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Thelma And Louise on DVD (1991)

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Average rating: 72%
1112314142049
3.5
from 4,762 members
 
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Christopher McDonald, Michael Madsen, Brad Pitt, Timothy Carhart
Director: Ridley Scott
Studio: MGM ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 124 mins
Certificate: 15
Collections: 100 Feisty Females, 100 must-see movies
User collections: Top 10 Brad Pitt performances, Good but not THAT great, Best FREAKIN films EVR!!!, Films to see before you die, Great Road Trip movies, The movies you must see before you die
Genres: Action/Adventure, Thriller
Languages: English
Hearing-impaired: English
Subtitles: Croatian, Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Slovenian, Swedish, Turkish
Released: 06/05/2002

Brief synopsis of Thelma And Louise

Fed up with her boyfriend (Michael Madsen), live-wire Arkansas waitress Louise Sawyer (Susan Sarandon) persuades her friend Thelma Dickinson (Geena Davis), a naive housewife burdened with a negligent, sexist husband (Christopher McDonald), to hit the road with her for a weekend of freedom. One of their first stops is a bar where the women relax, dance, and flirt with some of the locals. But the situation turns ugly when one man (Timothy Carhart) follows Thelma to the parking lot and attempts to rape her, causing Louise to shoot and accidentally kill him. Convinced that the police will never believe their version of the incident, the women take off, now fugitives from the law. Emboldened by recent events, Thelma picks up studly young cowboy J.D. (Brad Pitt) in Oklahoma and enjoys a one-night stand that leads to even more trouble. Director Ridley Scott's infamous feminist road movie ranks among the best films of the 1990s. Along with BLADE RUNNER and ALIEN, the film is one of Scott's finest works, largely because of Callie Khourie's vivid, brilliantly idiosyncratic script, wonderful performances from the two leads, and Adrian's Biddle's crisp photography of the American Southwest.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 5 stars out of 5 Radio Times

In creating the characters Thelma and Louise for this hugely entertaining and controversial road movie, Oscar-winning scriptwriter Callie Khourie put women in the driving seat for the first time. Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon star as the two friends whose weekend spree to escape the boredom of their small-town routines is curtailed when Louise (Sarandon) kills a man who's trying to rape Thelma (Davis). They flee, and thus begins their voyage of self-discovery. Ridley Scott's film sparked a row at the time over whether the sight of gals with guns was a symbol of liberated equality or depressing defeminisation. Whatever your viewpoint, films have a duty to provoke as well as entertain, and it's impossible to watch the plight of Thelma and Louise without feeling indignation.

Rolling Stone

"...Movie dynamite, detonated by award-caliber performances from Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon....This wincingly funny, pertinent and heartbreaking road movie means to get under your skin, and it does..."

Rating of 3 
	  stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

Timely, exuberant and off-beat feminist road movie that manages to say something interesting about the relationship between the sexes.

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

Rated - 3 starsWhat colour are my eyes?

Alex Morris from UK , 17/11/2004

It seems odd to me that, given my fondness for Ridley Scott films, I'd never seen Thelma & Louise. Unfortunately, I already knew the ending, thanks to it - like the 'girl' in The Crying Game - becoming a cultural reference point for the 1990s. That reminds me; I've not seen The Crying Game either. Should I bother, since I know its big secret?

Well, it looks like I wasn't missing much. It's an entertaining enough adventure, I suppose, but it's entirely unnecessary. They didn't have to run away after Louise's killing of the would-be rapist; Thelma's bruises would have borne witness to what happened when giving testimony. 'They'll think I was asking for it,' is a pretty weak excuse to run away. Thelma's later actions didn't have to take place either; it was still possible to go back. Unhappy relationships aside, there was nothing which really explained why the two women went off the rails. Louise's past in Texas was alluded to, but that was still insufficient reason. Hailed as a paean to women's power and emancipation it's anything but. Look at how it ends, dammit! Yup, ladies, you kin have yore freedom, but this is the price you'll pay.

All told, the movie felt contrived. Okay, so all movies are, by their very nature, contrived, but at least some of them make an attempt at a natural, plausible progression to the story. Perhaps I'd have been more sympathetic to it if I didn't already know how it was going to end. Maybe if I'd seen the film ten years ago, before the renaissance of the Bad Girl clich? hadn't taken place, it wouldn't have seemed quite as hackneyed.

