History Film / ThelmaAndLouise

* ShirtlessScene: The one that made Creator/BradPitt a legend.

* SoundtrackDissonance: The alternate ending.

* AttemptedRape: An attempted rape in a nightclub parking lot and what happens to the rapist afterwards starts the entire crazy roadtrip.

* FreezeFrameEnding / FadeToWhite: The ending. The film ended on the duo driving their car into the Grand Canyon, freezing mid-flight.

Naïve Arkansas housewife Thelma Dickinson (Davis) and her best friend, independent waitress Louise Sawyer (Sarandon), pile into Louise's CoolCar for a girls' weekend out. Things go downhill when [[AttemptedRape Thelma is nearly raped]] by a stranger named Harlan (Timothy Carhart), who Louise subsequently shoots and kills.

[[caption-width-right:310: ''"[[Music/BBKing Better not look down, if you want to keep on flying, put the hammer down, keep it full speed ahead. Better not look back, or you might just wind up crying, you can keep it moving, if you don´t look down.]]"'']]

%%* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Louise is the Tomboy, Thelma is the Girly Girl (at first, anyway).

%%* TookALevelInBadass: Thelma, after she had sex with Creator/BradPitt.

* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted. The police figure out very quickly who Harlan's murderers were, where they were headed and eventually where they are. Agent Slocumb also gives them multiple opportunities to turn themselves in.

* HandsomeLech: What Harlan the rapist is implied to be.

* HeterosexualLifePartners: Thelma and Louise.

** Louise has one that kicks off the plot. She has no good reason to kill Harlan when she does. He'd released Thelma, was no longer a threat to them, and both were walking away from him. He just happened to push her BerserkButton with his insults. Doing it that way meant there'd be little chance of claiming self defense (as she later points out), and fleeing the scene just made things worse.

* JerkAss: Harlan, Darryl, and the truck driver.

* PhoneTraceRace: The cops need Darryl to keep Thelma on the line long enough for them to trace the call and encourage him to be calm and loving toward her once he's got her on the phone. However, the moment Darryl greets her with a cheerful "Honey!", she knows something's up and hangs up immediately.

* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted. The police figure out very quickly who Harlan's murderers were, where they were headed and eventually where they are. Detective Slocumb also gives them multiple opportunities to turn themselves in.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Louise is the Tomboy, Thelma is the Girly Girl (at first, anyway).

* TookALevelInBadass: Thelma, after she had sex with Creator/BradPitt.

* VillainousCrush: Harlan obviously develops one on Thelma pretty quickly.

* AllMenArePerverts: TheMovie, though Hal and Jimmy are exceptions.

* DeadpanSnarker: Louise.

* TheDitz: Thelma, at least initially. (In reality, Geena Davis is a member of UsefulNotes/{{Mensa}}.)

Naïve Arkansas housewife Thelma Dickinson (Davis) and her best friend, independent waitress Louise Sawyer (Sarandon), pile into Louise's CoolCar for a girls' weekend out. Things go downhill when [[RapeAsDrama Thelma is nearly raped]] by a stranger named Harlan (Timothy Carhart), who Louise subsequently shoots and kills.

* KarmaHoudini: J.D. Most of the men who cross Thelma and Louise get their comeuppance in some way. J.D. steals all their money and informs the police they're heading to Mexico, but gets away with it. It's possible the stolen money was taken off him and given back to Jimmy, but that's still getting off light.

* ChekhovsGun: Thelma's gun. She packs it for the trip on the off-chance it'll be needed, and it's the subject of a gag when Louise discovers it in the bag ("Good lord, Thelma!") - but Louise then uses it to force Harlan to let Thelma go, and unfortunately shoot him.

Rather than face almost certain prosecution, the duo decide to hit the road to Mexico; along the way, they are pursued by a sympathetic FBI agent named Hal Slocumb (Creator/HarveyKeitel). As they experience freedom they never had before, the long arm of the law finally corners them at the top of Grand Canyon. In one of the most iconic -- and infamous -- endings in cinema history, instead of surrendering, the two decide to... [[BolivianArmyEnding well...]] If you read the lyrics below the image, you'll get it.

Rather than face almost certain prosecution, the duo decide to hit the road to Mexico; along the way, they are pursued by a sympathetic FBI agent named Hal Slocumb (Creator/HarveyKeitel). As they experience freedom they never had before, the long arm of the law finally corners them at Grand Canyon. In one of the most iconic -- and infamous -- endings in cinema history, instead of surrendering, the two decide to... [[BolivianArmyEnding well...]] If you read the lyrics below the image, you'll get it.

