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
Indigenous & Community Access
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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.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.
Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
Three Kings
George Clooney headlines David O Russell's bold, brazen attempt to get to grips with the immediate aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, as 4 US soldiers try to liberate a missing shipment of gold amidst the chaos and carnage.
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.
Magnolia
This deeply personal 1999 California opus is ripe for rediscovery. Mapping the emotional traumas of half-a-dozen major characters as they crisscross the San Fernando Valley in search of either recognition or reconciliation, it's PTA's riskiest gamble.
Election
Tracy Flick (Reece Witherspoon) is running for Student President, but Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) has other ideas... This remarkably sour millennial comedy from Alexander Payne (The Holdovers; Sideways; The Descendents) hits twice as hard today.
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is an assassin, but he's also an existential loner who adheres to his personal code. Despite the thriller trappings, this is really a lampoon of that genre, and a melancholy reverie for the cultural melting pot we call home.
The Straight Story
David Lynch goes a different direction in this linear Midwestern about a septuagenarian (Richard Farnsworth) who drives nearly 400km on a lawnmower to visit his ailing brother (Harry Dean Stanton).
90s Surprise Film
The 90s movie we have all been missing... Join us for a celebratory wake for this year's 90s, Baby series! What you will be seeing is top secret (no, not Top Secret!, that was 1984) but it will be at least 26 years old and it will be new to this series.
The Wind Will Carry Us
Kiarostami's dry comic masterpiece follows a Tehrani film team's thwarted attempts to document a traditional Kurdish funeral... Trouble being, there's no one to bury, and, worse, virtually no cell service...
Fight Club
1999 was a very good year for movies, but nothing captured millennial angst quite so vividly as David Fincher's bruising black comedy about what it means to be a man today. This modern classic does everything short of rattling your seat to get a reaction.