. Louise is wary of him from the very beginning, at first refusing to give him a lift but then relenting when they happen upon him again by chance. Along the way to Oklahoma, Louise narrowly avoids being spotted by state police, alerting JD to the fact that something is going on with them.They stop at another motel, where Louise has arranged to pick up Jimmy's wire transfer. Instead she finds Jimmy himself waiting for her; her strange behavior has made him anxious to see her in person. Jimmy rents a separate room for Thelma, and Louise entrusts her to guard the cash, which is in a large envelope. After Louise leaves for her own room, JD reappears and Thelma invites him in. The two of them make love, and JD reveals to her that he is a semi-professional thief who makes his living holding up small convenience stores. He delights Thelma by running through the speech that he uses to hold up his victims, and Thelma remarks how polite he is about the whole thing.Meanwhile, Louise and Jimmy have a soul-baring conversation about their relationship. Jimmy is infuriated when Louise refuses to tell him what is going on, and he awkwardly proposes to her. Louise is conflicted; although she is touched at Jimmy's interest in marrying her, she knows that her circumstances prevent it, and she isn't even sure she wants to marry Jimmy. The matter remains unresolved; in the morning, she sees Jimmy off from the hotel's coffee shop, both of them knowing that it may be the last time they see one another. Immediately after Jimmy leaves, Thelma appears, noticeably giddy and dazed. Louise is amused that Thelma has enjoyed a night of sex with JD, until Thelma reveals that she has left him alone in the hotel room with the money. They rush back upstairs to find both JD and their money gone.Louise is devastated, since now it seems as if she will have no choice but to surrender. Without money, she and Thelma have no other options. Thelma, however, seems galvanized by the experience. She takes charge and orders Louise to get her belongings together and they leave the hotel.Meanwhile, Hal Slocumb has visited Louise's apartment, and since he feels the women may have left the state, the FBI is called in. Hal and several FBI agents stake out Darryl's house, tapping the phone in anticipation of Thelma eventually calling home.JD is picked up and brought to Hal for questioning, and Hal speaks privately with him. Even though he knows Thelma and Louise are fugitives, he is furious with JD for interfering with their security by taking their money, and JD apparently cracks and tells him everything he knows. JD has a brief confrontation with Darryl, who is also at the police station, and is furious with him for sleeping with Thelma. Slocumb and the others are amused by Darryl's ridiculous antics.Shortly after leaving the hotel, the women pull up alongside a small gas station with a convenience market. Louise is still so shaken up over their latest setback that she can hardly speak; Thelma borrows her sunglasses and goes inside. After only a few minutes, she comes running out of the station, screaming for Louise to start the car, and the two of them speed off; Thelma has robbed the gas station, making off with an undetermined amount of money. Louise is shocked, and wonders how Thelma did it.Immediately we cut to Darryl's house, where Darryl, Hal, and the other FBI agents watch the security camera video of Thelma robbing the market; they are stunned at how cool and professional she seems, unaware that she is reciting JD's robbery speech almost verbatim. Louise decides they need to find out if the authorities are onto them, so she tells Thelma to call Darryl. "Hang up if it seems like he knows anything," she tells her. When Darryl greets her with a cheery "Hello", Thelma immediately hangs up, saying "He knows." Louise thinks for a moment and then dials the number again; when Darryl answers, she asks to speak to whoever is in charge, and Hal talks to her. She speaks bluntly to him, which Hal seems to admire. Hal informs them that they're not wanted for murder, only for questioning, although Thelma is now wanted in Oklahoma for armed robbery. Louise hangs up before the call can be traced. While driving away, Thelma recalls the incident with Harlan and asks Louise again about Texas; Thelma is sure Louise was raped there. But Louise is adamant, and icily tells Thelma that she won't talk about it, and to never ask her about it again.Later, Louise is pulled over for speeding by a state policeman. When the cop takes her into his car and tries to call in Louise's registration on his radio, Thelma appears and puts the gun to his head. She tells Louise to take his gun and shoot out his radio, then they lock him in the trunk of his cruiser and speed off. After leaving the state, Louise calls Slocumb again at Darryl's house. She tells him that the whole thing was an accident, and Hal