Almost immediately upon its release in 1991, “Thelma & Louise” became a cultural touchstone. Stars Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis were both nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actress, and first-time screenwriter Callie Khouri won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar. The film, directed by Ridley Scott, and its iconic final scene — a car, a cliff, and a small army of police in pursuit — have been parodied and homaged in everything from “Seinfeld” to “The Simpsons.”
In the 30 years since its premiere in theaters, “Thelma & Louise” has lost none of its bite. Part gripping genre pastiche, part charming buddy film, and part righteous rallying cry, “Thelma & Louise” interpolates classic genres into its feminist vision, namely road movies and westerns.
Much of the DNA of “Thelma & Louise” can be found in the counterculture road movies of the 1960s and ‘70s, movies like “Easy Rider” and “Vanishing Point.” In those films, heroes and antiheroes search for authenticity and freedom on America’s backroads, struggling against a society in the throes of conformity and surveillance.
As a character like Kowalski (Barry Newman) puts pedal to the metal across the desert in the cult hit “Vanishing Point,” the grip of conformity tightens and a seemingly endless legion of squad cars and police helicopters take pursuit. This formula provides the perfect framework for the later film’s feminist anxieties.
What recourse, “Thelma & Louise” asks, is there for women in a society disinclined to listen to victims of sexual assault? What liberation is available to Thelma and Louise if, even in Monument Valley, the western movie’s most enduring symbol of freedom and possibility, they can’t escape the catcalls of a lecherous trucker?
The women, at least, find their answer in westerns. As they make their way for the Mexican border, the duo find themselves on the road and outside the law. Taking on the genre’s trappings, they stick up a general store and hightail it for the desert, where their world literally gets brighter.
The pair’s journey becomes larger than life, shot in bright color and vast wide shots by cinematographer Adrian Biddle. This vision stands in sharp contrast to the world they left behind. When the film cuts back to the FBI and Thelma’s neglectful husband Darryl (played to pathetic perfection by Christopher MacDonald), the world becomes noticeably smaller and more drab. Filmed in a palette of cold, sterile blues and greys, the interior of Thelma’s house occupies a world away from the life the women are now living. The film illustrates visually what Thelma tells Louise near the film’s end: they can never go back.
“Thelma & Louise” endures three decades on because rather than a wail of anguish, the movie provides a howl of wild joy. Borrowing from the tropes and visual language of traditionally masculine film genres, Ridley’s film provides its main characters, and the viewing audience, with an intoxicating sense of catharsis.
“Thelma & Louise” will screen at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 6, at Woodmere, 9201 Germntown Ave. Light refreshments will be available prior to the screening. Tuesday night at the movies screenings are free to the public, but contributions are welcomed. Please check woodmereartmuseum.org the day of the screening for updates on weather-related delays/cancellations.
