"In the future, when a woman's crying like that, she isn't having any fun!"—Louise Sawyer
A 1991 film directed by
Ridley Scott and starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon,
Thelma & Louise became one of the most iconic films of the decade. Scott and the film's two leads received Academy Award nominations, while screenwriter and
intended director Callie Khouri grabbed the Oscar for her screenplay.
Thelma, a naive housewife and her best friend, the independent waitress Louise, pile into Louise's
Cool Car for a girl's weekend out. Things go downhill
when Thelma is nearly raped by a stranger named Harlan,
whom Louise subsequently shoots. They hit the road to Mexico rather than face almost certain prosecution; along the way, they are pursued by a sympathetic FBI agent named Slocumb. As the two experience freedom they never had before, the long arm of the law finally corners them at
the Grand Canyon a canyon that is totally not the Grand Canyon, because if it had been they would have had to pay to get there, because it's a National Park, and the rangers don't just let you
drive up to the edges of cliffs like that.
And...
This film features examples of:
- Action Girl: Both of them, although it takes some Character Development (particularly Thelma).
- All Men Are Perverts: The Movie.
- Asshole Victim:
- Harlan, right to the very end.
Harlan: Bitch! I shoulda gone ahead and fucked her!
Louise: What did you say?
Harlan: I said suck my cock!
Louise's Gun: BANG!
- The trucker who follows and sexually harasses them on the highway. Their response? Blow up his entire truck. They had given him three chances to apologize, and he insulted them every time. The first without retaliation. The second they shot his tires. The third... he had it coming.
- Attempted Rape
- Better to Die than Be Killed
- Big "NO!": Slocumb, when Thelma and Louise decided to drive off the Grand Canyon.
- Bolivian Army Ending: Though the general consensus on what happened is they both died. There's... pretty much no way of surviving plunging into the Grand Canyon.
- Cerebus Callback: Thelma and Louise take a polaroid photo of themselves at the start of their trip and stick it to the rear view mirror in the car. The photo flies off the mirror just as the car goes plunging into the Grand Canyon.
- Chick Flick: Albeit a rather violent one.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Thelma, at least in the movie. In reality, actress Geena Davis is a member of Mensa.
- Deadpan Snarker: Louise.
- Development Hell: The project's genesis was in 1979, with Ridley Scott joining as a producer in 1980 with Callie Khouri intending to direct it. At several points, a few big-name actresses were attached to or considered for the titular roles.
- Downer Ending
- Driven to Suicide: The main couple. Literally.
- Fade to White: The ending.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Thelma and Louise.
- Handsome Lech: What Harlan the rapist is implied to be.
- Hero Antagonist: Slocumb.
- The Hero Dies: Both the eponymous characters themselves at the end.
- I Have a Family: What the cop says as they lock him in the trunk of his cruiser.
- Jerk Ass: Most of the male characters, but specially Harlan, Darryl and the truck driver.
- Lovely Angels
- Mexican Standoff: How the movie ends... until Thelma has another idea.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever happened to Louise in Texas, it must have been bad.
- Police Are Useless
- Punch Clock Villain: Hey, the cop who pulls them over is just doing his job.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Thelma is Blue, Louise is Red (see Tomboy and Girly Girl below).
- Road Movie: A Gender Flipped version.
- Run For The Border: The ladies decide to go to Mexico.
- Shirtless Scene: The one that made Brad Pitt a legend.
- Slut Shaming: Louise points out that people would deny Thelma's claim of Attempted Rape due to Thelma flirting, dancing, and drinking with the man.
- Shoot The Fuel Tank
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The alternate ending.
- Surprise Vehicle: A helicopter arises from the Grand Canyon.
- Rule Of Cool: numerous continuity errors, throughout the film. The route supposedly taken makes little sense, and who can drive or ride in the back of a convertible wearing a cowboy hat? How did they get the trucker's hat? The shot showing Luise's foot switching from brake to accelerator comes after the car is already moving..
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Louise is the Tomboy, Thelma is the Girly Girl (at first, anyway).
- Too Dumb to Live: Both Harlan and the pervert trucker continue to talk dirty and/or insult the women while they are pointing guns at them.
- Took a Level in Badass: Thelma, after she had sex with Brad Pitt.
- Toxic Friend Influence: Louise to Thelma.
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