believes her, but since she is unwilling to return for questioning, he informs her that they will be charged with murder. He also makes a shocking statement to Louise: he knows what happened to her in Texas. Thelma hangs up the phone, worried that Louise has been on too long. Sure enough, the FBI has traced the call, and they try and head off without Hal to bring the women in. Hal convinces them to bring him along anyway, feeling some sort of connection to the incident, especially to Louise.Thelma has a moment where she embraces her new life; she worries that Louise will make a deal with Slocumb in order to return to her old life and possibly reconnect with Jimmy. Thelma herself feels that she can never go back to the way she used to live, not now that she has tasted freedom. Louise vows that she is not considering any deals, and that the two of them will stay together.Throughout the film, the women have encountered an obnoxious male trucker while on the road. The man has made obscene gestures at them and lewdly tried to suggest some kind of sexual activity with them. At this point, they see him again and decide to take care of him once and for all. They tell him to pull over for some fun, then they confront him about his behavior and demand that he apologize. When the man becomes indignant, they fire on his rig's gas tank, blowing his truck and trailer sky high in a huge explosion. The man calls them "bitches from Hell" and collapses in disbelief.With the burned out rig as a very noticeable indicator of their presence, the women are soon spotted by highway patrol and pursued by many cars. After a high speed chase, Louise manages to briefly shake the entire brigade by driving under a very low pipeline overpass. The Thunderbird barely makes it, but the police cars are trapped behind the pipeline. Momentarily alone, Louise and Thelma seem to realize that they cannot escape from the police, and they find that their only path leads them upwards into a mountainous region. They find themselves trapped when they reach the top, which offers no escape; they are on the brink of an enormous canyon.The state police and the FBI are right behind them; a large helicopter appears in front of them, one of the passengers being Hal Slocumb himself. The police dig in behind the Thunderbird, forming an impassable barrier. All of the troopers and FBI agents draw their weapons and train them on the Thunderbird. Hal is upset, understanding that this much firepower is unnecessary to confront these two women. Inside the Thunderbird, Thelma and Louise have a discussion. Louise says that she refuses to surrender, and Thelma once again realizes that she will now lose the freedom that she so briefly experienced. She tearfully suggests to Louise that they "keep going", gesturing at the canyon. Louise realizes that Thelma is suggesting that they die together, and she seems to agree. Overcome with emotion, she embraces Thelma and kisses her in friendship, and she slams on the gas pedal, driving full speed ahead. Hal realizes what they are doing and runs after them, but he is too late. As Louise and Thelma hold hands in defiance, the car flies off the edge of the cliff. The frame freezes as the car flies through the air, then fades to a white screen. As the credits start to roll, various scenes of Thelma and Louise's past few days "flash before our eyes."

Tags: murder, dramatic, cult, violence, action, tragedy

Review:
As bold and relevant as ever, it remains a vastly entertaining must-see.Callie Khouri's screenplay is a feeling, funny classic and director Ridley Scott lends this road movie epic scope, seeking out the beauty in open spaces.Both leads - Geena Davis as Thelma and Susan Sarandon as Louise - give fine performances.
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.
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.
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.
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 tradition of the American road trip is shown in such a refreshing way in this movie, with its two lead characters people who are fed up with life, and no longer take any crap from the men that they live with or that they meet.
The main stars here are Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon), who are some what fed up with the life that they are living, and plan a trip to get away from everything.
In fact from the time that this incident begins and concludes, the movie to the very end was for me, one great joy ride.Davis and Sarandon share a great bond on the film.
Hal is genuinely interested in working out the situation with the girls, but realises that these are extraordinary women, in an extraordinary situation.'Thelma and Louise' is well directed by Oscar winning director, Ridley Scott.
Nevertheless, it looks like fun to be on the run!CMRS gives 'Thelma and Louise': 4.5 (Very Good - Brilliant Film).
