Thelma & Louise

Thelma & Louise is a 1991 film, directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri. The film is a road movie but breaks with tradition by featuring two female leads. The film's plot revolves around Thelma and Louise's escape from their troubled home lives, as they embark upon a lengthy road trip across America. It stars Geena Davis as Thelma, and Susan Sarandon as Louise, and co-stars Harvey Keitel as a sympathetic detective trying to trace them as they go on the run and become outlaws. Michael Madsen plays Louise's boyfriend and Christopher McDonald plays Thelma's controlling husband. Brad Pitt (in his first significant role in a major Hollywood film) plays a parolee robber who befriends Thelma on the road.

Thelma & Louise became an instant critical and commercial success, becoming one of the highest grossing films of 1991, and receiving six Academy Award nominations, winning one for Best Original Screenplay. Both Sarandon and Davis were nominated for their roles in the same category.

Plot

Thelma is a passive, goofy housewife, married to a controlling husband, Darryl. Louise is a single waitress who appears organized and strong, with some unnamed trauma in her past. The film follows the women as they head out in Louise's green 1966 Thunderbird convertible for a two-day vacation of fishing in the mountains that nosedives into a nightmarish situation before they even reach their destination, but which sees them change from victims of circumstance into outlaw heroines of the road.

At the Silver Bullet, a cowboy bar and dancehall, Thelma meets a man, Harlan, with whom she dances. She gets drunk and the man attempts to rape her in the parking lot. Louise finds them and threatens to shoot Harlan if he doesn't stop, using a gun Thelma brought with her. Harlan stops, but then defiantly tells Louise that they were "just having a little fun." Louise replies that when a girl is crying like that, she's not having any fun. Harlan replies that he "should have fucked her anyway." At that, Louise shoots and kills him. Thelma wants to go to the police right away, but Louise is worried that no one will believe their story because Thelma was drunk and had been dancing with Harlan, and therefore no one would believe he was trying to rape her. Afraid that the authorities will prosecute her, Louise decides to run away, and Thelma follows.