Thelma & Louise was set up to be a modest success and a footnote in the careers of the famous people involved. Released as an alternative to the early Summer blockbusters of 1991, with a modest budget of $16.5 million and marketed as two women having a fun weekend away from their deadbeat husbands and dead-end jobs, the film went on to have a major cultural impact that lasted all year, eventually earning 6 Academy Awards and winning Best Screenplay for Callie Khouri.
This was Khouri’s first produced script, and I’d love to know how it made its way to Ridley Scott, known for macho films and large budgets. It turned out to be a great pivot for him. The story is much darker than the marketing suggested, and Scott didn’t pull punches with it right through to the unforgettable ending, steering clear of misery by locking into his female leads Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis. They take us on the journey as life both knocks them down and lifts them up, sometimes through each other and sometimes through the kindness of strangers, like Brad Pitt who burst onto the scene with this film.
The cast is rounded out with Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald and Stephen Tobolowsky, but they are mostly on the fringe. The audience is with our two leads the whole way, it may be the best performance by either of them.
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