Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Starring:Uma Thurman, Lorraine Bracco, Pat Morita, Angie Dickinson, Keanu Reeves, John Hurt, Rain Phoenix, Ed Begley Jr., Carol Kane, Sean Young, Crispin Glover, Roseanne, Buck Henry, Grace Zabriskie, Treva Jeffryes, Ken Kesey, Ken Babbs, Allen Arnold, Victoria Williams (VII), Heather Graham
Director: Gus Van Sant
Studio: New Line Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

If someone ever put together a what-were-they-thinking top 10, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues would surely make the list. Based on Tom Robbins's '70s ode to freedom, whooping cranes, and ambisexuality, this Gus Van Sant film sat on the shelf for almost a year before its brief release. More of a curiosity than anything else, it tells the convoluted story of Sissy Hankshaw (Uma Thurman), the world's greatest hitchhiker by virtue of her mammoth, um, thumbs. She falls in with a lesbian collective at a dude ranch and, well, the rest is kind of a mess. Kind of? Let's say it's a monumental mess, one of those films that's like a 25-car pileup on the interstate that you have to stop and look at, just to figure out what people like Keanu Reeves, Roseanne, John Hurt, and Angie Dickinson are doing there. A great score by k.d. lang, by the way. --Marshall Fine

Description

From the director of Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho comes a star-studded comedy based on the best-selling novel by Tom Robbins. The cowgirls on the Rubber Rose Ranch are staging a rebellion. Delores Del Ruby (Bracco) is leading the uproarious uprising, but it?s really Sissy Hankshaw (Thurman) who?s providing the spiritual leadership for this rag-tag bunch of female bandits. With her marvelous thumbs and her funky brand of femininity, she shatters all male chauvinist illusions and boldly goes where no woman has gone before.

Customer Reviews:

A Wreck of a Movie.......2007-02-22

The book is one of my favorites. The movie one of the worst I have ever seen (running close behind Hook and Twin Peaks - Fire Walk with Me). Back in 1993, I eagerly awaited the movie when it first came out, I had loved the book so much. But there were apparently significant production problems which constantly delayed production. When it came out, the reviews were terrible. I am not sure if it was ever released widely. In NY it was only showing at the Angelika which shows mostly independent films. Fortunately a few drinks before hand at Soho Kitchen and Bar eased the pain. Long story short - the movie was awful.

Flash forward 14 years later - I figure, what the hell. I recently re-read the book (which holds up surprisingly well despite its hippie undercurrents). So when I saw the movie on cable, I figured I would give it a second chance. Sometimes you just don't get smarter with age and are doomed to repeat your mistakes.

Skip the flick, get the book. Better yet, don't leave the bar.

...darn good fun..........2006-10-19

...what a hoot! It's not like the book and how could anyone make a movie just like a book this wild? Every time I watch this movie I laugh until my sides hurt and Delores Del Ruby!...holy cow!...

The book is much better. .......2006-06-17

First of all I read the book and then saw the movie. If you are planning on doing this then I'd say that you will be very disappointed. I loved the book and hated the movie. The book is about 420 pages long and the movie is like a clip show of the book. Highlighting the major parts of the book.
I don't know if Gus Van Sant meant to leave out some of the (what I thought) best parts of the book because he felt that people should read the book or because the producers felt that an 140 mins. was enough. They left out my favorite parts with description of the "Clockpeople" and the and the ending in the book is great, and in the movie a couple main parts of the ending where left out. If you haven't read the book then do and don't see the movie, and if you don't like to read then just watch the movie. The only thing I enjoyed was the casting. I love Tom Robbins books', and I think it's just sad what they did to this movie.

Weird but not without charm.......2006-04-20

This was definatly not the norm but it had real charm i like weird movies so I loved this one it was really off the wall if you like off the wall movies than watch this one great performance by uma thurman and rain ( I didnt like uma in kill bill lol)

Critics got it right here...........2006-04-16

Sometimes critics love to get on a bandwagon. It cuts both ways. They can all praise a film to death, giving you the impression that you're about to see a masterpiece, but the film is really just an OK film passing for a great one. The English Patient is a good example. Or they can trash a film mercilessly, usually when it's a "troubled" production (meaning behind schedule or over budget). Heaven's Gate is a great example, and the sad thing is Heaven's Gate is actually a masterpiece. But here, the critics were absolutely spot on when they called this film garbage. It is one of Van Sant's worst films. Van Sant has been incredibly erratic in his career, making great films (My Own Private Idaho), good ones (Good Will Hunting, Drugstore Cowboy), and lousy ones (Pyscho, Gerry, this one). This is really awful stuff, and you're probably better off reading the book.

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