It is a buddy movie about two women, and it is one of the best road movies to ever grace the screen.Louise (Susan Sarandon) and Thelma (Gina Davis) are two friends who plan a road trip into the mountains for the weekend.
Thelma is a sexually repressed housewife who lives at home with a self-important husband (Christopher McDonald) who doesn't seem to care much for her at all except when she is not fulfilling her house-wife duties like having diner made and the house cleaned.It is no wonder these two decide to take a trip for the weekend to the mountains to get away for awhile and have fun.
Of course there is an event that happens not long after they have started their journey, and right after said event, things quickly spiral out of control as the two girls find themselves racing for Mexico with the law quickly on their heels.This movie could've been just another boring road picture, but both Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon along with a fine script and clever pacing by director Ridley Scott, make it much better.
In response to people who bash the movie saying that it is anti-male; I would like to say that Thelma and Louise is simply a movie about situations that happen to women all too often.
"Thelma and Louise" is also a movie where Scott takes a lucid look on the hidden side of the American society and especially on men.
The road movie is traditionally a male genre, relying on the sense of freedom and independence that having one's own transport provides and which has usually been the privilege of men What is innovatory about "Thelma & Louise" is the way it reequips the genre for women Thelma (Geena Davis) is a housewife trapped in a meaningless marriage, Louise (Susan Sarandon) is a waitress in a not very significant relationship They decide to give themselves a little space by taking off for a weekend But when Louise shoots a man who is trying to rape Thelma, they are precipitated into a far more radical break with their past lives The setting of action in the American southwest and the acts of outlawry the women are obliged to commit in order to keep on the run give the film some of the feel of a Western What makes it nevertheless a women's film is that the relationship between the two principals is at the center of the story The various men they encounter, both the ones they leave behind and those they meet on the road have less importance for Thelma and Louise than the two women do for each otherPredictably, the film met with hostility from some male viewers, on the grounds that the men were caricatured and that the film encouraged violence.
But if you look at a picture like Play Misty for Me from two decades earlier, where a used woman becomes the antagonist in a Psycho-type thriller, or I Spit on your Grave (1978) in which a woman's revenge for being raped could only be shown in a lurid exploitation movie, we can see how far the perspective has had to shift.Thelma & Louise, brilliantly scripted by Callie Kouri, gives an explanation for violence by women towards men, and it does so with amazing simplicity.
Michael Madsen is very good too, intimidating in his controlled anger, but radiating a presence that makes his attractiveness to Louise understandable.The movie is directed by that meticulous craftsman Ridley Scott.
Filmmaker Ridley Scott shows a terrific talent for directing women here, and the performances by Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis are almost uncanny.
Salty waitress Sarandon, initially the savvier of the two, is loose and girlie with Arkansas housewife Davis in the beginning; however, their character shadings soon change, with both ladies eventually taking turns playing 'the brains' (I didn't really believe it when, having been pulled over by a cop in the desert, Sarandon's Louise becomes kind of a dingbat, but you accept it for the moment and the movie quickly rolls on).
The men in the cast obviously don't get much of a chance to shine, but Harvey Keitel does the understanding detective bit very well (it's almost the same man he portrayed in "Mortal Thoughts"); Brad Pitt has a scene-stealing, star-making role as a cowboy hustler, yet this film took a long time to gain a fully appreciative audience.
Commonly described as a feminist road movie, "Thelma and Louise" has some important and meaningful things to say about feminism and female friendship.
It was honest here.And, the film was honest about it's main characters Thelma (Davis) and Louise (Sarandon).
Susan Sarandon (Louise) who plays a housewife and Geena Davis (Thelma)who plays a waitress, decides to go on a trip they would not forget.this movie shows how two best friends did not give up on each other.
Ridley Scott could not have directed a better movie.Furthermore, Brad Pitt (JD) plays a hitchhiker who really enjoys Thelma's company and woes her on how to rob local stores.
Thelma & Louise shows how two friend went from having a normal everyday life, to being on the run.If you have not seen this film, I would suggest everyone view the 1991 movie because, it is breath taking and will have you laughing and crying at the same time.
