The Ballad of Little Jo
Tags: violence

Plot synopsis:
Josephine Monaghan (Amis) is a young society woman who is seduced by her family's portrait photographer, and as a result, bears an illegitimate child. She is expelled from her family and home in disgrace, and with no other resources, she leaves her newborn son under the care of her sister and heads West.
On the road, Josephine discovers that her options are very limited. As a single woman traveling alone, she is viewed with suspicion, or as sexual prey for any man. She assists a traveling salesman (René Auberjonois) who subsequently tries to sell her services as a whore to passing strangers. Seeing it as her only protection, Josephine scars her face, and begins to dress as a man – thus becoming "Jo."
At a mining camp in Ruby City, she meets Percy (McKellen) who takes her under his wing. Percy recommends Jo for a job at the stable, and teaches her about how to survive in the frontier. But Percy nurses a deep suspicion of women, viewing them to be "more trouble than they are worth." He later demonstrates his misogyny by slashing the face of a prostitute who refuses to give him oral sex.
Jo no longer feels safe with Percy or her secret, so she accepts a job herding sheep, and heads for the mountains. After returning in the spring, Percy gives Jo a letter for her that he had received months earlier. The letter is from Jo's sister, and Percy having opened it, now knows he is a she. He is furious at being made a fool of by a woman and "a whore at that," referring to the mention of her son in the letter. He attacks and tries to rape Jo, but she draws her gun and subdues him. Largely ostracized by the town's people since the incident with the prostitute, Percy promises Jo he will not share her secret if she finances his journey out of the territory. She agrees, though swears to him she will find him and kill him if he breaks his silence.
For five years she works as a shepherd, braving the deadly winters alone to the worry of her employer, Frank Badger (Hopkins), who has taken a liking to the "young man" he nicknames "Little Jo." When Jo has enough money saved, she quits Badger, and buys her own homestead.
While frequently viewed as "peculiar", Jo is clearly educated, and earns the respect of the people in Ruby City and the surrounding territory. A local girl, Mary, (Graham) has her eye on Jo. Blind to the truth, most hope the two will court. However, Mary ends up wedding her cousin, Lucas Brown, soon after Jo returns from her first winter as a sheep herder.
One day in town, Jo comes across a mob about to lynch a Chinese laborer for trying to "take our jobs." Jo intervenes, and Badger insists the "chinaman", Tinman Wong (David Chung), go to live with Jo to help with the homestead.
Tinman accompanies Jo to the homestead, and takes on the duties of cook and housekeeper. Though he seems slow-witted, Jo is not happy at having company forced upon her, and is afraid he will discover she is not a man. She keeps as much distance as possible. But Tinman easily discovers the truth about Jo, and in doing so, reveals he is far more intelligent than he has pretended to be—he, too, has been masquerading for his own safety. Jo drops her guard and the two begin a love affair.
A feud begins to brew between the sheep herders and cattlemen who are moving into the territory. The Western Cattle Company wants to buy up all the land in the area, and they kill anyone who does not comply. One by one, the sheep herders give in, or are murdered by masked gunmen. Jo has witnessed the brutal murders of too many of her friends, and the violence that will be necessary to win this kind of fight goes against her gentle nature. This is a masculine quality that goes beyond her ability to "pass," so Jo dons a dress once again in a feeble effort to step back into a more traditionally feminine role. Tinman argues that it will be impossible for her to go back being the society woman, urging her to keep the homestead, and stand against the cattlemen in the upcoming election. Jo will not be swayed, and meets with the representative from the cattle company, Henry Grey (Anthony Heald) to tell him she will sell.
Tinman falls ill, and Jo summons Badger's wife (Snodgrass), who practices folk medicine, to tend him. Badger comes along, and is furious when Grey arrives with his wife so that Jo can sign the final papers for the sale of the homestead. Feeling betrayed by Jo for helping the cattle company to "squeeze me," Badger hits Jo, proclaiming, "By God, boy! I thought you'd amount to something."
As Grey prepares the papers inside, Jo watches his wife who, through the warped glass, is visually reminiscent of Jo when she was a woman of society. In an instant, Jo changes her mind and refuses to sell to Grey, who leaves in disgust issuing less than veiled threats.
Tinman recovers, and on election day, Badger and Jo ride to Ruby City but are met by several of Grey's masked gunmen. Badger shoots one of the gunmen, but is wounded, so it is up to Jo to finish the fight. She kills the two remaining men, but the pain of the act of killing is clearly indicated on her face.
