Thelma & Louise (1991)

An Arkansas waitress and a housewife shoot a rapist and take off in a '66 Thunderbird.

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writer:

Callie Khouri

Stars:

Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel

Won 1 Oscar. Another 20 wins & 29 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Susan Sarandon	...	Louise Sawyer
Geena Davis	...	Thelma
Harvey Keitel	...	Hal
Michael Madsen	...	Jimmy
Christopher McDonald	...	Darryl
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Max
Brad Pitt	...	J.D.
Timothy Carhart	...	Harlan
Lucinda Jenney	...	Lena, the Waitress
Jason Beghe	...	State Trooper
Sonny Carl Davis	...	Albert
Ken Swofford	...	Major
Shelly Desai	...	East Indian Motel Clerk (as Shelly De Sai)
Carol Mansell	...	Waitress
Stephen Polk	...	Surveillance Man

Storyline

Louise is working in a fast food restaurant as a waitress and has some problems with her friend Jimmy, who, as a musician, is always on the road. Thelma is married to Darryl who likes his wife to stay quiet in the kitchen so that he can watch football on TV. One day they decide to break out of their normal life and jump in the car and hit the road. Their journey, however, turns into a flight when Louise kills a man who threatens to rape Thelma. They decide to go to Mexico, but soon they are hunted by American police.

---

Plot Keywords:

waitress | on the road | fugitive | chase | housewife | 

---

Taglines:

Somebody said get a life... so they did.

---

Genres:

Adventure | Crime | Drama | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong language, and for some violence and sensuality

Details

Country:

USA France

Language:

English

Release Date:

24 May 1991 (USA)

Also Known As:

Thelma i Louise

Filming Locations:

Bakersfield, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$16,500,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$45,361,000 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Pathé Entertainment, Percy Main, Star Partners III Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

More than 40 people were considered to direct the movie.

---

Goofs

When Louise was talking on the phone with someone in the motel after the murder, she says that she is in Arkansas. The motel is in the middle of the desert, and Arkansas does not have any deserts.

---

Quotes

Louise Sawyer: In the future, when a woman is crying like that, she isn't having any fun.

---

Connections

Spoofed in Screen Wars: Season Two Finale (2007)

---

Soundtracks

"I Don't Want To Love You (But I Do)"
Written by Paul Kennerly
Performed by Kelly Willis
Courtesy of MCA Records

User Reviews

Not enough of the spectacular desert scenery was shown

I saw the movie ages ago, enjoyed it, and forgot about it. Years later, after I had visited Moab, Utah and learned that some movie scenes were filmed near there, I viewed the movie a second time to see if I could recognize any filming locations. My fascination with place recognition and spatial orientation was the driving force behind this second viewing. A few scenes were familiar, but overall I was disappointed with the way the physical scenery was handled: the movie is filled with close-up shots that usually omit the scenery.

One familiar scene was the one in which a policeman stops the fleeing women to give them a ticket and ends up in their car's trunk. That was shot in the Courthouse Towers area of Arches National Park, on the main park road. I wonder how much inconvenience to the public was created by this filming.

Another familiar place appeared in the scene in which the two main characters are driving along a dirt road, surrounded by reddish rock terrain. A pipeline of some type lies on the ground next to the road. That road is on the private property of the potash mine (near Moab) owned by Intrepid Potash. The rusty pipe line has something to do with the mine's operation.

The third familiar scene was the very last one: Thelma and Louise are trapped, with police on their back side, preventing escape, and a deep river canyon in front of them. I have read that the movie gave the impression that this was shot at the Grand Canyon. It actually took place at a turn-out on a rough dirt road that runs parallel to the Colorado River southwest of the city of Moab. The road leading to the turn-out is San Juan County Road 142, sometimes erroneously called Potash Road or Shafer Trail. The area of the turn-out has the traditional name of Fossil Point and is located southeast of and 1600 feet below Dead Horse Point State Park. It is on land managed by the Bureau of Land Management, not in Canyonlands National Park, as one reviewer says. (The park is about two miles to the west.) Because of the movie's notoriety, Fossil Point is often called "Thelma and Louise Point."

Having been to this area several times, I consider the scenery there to be "mind-blowing." I was sad that so little of the terrain was shown in the movie. But showing lots of beautiful scenery might have distracted from the plot, which concerned personal interaction and friendship under trying circumstances.