Still, it was an enjoyable enough ride and, plot holes aside, pretty slickly put together. The cinematography was gorgeous, particularly when the story moved out west, towards the Grand Canyon. It certainly beats that execrable Biker Boyz. Anyone want to hand me the keys to a 1966 Thunderbird?

  12 out of 15 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsgo get em'

A customer from St Ives , 01/09/2003

Thelma is too young to be stuck where she is. Louise is a motherly figure to her. When they take a trip together they find themselves embroiled in a nasty view of a man's world. They try to flee - thinking their friendship will be enough to get them through.

There are some great scenes in this film and although I wouldn't call it a feminist movie I know very few men who actually enjoy this. Perhaps it's the scene with Brad Pitt.

Watch it if you've had a bad week, you'll find all your worries will wash away.

  5 out of 6 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsRoad and Movie?

A customer from Bristol UK , 14/08/2004

Although I feel as a woman I should be biased to love this movie there are some aspects that stop me from ranting and raving. I will not deny that the cinematography is excellent but do the main chracters deserve the feeling deserved from the audience? This question can only be answered by those that can say if they like Susan Sarandon and Geena Davies. Worth a watch, especially if you do not know the ending!

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsWomen's Weekend went Wrong

Charles Brickley from Andover, Hampshire England [Highly rated reviewer] , 04/03/2007

I watched “Thelma and Louise” at the cinema in the early 1990s and remembered it as being a very different kind of road movie. Not having seen it since then I thought that this would be another suitable title to hire. I thought so much of the use of Country & Western music at the time that I bought the soundtrack, but never got a copy of the film. I suppose that all those Peugeot adverts on the TV reminded me of it anyway.

Actually it was watching a rerun of the French & Saunders spoof remake on Dartmoor that triggered me to add it to the Tesco wish list and I do not regret that decision.

Classed as offbeat and feminist at the time, I thought that it was well made, enjoyable and well worth the Oscar nominations that it received, although only the screenwriter Callie Khouri received an actual Award.

With this film Ridley Scott lifted the benchmark for Police Chases in the same way that “Alien” and “Blade Runner” improved the status of the Science Fiction Genre. The girls’ story was believable and both Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis acted their socks off with their performances as two happy country girls descending the path into hell.

I had forgotten how well Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen and the young Brad Pitt (in only his fourth film) had supported the plot together with the cuckolded, cheating and controlling husband of Thelma, played by Christopher McDonald.

If you do not know the story then I am not going to spoil it for you, but even if you do it is worth watching all those little cameos again as the two unfortunate ladies spend their weekend break creating a trail of mayhem and destruction.

If you want the condensed Readers Digest version of this iconic chick flick of the naughty nineties then I can recommend the French & Saunders production.

Well worth the money, you all!

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 4 starsWomen's Weekend went Wrong

Charles Brickley from Andover, Hampshire England [Highly rated reviewer] , 04/03/2007

I watched “Thelma and Louise” at the cinema in the early 1990s and remembered it as being a very different kind of road movie. Not having seen it since then I thought that this would be another suitable title to hire. I thought so much of the use of Country & Western music at the time that I bought the soundtrack, but never got a copy of the film. I suppose that all those Peugeot adverts on the TV reminded me of it anyway.

Actually it was watching a rerun of the French & Saunders spoof remake on Dartmoor that triggered me to add it to the Tesco wish list and I do not regret that decision.

Classed as offbeat and feminist at the time, I thought that it was well made, enjoyable and well worth the Oscar nominations that it received, although only the screenwriter Callie Khouri received an actual Award.

With this film Ridley Scott lifted the benchmark for Police Chases in the same way that “Alien” and “Blade Runner” improved the status of the Science Fiction Genre. The girls’ story was believable and both Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis acted their socks off with their performances as two happy country girls descending the path into hell.

I had forgotten how well Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen and the young Brad Pitt (in only his fourth film) had supported the plot together with the cuckolded, cheating and controlling husband of Thelma, played by Christopher McDonald.

If you do not know the story then I am not going to spoil it for you, but even if you do it is worth watching all those little cameos again as the two unfortunate ladies spend their weekend break creating a trail of mayhem and destruction.

If you want the condensed Readers Digest version of this iconic chick flick of the naughty nineties then I can recommend the French & Saunders production.

Well worth the money, you all!

  3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 stars

A customer from TREDEGAR , 24/06/2004

A wonderful film, though it may be considered a chick flik. A sense of humour amongst it all. Interesting to see the characters develop.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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