The plot jumps to many years later, after Tinman Wong has died. Jo collapses while fetching water, and Badger finds her in bed, near death. He takes her in his wagon to the Ruby City doctor, but she is dead before they arrive. As Badger buys rounds of drinks at the saloon in memory of Little Jo, the undertaker rushes in with his shocking discovery—Little Jo was a woman. The town elders rush back to the undertaker's to inspect. All stand around the preparation table in shock, all except Mrs. Addie (Cathy Haase), the saloon owner, who laughs and laughs.
Badger is furious at the betrayal by his friend, and because Jo "made a fool out of me." He goes back to her homestead, and as he tears the place apart in anger, comes across the letter from her sister, and a picture of her as she lived as a woman. In town, the people tie Jo's dead body to her horse for a photograph.
The final shot is of the newspaper story with the before-and-after photographs, and the headline, "Rancher Jo Was a Woman."

Review: Suzy Amis' performance has stuck with me since I first saw this movie in 1994.As for the story, yes it's hard to believe that no one would notice a "man" who never had any facial hair, whose voice was fairly high and had such narrow shoulders but despite the unrealistic premise, it's a good story that keeps your attention all the way without the need for action (although there is some.) Amis does transform her looks from a fairly pretty woman to someone that looks like a frail 17-year-old boy.
David Chung, who plays her Asian friend (well, more than that) also is very good and Bo Hopkins also has a strong contribution as the neighbor.But this movie belongs to Amis all the way and just the painful looks on her face alone are memorable enough for me.
Thus, it is not a happy story, but it's powerful one and worth seeing.
Worth hearing, too, with some nice guitar work for the soundtrack.If you are looking for a western that has a different angle, this certainly qualifies..
I've been waiting to see this film ever since it premiered in 1993, but only a couple of days ago I finally got a chance to see it on TV.
It was well worth the wait, although I would have loved to have seen it on big screen instead.
First of all, Suzy Amis who I think has repeatedly been miscast and generally far too unappreciated as an actress does a brilliant, intuitive job in the lead role.
Her transformation from Josephine to Jo is touching and believable, and her performance all through the film maintains the very same characteristics.
She avoids the trap of being a mere male imitation and instead builds her own tough concept of what constitutes a true man of honor living in the middle of the rough wilderness.
Director Greenwald lets her story flow beautifully in its own calm pace; she makes Jo's expressive face the very core of this remarkable film - that's where all starts and, finally, ends.
Film's gorgeous landscapes and panorama may take your breath away as well, but it's really the director's ability to understand Jo Monaghan's incredible life story that makes The Ballad of Little Jo such a magnificent experience..
It's directed by Maggie Greenwald and stars Suzy Amis as a woman in a rich family who is kicked out after she has a kid out of wedlock and she decides to go west.
Amis knows she isn't going to survive as a woman because on the first night she is almost raped by two soldiers and barely escapes.
So Amis decides to dress as a man and then makes a big cut on her face so it will leave a scar.
Amis winds up staying in a mining town and the people believe she's man.
Ian McKellen is a man who takes Amis in and shows her the ropes but he can get pretty violent when he's drunk.
Amis doesn't stay with him long and winds up buying a place away from town so she can have her privacy.
It's a great movie and i can't see why it isn't more well known..
The greatest movie I have ever seen!.
It is really a great movie.
Believe it or not, I saw it 6 times in 2 days!The performance of Suzy Amis and other actors are really excellent, the music and the photographs are excellent too!I am so exciting to find such a good movie.
Again, it is one of the best movies I have ever seen!.
This is a non-action-oriented Western about a woman who, for years, masquerades as a man.
At the beginning of the film, she is thrown out by her father after she gives birth to an illegitimate child, so she travels west.
Instead, it is a smart film that takes a very slow and leisurely pace to the ultimate conclusion.
I would have preferred the pace and mood to perhaps be a little less somber, but considering how intelligent the film was, I will certainly forgive this.Particular standouts are Suzy Amis as Jo and Bo Hopkins.
It's a real shame neither of these actors got much work after the film debuted--they certainly deserved it..
I remember reading the review in the paper, and thinking that the movie might be worth seeing the one time.
I rented it and loved and then once I got my video collection up and running, it was one of the first movies I bought.
Suzy Amis is outstanding as Jo and does an excellent job at first portraying the out of her element woman, and gradually over the film does a fine job of conveying the woman who lives a hard life as a man..
Josephine made a fatal mistake: she got pregnant from a photographer, her father throws her out, she goes west.
The film shows the options for a pretty woman like Josephine, alone, with no money, at that time on the west: to be sold like merchandise, to be raped.Her choice is to disguise herself as a man, so she becomes Little Jo. Suzy Amis has a great performance as Jo, she is very pretty, the fact that she does not really look like a man is not important, she is very convincing as a human being.
