BFF Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) take off for a weekend getaway in the latter’s 1966 Thunderbird. But “getaway” assumes more serious connotations after Louise shoots a would-be rapist outside a bar. Fearing their story won’t be believed, the women flee the scene and hatch a plan to escape to Mexico, but encounter setbacks at every turn.
First time screenwriter Callie Khouri won the Academy Award for this feminist road movie. Ridley Scott frames the women’s plight against the mythical backdrop of the American Dream, making this one of his most powerful films. Brad Pitt’s cameo put him on the path to stardom, while Sarandon and Davis (assuming roles originally earmarked for Jodie Foster and Michelle Pfeiffer) have become feminist icons on the back of the film’s enduring resonance.
Staff Pick: Ruthie
This is a movie to love, that touches you in places you never suspected, that shows you that the road less traveled is the road to your dreams.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
Media Partner
Ridley Scott
Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Chris McDonald, Brad Pitt
USA
1991
English
Best Original Screenplay
Book Tickets
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Credits
Producer
Ridley Scott, Mimi Polk
Screenwriter
Callie Khouri
Cinematography
Adrian Biddle
Editor
Thom Noble
Original Music
Hans Zimmer
Production Design
Norris Spencer
Art Director
Lisa Dean
90s, Baby!
Ten years. 11 weeks. 90 films from the 1990s. This summer, 90’s Baby! takes a deep dive into a defining decade of cinema.
Unforgiven
Bill Munny (Clint Eastwood) is face down in pig shit when we first see him. He's a bad farmer, but has a natural facility for killing people – a vocation to which he returns in a quest that combines both profit and justice. Or so he chooses to believe.
Malcolm X
In an indelible role, Denzel Washington give us a layered, compassionate, conflicted man who finds the strength in Islam to transcend his demons and confront the inequity and racism in America head-on. Along with Do the Right Thing, this is Spike Lee's greatest film.
Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould
A bona fide classic and arguably the greatest Canadian film of the 90s, Girard's dazzling deconstruction of the biopic gives us the mercurial pianist Glenn Gould as Picasso might have rendered him, a cubist portrait combining multimedia vignettes.
Dazed and Confused
The last day of high school in May, 1976: seniors debate party politics while next term's freshmen run the gauntlet of brutal initiation rites, barely comforted by the knowledge that they'll wield the stick one day.
Short Cuts
Altman's adaptation of Raymond Carver short stories, Short Cuts weaves between 8 or 9 overlapping storylines and 22 characters. it's a teeming, caustic and compassionate human comedy; a singularly astringent, often cynical view of America and Americana.
Three Colours: Blue
The first of Kieslowski's acclaimed Three Colours Trilogy, inspired by the French Revolutionary ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity and the French flag, the Tricolour. Blue stars Juliette Binoche as a young woman grieving her husband and child.
Schindler's List
One of the most acclaimed films of the 90s, Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Thomas Keneally's Schindler's Ark is the story of a German industrialist whose conscience is stirred to save his Jewish workers from the camps.
Free event.
Three Colours: Red
Irène Jacob plays Valentine, a runway model living in Geneva, who crosses paths with a retired judge (Jean-Louis Trintignant) who's a bit of an eavesdropper. Initially repelled, she becomes intrigued by this man, as do we... Kieslowski's sublime adieu.
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Four Weddings begins with an onslaught of fucks. It's the first signal that this rom-com will break from tradition, despite the ritualized structural conceit described in the title. The witty screenplay is by Richard Curtis — it's still his best.
The Lion King
With its beautifully drawn East African setting, its humour, pathos, and engaging characters, as well as its stirring songs, The Lion King stands as the pinnacle of traditional Disney family entertainment.
Image: © Disney, 1994
To Die For
Buck Henry (The Graduate) wrote this acidic black comedy about a ruthless weather girl on the make (Nicole Kidman in her breakout role). A young Joaquin Phoenix is the dim teen she seduces on her way to achieving stardom.
Casino
Revisiting the wise guy milieu for the third (but not the final) time, Scorsese tells the story of Ace Rothstein and Nicky Santoro (Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci), two New York hoodlums who become major players in the history of Las Vegas.