Rather than face almost certain prosecution, the duo decide to hit the road to Mexico; along the way, they are pursued by a sympathetic FBI agent named Hal Slocumb (Creator/HarveyKeitel). As they experience freedom they never had before, the long arm of the law finally corners them at a canyon similar to Grand Canyon. In one of the most iconic -- and infamous -- endings in cinema history, instead of surrendering, the two decide to... [[BolivianArmyEnding well...]] If you read the lyrics below the image, you'll get it.

They hit the road to Mexico rather than face almost certain prosecution; along the way, they are pursued by a sympathetic FBI agent named Hal Slocumb (Creator/HarveyKeitel). As the two experience freedom they never had before, the long arm of the law finally corners them at a canyon similar to the Grand Canyon. In one of the most iconic, and infamous, endings in cinema history, instead of surrendering, the two decide to... [[BolivianArmyEnding well...]] If you read the lyrics below the image, you'll get it.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thelma_and_louise_poster.jpg]]

Thelma Dickinson (Davis), a naïve housewife, and her best friend, the independent waitress Louise Sawyer (Sarandon), pile into Louise's CoolCar for a girls' weekend out. Things go downhill [[RapeAsDrama when Thelma is nearly raped]] by a stranger named Harlan (Timothy Carhart), whom Louise subsequently shoots.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thelma_and_louise_poster.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:320: ''"[[Music/BBKing Better not look down, if you want to keep on flying, put the hammer down, keep it full speed ahead. Better not look back, or you might just wind up crying, you can keep it moving, if you don´t look down.]]"'']]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thelma-and-louise.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300: ''[[Music/BBKing Better not look down, if you want to keep on flying, put the hammer down, keep it full speed ahead. Better not look back, or you might just wind up crying, you can keep it moving, if you don´t look down.]]'']]

Thelma Dickinson (Davis), a naïve housewife, and her best friend, the independent waitress Louise Sawyer (Sarandon), pile into Louise's CoolCar for a girls' weekend out. Things go downhill [[RapeAsDrama when Thelma is nearly raped]] by a stranger named Harlan (Timothy Carhart), 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 Hal Slocumb (Creator/HarveyKeitel). As the two experience freedom they never had before, the long arm of the law finally corners them at a canyon similar to the Grand Canyon. In one of the most iconic, and infamous, endings in cinema history, instead of surrendering, the two decide to... [[BolivianArmyEnding well...]] If you read the lyrics below the image, you'll get it.

Thelma Dickinson (Davis), a naïve housewife, and her best friend, the independent waitress Louise Sawyer (Sarandon), pile into Louise's CoolCar for a girls' weekend out. Things go downhill [[RapeAsDrama when Thelma is nearly raped]] by a stranger named Harlan (Timothy Carhart), 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 Hal Slocumb (Creator/HarveyKeitel). As the two experience freedom they never had before, the long arm of the law finally corners them at a canyon similar to the Grand Canyon. In one of the most iconic, and infamous, endings in cinema history, instead of surrendering, the two decide to... [[BolivianArmyEnding well...]] If you read the lyrics at the top of the page, you'll get it.

* YourCheatingHeart: Darryl is implied to be cheating on Thelma; Harlan, a noted womanizer, admits that he's married right before he tries to rape Thelma; and the vulgar truck driver can be seen removing his wedding ring just as he's getting out of his truck to what he thinks is a hookup with Thelma and/or Louise.

* DisproportionateRetribution:
** Arguably what kicks off the plot is that Louise cannot justify killing Harlan as she had already stopped him from raping Thelma and at the time she shot him he didn’t pose an immediate threat, he was just being a total [[AssholeVictim asshole]] and said [[BerserkButton the wrong thing]].
** The truck driver was definitely being a jerk and deserved some kind of comeuppance but blowing up his truck might have been slight overkill.

-->'''Young Cop'''(sobbing): I have a wife!\\
'''Thelma''': That's nice. You be sweet to her. My husband wasn't sweet to me and look how I turned out.

* BetterToDieThanBeKilled: Rather than risk getting shot by the police, they [[spoiler:drive off the cliff edge into the canyon]].

* CerebusCallback: 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.

* EverythingIsBigInTexas

* LovelyAngels

** Louise inadvertantly leads the police to them when she chats to Slocumb on the phone too long, allowing them to trace the call (having earlier warned Thelma that the police will probably trace the call when she phones Darryl).

* RedOniBlueOni: Thelma is Blue, Louise is Red (see TomboyAndGirlyGirl below).

* ChekhovsGun: Thelma's gun.
* ChickFlick: Albeit a rather violent one.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Louise inadvertantly leads the police to them when she chats to Slocumb on the phone too long, allowing them to trace the call (having earlier warned Thelma that the police will probably trace the call when she phones Darryl).