Throughout the film you realize how Jo is a great person, she accepts her fate and tries to do the best she can about it.
Bo Hopkins is Frank Badger, her tough friend and their relationship, and also Jo's relationship with David Chung are the best things of this western..
I liked the movie.
I really think Suzie did a great job of portraying a woman trying to survive in a man's world.
All in all, I was very impressed by the whole story and the way it was portrayed by the actresses and actors in this film.
I would recommend it..
This is an incredible movie.
It is one of the most visually beautiful films I have ever seen.
It is based on the true tale of a woman who went out west in the 1800s, and dressed and passed as a man.
Highly recommended.
Highly recommended.
If you're looking for an inspiring film about an inspiring woman, check it out..
I remember watching Suzy Amis in The Usual Suspects and several other films.
Facing hardships going West, she buy men's clothes and live in a mining town as a man.
One of the best portrayal in a movie with a woman standing her ground..
I saw this movie years ago on the Lifetime channel.
I have looked for this movie since then and it has never been shown again.
What makes it even better is that it's a true story.
Yes, I'm sure some of it is embellished, but the fact that she lived as a man and no one noticed?
Viewers looking for a classic western risk to be disappointed by this movie.
Most disappointed will certainly be action movies fans if they happen to see this film, as the pace is slow and the emphasize is on something else.
Director Maggie Greenwald focused here on the life of women in the West, and on the possibility of leading an alternative style of life during that period.The result is a different type of movie, different in subject, style and pace than you would expect.
The title says it all maybe, the film is a ballad in the sense that it focuses on the hero - in this case a woman thrown out from her Eastern rich environment, running away, and choosing to live all her life in disguise as a man.
Probably so, as the film is said to be inspired by a true story.There is some fine acting especially from Suzy Amis which sustains the film, and also a very closely and carefully rendition of details of the day-to-day life in the epoch.
However this is not enough to maintain interest for the full duration of the two hours, some of the characters seem too remote and too hard to read missing the chance to involve the viewer in becoming interested in their destinies.
Maybe the director kept intentionally the distance and did not want to reveal too much of their secrets, same as the folks around Little Jo did not push too much to be able to understand her real secret.
The result is that a film which could shock and involve by presenting the continuity of the harsh realities of the status of women and other minorities all over the American history fails to do so completely.It is still worth watching, especially as the end brings at least part of that dose of sharpness and weirdness missing in much of the rest of the movie.
I am however wondering where talents like director Maggie Greenwald and actress Suzy Amis disappeared in the fifteen years that passed since this film was released..
I'm sure that is *is* possible for a woman to pass as a man - given a masculine enough face and mannerisms, but...
I can't help thinking that this movie would have been better starring a man as a woman pretending to be a man.
At least then the viewers wouldn't have had to suspend their belief for two hours while the 'awful' truth unfolded in front of dozens of men who couldn't tell the difference 'twixt girl and boy.
An Absolutely Excellent Movie - Underrated & Overlooked.
08/16/2018 I suggest that you read the wiki bio of Josephine Monaghan and look at the images before watching this movie.
The movie is perfection and the fact that it's based on a true to life woman makes it all the more special.
Cast out of her rich family home for having a child out of marriage, Josephine takes the road in the new west of America.
When she is attacked and nearly raped by outlaws she goes into hiding, disguising herself as a man.
Jo settles into a small mining town under her new identity but can she keep the charade up?Based on a true story this film is a reasonably worthy story of one woman's life in the old west as a man.
However, the actual delivery of the story here is all a little bit dull for my tastes.
The lack of actual story beyond the `woman dressed as man' shows through, and instead we have (probably fictional) episodes from Jo's life  the captions `months later' and `several years later' pop up at random breaking up any sort of narrative flow.As a result I never really got into the film and it just didn't have a drive to it.
The one line summary is worthy enough but it still needed to tell me a story and not just expect me to sit and go `wow, she lived as a man' all the way through the film.
Put simply, far too little happened of interest and it all took too long to tell.The cast is not great and fit with the inconsequentialness of the whole film.
Amis is a bit bland in her delivery and her lines sound flat, in fairness she was trying to sound like a man but even still!
Amis is a very pretty woman and it is hard to make her look like someone who could be taken for a man, a less feminine actress would have been a better choice for the role as it would have made it easier for the audience to suspend belief.
McKellen is good but all too brief, Hopkins is an enjoyable character but has little to do, Chung is actually quite good and Heather Graham has a fleeting early role.Overall the story is worth hearing but only as a few page story.
As a two hour movie it drags and finds that it doesn't actually have much to say or do after the pitch is delivered.
A sad use of Hollywood millions on a story worth telling..