Lovely Geena Davis and tough Susan Sarandon gave their best performances so far (does anybody really like "Dead Man walking" or "Little Stewart 1 + 2"?
Overlooking for a moment THELMA AND LOUISE's blatant sexism: all the men are liars, cheats, rapists or morons; all the women are "Victims" with a capital "V" -- even as they kill, rob and vandalize their way across the US Southwest.And setting aside that Callie Khouri's Oscar-winning screenplay is nothing but a collection of tired cliches from two separate genres: the male buddy film ("bang bang boom boom) and the whiny chick flick: "weep weep sob sob").The question that comes to my mind is why this is, in any way, considered to be a "feminist" film.
Khouri - in case you missed it - is saying she's justified in putting out hateful trash, movies like Thelma & Louise that is, and present men as foul unredeemable pigs because she thinks that's how women are portrayed in other movies.
Overall impressive, but highly over-rated road film has the titled characters (Oscar-nominees Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon) running away from the authorities after a killing at a slummy bar.
Sarandon outshines Davis throughout the movie and Keitel actually ends up being the most interesting character by the final act.
Jimmy is the typical romantic guy that gives everything for his girl but that's all because he "loves the chase" and then there's darryl who happens to be the typical "macho man" that thinks that women are only on earth to serve their husbands) But anyway the movie in my opinion is just great, great scrip, great performances, great scenarios, and great directing.
Joe Bob Briggs was right: the only thing distinguishing "Thelma and Louise" from the crappy flicks that Gilbert Gottfried and Rhonda Shear used to present on USA Up All Night is that the makers and promoters of the latter didn't intend their over-the-top misandry to be taken seriously.This film's heavy-handed political correctness speaks volumes about the zeitgeist of the early 1990s, a time when the mainstream media treated Marxist feminist Catharine A.
Like Thelma and Louise, you'll want to ditch your jobs for the weekend and beg, borrow or steal a classic convertible car, before setting off on a road trip adventure along the USA's dusty mid-western highways.The premise of the film is simple - put two ordinary people in an extraordinary situation and watch what happens as events start to snowball.
Certainly it is true that this is a film about two women, and the men in the story are shown as ineffectual or lacking in understanding (although watch for an entertaining appearance by Brad Pitt which is regarded as his breakthrough role).
Yes, the men are all two-dimensional stereotypes (good cop, bad cowboy, confused boyfriend, insensitive husband), but the two title characters are equally insubstantial, and the inevitable (and again, predictable) merging of their contrary personalities is finally achieved in a convenient, unresolved freeze-frame non-climax designed to avoid the necessity of a genuine ending.Notice how any remorse over the killing that inaugurates their crime spree only lasts a scene or two: convention demands that they be girls who just want to have fun, and because all their (male) targets are cartoon jerks every act of violence is not only justified, but commendable.
It might have been interesting to show them blowing away, in cold blood, an innocent bystander of the opposite sex, but that would only jeopardize the contrived sympathy built into their roles.Lively performances by Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis aren't enough to camouflage the formula, and at any rate both actresses are lost behind all the pretty scenery, photographed not unlike an ad for Levi jeans: only another example of how artificial the film is..
Indeed, this film reminds me a lot of the 1973 classic "Badlands"; except that, as seekers of freedom, Thelma and Louise are far more sympathetic than the two lead characters in the earlier film.Both Geena Davis as Thelma, and Susan Sarandon as Louise, give terrific performances.
In support roles, Harvey Keitel as the main detective and Brad Pitt as a drifter named J.D. enhance the film's overall quality of acting.Dialogue lends credible support to the story's characterizations, like when Thelma asks J.D. about his previous petty robbery experience.
I could thus have wished for less time on long-distance phone conversations and police questioning, and more time with the two central characters and their on-the-road adventure."Thelma & Louise" is a very American-type film, filled with dirt roads, open highway, expansive landscapes, and two likable women in search of freedom and self discovery.
Its really funny in parts and Geena Davis is great as naive and goofy Thelma, Susan Sarandon is also fantastic as Louise.
