Thelma & Louise (1991)
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Two friends embark on a road trip that spirals into a high-stakes flight from the law.
The story
Thelma, a housewife, and her friend Louise, a waitress, set out for a weekend getaway at a fishing cabin. Thelma's life is defined by her stifling marriage to a controlling man, while Louise is her spirited companion. Their peaceful getaway is shattered when a confrontation at a roadside bar leads to a fatal shooting. Faced with the reality of their situation and the looming threat of arrest, the two women decide to flee toward the Mexican border. As they travel across the desert, they encounter various individuals and obstacles, forcing them to navigate a rapidly escalating series of dangerous circumstances while deciding how far they are willing to go to maintain their freedom.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Thelma and Louise begin their trip with a simple goal of escape, but a violent encounter at a bar forces them into a life of crime. After Louise shoots a man who attempted to assault Thelma, the pair flees toward Mexico. Along the way, they pick up a drifter named J.D., who introduces Thelma to a new sense of liberation but ultimately steals Louise's money and flees. The women then find themselves hunted by the FBI and local police, including the sympathetic detective Hal Slocumb. After a series of escalating incidents, including a high-speed chase and a confrontation with a truck driver, they are eventually cornered by the police near the Grand Canyon. Choosing freedom over capture, they hold hands and drive off the edge of a cliff together.
- First release year
- 1991
- Runtime (minutes)
- 129
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Ridley Scott
- Writers
- Callie Khouri · writer
- Cast and characters
- Geena Davis · Thelma; Susan Sarandon · Louise; Harvey Keitel · Hal; Michael Madsen · Jimmy; Christopher McDonald · Darryl; Brad Pitt · J.D.
- Genres
- buddy comedy-drama; adventure; crime comedy; crime drama
- Themes
- feminism; sisterhood; freedom; rebellion
- Tone and mood
- provocative; rollicking; tense
- Premise and plot tags
- road movie; buddy film; women in peril; crime
- Content notes
- violence
- Reception
- The film was a critical and commercial success, described as a 'landmark of feminist film' and 'critically and commercially successful' with 'largely positive' and 'rave' reviews.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 87% · scale: percentage · review count: 156; Metacritic · score: 88 · scale: 100 · review count: 12
- Awards and nominations
- Academy Award · Best Original Screenplay · Win
- Production trivia
- The film was the most rented movie of 1992 on VHS.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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