Some will argue that Suzy Amis "delivers an outstanding performance as a woman passing as a man", but this viewer found it unbelievable and chaotic.
Opening the door to the most incomplete scenes of the film, director Maggie Greenwald treaded lightly, giving us mere glimpses of her past instead of what should have been nightmarish remembrances.
The sound of her father's angry voice should have been repeated throughout the film, giving us a sense that Jo struggled with this throughout her life  but instead  they faded in an out continuously, giving us only short times to remember the truth before it was forgotten again.
She lived, like this film, randomly and transformed this film from pushing the sexual envelope to merely a documentary.
"The Ballad of Little Jo" had no message, simply demonstrating to us that if you wanted to escape, fool those who cared, and forget about the past  it was possible.Suzy Amis was a major contributor to the downfall of the film, but the same blame can be placed on Mr. McKellen who left us more confused and bewildered with each tangent step.
While he was essential to Jo understanding the ways of "man", he seemed more like filler than influence.
What was her purpose with this film?
The message, like this film, is unclear.
Forced tears are constantly a staple of Greenwald's shots, but those man-made rivers go nowhere.
Greenwald is your average director, never quite reaching her full potential, while never slipping below the "I learned this in Directing 101" line.Sloppy acting coupled with sloppy direction, my critique of there being nothing positive to say about this film stays firmly in place.
Greenwald took liberties in the simplicity it was to transform one's self into a man.
This leads us to the ending, which (without giving any parts away), is a disaster because we work ourselves up for two hours, questioning Jo's every move that may consequently stumble upon the truth, only to get our wind let out as nothing happens to bring Jo full circle.
One could argue that this was simply a ploy to end a train-wreck of a film, but with Greenwald behind the camera, anything is possible.
My heart hoped this would have been a darker film with more attention spent on the horror of man towards women, or at least a film about the struggling voice of a woman, but instead it was a shady film about one woman's ability to cower away from responsibility (she should have fought for her son) and trick everyone around her.
Amis, Hopkins, and McKellen were atrocious in their respective roles as they never quite understood the period they resided.
"Ballad of Little Jo" was missing important elements like style, themes, reality, and cohesiveness.
While I was hoping it wouldn't be another "Brokeback Mountain", I was at least hoping for purpose, reason, or point, but found nothing but the truth that women could easily hide from men if randomly excommunicated from their families.
This was an embarrassment of a film, and a disappointment for those hoping for a clear, concise message about sexuality.
i had never heard of this film, and after seeing it wish i hadn't come across it in the video store.
the only believable performance was by the always excellent ian mckellan, who breathed life into the woman-hating character he was portraying, although i kept wondering what he was doing in this movie.
I screened this movie in a film class and was horrified by the violence towards women.
The acting was horrible and, with the exception of Carrie Snodgrass whom I adore, this movie is a waste of time unless you enjoy watching women portrayed solely as whores and victims of violence.
All of the men in the town take turns with her until one of them assaults her because, "she wouldn't put it in her mouth." The prostitute is bleeding from the mouth and is moaning and crying as the man who assaults her (played by a very convincingly digusting Ian McKellan) is bleeding from the crotch of his long underwear.
I really liked this film.
I've been around enough real cowboys and stockmen to know that a woman could successfully masquerade as a slender, somewhat pretty young man.
Especially if she deliberately gives herself a disfiguring scar (an old trick to discourage people from looking closely at your face).
It was clear in the film that many of Jo's fellow miners and stockmen felt that she was a bit effeminate and, as Frank Badger puts it, "peculiar".But being peculiar wasn't a crime and a small man who kept to himself on a remote ranch, didn't bother other men, and made an honest living in the hardscrabble world of livestock ranching probably wouldn't have been subject to close scrutiny.
And, once Jo has saved Frank's life and killed two ambushers, her status as a man would have been pretty well assured.I felt the final scene where Frank Badger is angrily smashing Jo's cabin furnishings was revelatory.
I think Frank was angry that he never found out that his friend (for whom he had feelings he couldn't understand or acknowledge) was really a good-looking woman with whom he could have had a more intimate friendship without compromising his heterosexuality..
Until this movie, I had seen nothing but movies about the men of the west.
This movie, however, is so much different.
It shows a woman's struggles in a man's world, and she succeeds.
Jo is a woman who was disowned by her family and goes west to start a new life.
After coming under attack by several men, she decides to pretend to be a man.
Overall, this movie is worth watching, buying, whatever.
I've seen this movie many years ago, after awhile I began searching for it again.
XP Also the fact that it was based off a true story.as for ink, your probably a woman hating man anyway.
no wonder you didn't like the movie.