Thelma and Louise

Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Brad Pitt
Director: Ridley Scott

There have been many shocking sights over the years on EastEnders.

Arthur Fowler's descent into depression, Kelvin and Sharon's singing attempts on chart disaster Something Out of Nothing. Not to mention Grant and Phil beating other black and blue over Sharon.

However, the sight of Pat Butcher and Peggy Mitchell doing their impression of Thelma and Louise the other week must rank as one of the most bizarre.

Walford's battleaxes were not the first to spoof Ridley Scott's memorable 1991 road movie.

The Simpsons, French and Saunders, Wayne's World and countless adverts have performed their own spin on the tale of two frustrated women who go on the run.

Louise (Susan Sarandon) is a coffee shop waitress whose best years are behind her. Thelma (Geena Davis) is a bullied housewife whose useless husband Darryl (Christopher MacDonald) does little to help her realise her full potential.

They decide to go off and have a girls' weekend which soon turns nasty when Thelma is nearly raped by a drunken reveller.

Louise, who we gather suffered a similar fate earlier in her life, shoots the assailant and there commences a memorable journey which takes them across the Arizona desert, hotly pursued by cop Harvey Keitel and his cohorts.

While Davis and Sarandon make an electrifying double act, the men in this movie range from the misogynistic to the sympathetic.

Writer Callie Khouri could have spent a lot more time working on her male leads as much of the dialogue here lacks much needed credibility. Straddling a fine line between the two is the big screen's most charming robber since Raffles.

Now calm yourselves girls because the sight of Brad Pitt in his breakthrough movie could be enough to make you forget you left the kettle on.

His lustful romp with Geena Davis makes those '11.30' cola adverts look like a love scene between Pat and Roy by comparison.

So forget such six-pack shenanigans - if you can. There's a lot more to this movie than Brad's buffed pecs. As with all Ridley Scott movies, this looks great. Adrian Biddle, the cameraman on last year's smash success The Mummy, ensures his photography is a sight for sore eyes and thanks to some clever script interpretation from Scott, it's filled with some magic moments.

One scene in the script had the eponymous heroines pulling into a gas station. Scott applied his usual spin to the proceedings and made them do it at 100mph - in reverse.

The night time drive through Monument Valley with Marianne Faithfull's The Eyes of Lucy Jordan is also a haunting gem and that freeze frame finale ranks alongside Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid as one of the best endings in movie history.

Is it the greatest film of Scott's career?

No, not really. For those pleasures, watch Alien and Blade Runner. However, while many of the secondary characters here may appear to be poorly realised cartoon characters - that sexist trucker is so one dimensional it's embarrassing - Thelma and Louise is easily the best of Ridley's Nineties offerings.

A pity that he didn't follow it up with more memorable fare in the years since then.

His Columbus epic 1492: The Conquest of Paradise, the Jeff Bridges drama White Squall and Demi Moore vehicle GI Jane were all good looking messes.

However, a director is only as good as their script and, sad to say, Scott was choosing some very ropey movies to make.

Even his brother, Tony - king of the bubblegum epic such as Top Gun and True Romance - was turning out better films with Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State being a couple of corkers in the last five years.

However, every 10 years or so, Ridley comes up with the goods and this year he struck box office gold again with Gladiator. The swords and sandals epic with Russell Crowe has grossed over $138million in its first month and looks like picking up a shelf full of Oscars next Spring.

Alien

Gladiator

The Mummy

© 2000 Roger Crow

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