Thelma & Louise

Thelma & Louise is a 1991 American crime drama female buddy film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri.

The film stars Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis as Louise and Thelma, two friends who embark on a road trip that ends up in unforeseen circumstances.

Two friends, Thelma Dickinson and Louise Sawyer, set out for a weekend vacation at a fishing cabin in the mountains to take a break from their dreary lives in Arkansas.

Thelma, a housewife, is married to disrespectful and controlling carpet salesman Darryl, while sharp-tongued Louise works as a waitress in a diner and is dating easygoing musician Jimmy, who is on the road most of the time.

As the women walk away, Harlan yells he should have continued the rape, causing Louise to fatally shoot him in a fit of rage.

They decide to flee to Mexico, but Louise demands they travel there without going through Texas, as something happened to her there several years earlier which she refuses to reveal.

Louise is distraught, so a guilt-ridden Thelma takes charge and later robs a nearby convenience store using tactics she learned from J.D.

During a few brief phone conversations with Louise, Hal expresses his concerns and tells her he knows what happened to her in Texas, but is unsuccessful in persuading her to surrender.

Thelma tells Louise she will not go back to Darryl and asks her friend if she intends to cut a deal with the police so she can return to Jimmy.

Knowing he will soon discover they are wanted for murder and armed robbery, Thelma holds him at gunpoint and locks him in the trunk of his police car while Louise takes his gun and ammunition.

Both kiss and hold hands as Louise steps on the gas and, as Hal desperately pursues them on foot, they accelerate over the cliff to their certain deaths.

The idea for Thelma & Louise originated in the spring of 1988 when Callie Khouri, then a music video producer, was driving home from work to her apartment in Santa Monica.

She spent the following six months working on her first screenplay, which was noted to have drawn inspiration from her own experience as well as her friendship with country music singer Pam Tillis.

[3][5] George Clooney,[6] Robert Downey Jr.,[7] Mark Ruffalo,[5] Grant Show,[7] John Mellencamp,[8] Dylan McDermott,[5] James LeGros,[5] and Dermot Mulroney[5] were also considered for the role of J.D.

[12] In addition to Glenn Frey's "Part of Me, Part of You", which became the film's primary theme song, the soundtrack included songs performed by Chris Whitley ("Kick The Stones"), Martha Reeves ("Wild Night" written by Van Morrison), Toni Childs ("House Of Hope"), Marianne Faithfull ("Ballad of Lucy Jordan" written by Shel Silverstein), Charlie Sexton ("Badlands"), Grayson Hugh ("I Can't Untie You From Me"), B.B.

[24][25][26][27] Janet Maslin of The New York Times had only praise for the film in her review: Mr. Scott's Thelma and Louise, with a sparkling screenplay by the first-time writer Callie Khouri, is a surprise on this and many other scores.

It reveals the previously untapped talent of Mr. Scott (best known for majestically moody action films like Alien, Blade Runner and Black Rain) for exuberant comedy, and for vibrant American imagery, notwithstanding his English roots.

It discovers unexpected resources in both its stars, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, who are perfectly teamed as the spirited and original title characters.

[28]Roger Ebert also praised the film, writing, "What sets Thelma & Louise aside from the great central tradition of the road picture -- a tradition roomy enough to accommodate Easy Rider, Bonnie and Clyde, Badlands, Midnight Run and Rain Man -- is that the heroes are women this time: Working-class girlfriends from a small Arkansas town, one a waitress, the other a housewife, both probably ready to describe themselves as utterly ordinary, both containing unexpected resources.

"[29] He added, "This film shows a great sympathy for human comedy", and "Sarandon and Davis find in Callie Khouri's script the materials for two plausible, convincing, lovable characters.

[30][31][32][33] In response to these criticisms, Maslin and Khouri claimed that Thelma & Louise was being subjected to a double standard, as unethical behavior in male-driven road movies had not provoked a similar level of backlash.

[35] She also said she wrote the script in "a conscious effort to counter" Hollywood's tendency to portray women as "bimbos, whores and nagging wives.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and peppered with action, Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise is a potent, well-acted road movie that transcends the feminist message at its core.

[69][70] After the film's release, there were reports of a few incidents where people appeared to copycat Thelma and Louise's suicides by driving off the edge of the Grand Canyon.

[78] In early 2021, it was announced that Khouri was adapting the film as a stage musical alongside Halley Feiffer, with original songs by Neko Case, and Trip Cullman attached to direct.