The best way to watch Thelma and Louise is simply to leave your "brain" so to speak at the door of the cinema and just relax and have a good time.
Still, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis give two superb performances as the women on the run, and director Ridley Scott always knows how to keep a story moving.
The movie stars Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon aka Thelma & Louise, they go to a bar and meet a guy who rapes one of the girls, I forget who.
Harvey Keitel is the officer who wants to bring them in for murder.This movie, believe it or not, is one of my favourites, it's got excellent acting from all the stars, mostly the two female leads and Keitel, and its' got a very cute guy in it Brad Pitt, great lines, brilliantly directed by Ridley Scott, and it has a one-of-a-kind story that makes it unforgettable.
His achievement is found here in this dark road-trip comedy starring Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in their anti-heroine roles who are given a mouth full to say about society and it's uncouth treatment towards women, but perhaps not the most orthodox way for that matter.
The film centers on Thelma Dickinson (played by Geena Davis), an Arkansas housewife living under the household of her manipulative husband Darryl (played by Christopher McDonald); and her best friend Louise Sawyer (played by Susan Sarandon), a waitress at a local diner who's dating kind-hearted musician Jimmy (played by Michael Madsen) who sadly doesn't have enough for her as his music career always have him on the road.
Thelma and Louise, though not a masterpiece, is one of the best popcorn films of the early 1990s, and definitely a cultural landmark in its integration of a blockbuster road movie with feminist concerns.
It's about two fugitives, people on the run, who keep getting themselves into one mess after another.I don't think of this as a feminist chick flick, but a story of two women who deal with things that have happened to them in the best way they can.
Geena Davis as Thelma, does a very good performance, as a meek woman with an overbearing husband, who finds herself with newfound freedom, albeit quite naive and trusting, even after what happened to her.Susan Sarandon shines in this movie as well as Louise, a woman with a boyfriend who turns out to be not so bad of a guy.
Thelma and Louise is one of those rare gems that will span the test of time and remind us what truly good films and truly great friendships can accomplish..
Though I wouldn't recommend women act out quite the way they do, the film remains a great feminist manifesto.Harvey Keitel does a fine job as a caring police officer who wants to bring them in with no problems and before they run up a real criminal record.
Probably my favorite movie of 1991, THELMA AND LOUISE was an exciting, gripping, and deeply moving comedy/drama/adventure about girlfriends (Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis)who plan an innocent weekend away from their hum drum lives and the scummy men in their lives and due to some unforeseen circumstances, find themselves suddenly on the run from the law.
But recently I have enjoyed some of the 'chick flicks' I have seen: The Truth About Cats & Dogs', Mystic Pizza', and Something To Talk About' (which is by the same writer as this one.) Thelma & Louise is another one I can wholeheartedly recommend, even to the guys.This is a classic movie of two types: a female empowerment film, and an American road movie.
Both Sarandon and Davis played excellent roles as Louise and Thelma, and the two girls create really good chemistry.
With a mixture of action, drama, and comedy, "Thelma and Louise" is the perfect road trip movie to watch again and again.
Scott's Thelma and Louise is an entertaining and amusing film regarding the growing friendship of its female leads.
Thelma and Louise are depicted as strong and independent women, consequently making all men in the movie seem powerless.
I know that there will never be a movie that will demonstrate courage, faith and friendship as beautifully as "Thelma and Louise" did.Bravo to the whole cast, crew and Ridley Scott, the director!!!.
Thelma And Louise isn't the type of film you would really expect from Ridley Scott, but he does it well.
Each male character in the movie somehow misinterprets women in general and specifically Thelma and Louise.
Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon are both fantastic as Thelma and Louise, respectively.
"Thelma & Louise" makes for one of your better road movies (to say the least), but the real jewel in this crown is the heavy-duty bond between these two women.
This is a pretty good self-defense movie where friends Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) go on a weekend getaway they will never forget.
It is a perfect case study for movie students with its highly structured screenplay, hardly any innovation or experimentation (theme maybe new for its time but my point is on execution), template characters and a highly predictable but a perfect end.Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) are friends but leading un-fulfilling lives.