Monday, October 04, 2010

"Thelma, don't you litter."

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JA from MNPP here. At this point in Thelma & Louise, our girls have just robbed a convenience store (not to mention that whole shooting a rapist thing slightly earlier). In fact that tiny bottle of Wild Turkey that Thelma's contemplating chucking out of the car is amongst the stolen goods. And yet even the fiercest lady outlaws must have their standards. No littering!

Watching some of T&L this morning - it'd been awhile - the friction between the ladies they were and the criminals they're becoming is played for laughs a lot more than I'd remembered and this is one of my favorite throwaway moments. Although Louise is closed-off at the start she's hardly a schoolmarm, yet she keeps getting forced into the position with the newly rebellious Thelma, and Sarandon plays these moments with a really funny dose of bug-eyed bewilderment, unsure how she's found herself in the position of Mom. I wish she and Geena Davis had done a comedy together at some point, they would've been great at it. They still could...

Point being, happy birthday, Susan Sarandon!
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10 comments:

MRRIPLEY said...

I always and still do feel ss should've won her oscar for this,davis who was a big star at the time and i enjoyed her but it was sarandon's relationship with her b/f that struck me as real more so than foster in tsotl,her little jimmy line in the restaurant gets me everytime,love me some ss even her 7 min role in the valley of elah.

Eva Moos said...

I love this movie a lot and this scene is great. Your headline made me laugh! Just after my most favourite shot of the whole film - in which the camera pans from the back of the car - going with the car's driving speed - to the front of it.. (or was it front to the back? whatever.) One of the best shots in movie history, really!

/3rtfu11 said...

I detest the Thelma character. Sarandon should have won. Kathy Bates should’ve been nominated. My opinion the only two women Bates couldn’t misplace that year is Foster and Sarandon.

NATHANIEL R said...

i love this movie so. haven't watched it in way too long so thanks for the shove.

Dominik said...

Yeah, happy birthday to Susan Sarandon! Definitely an all-time great!

John said...

One of my favourite walk down memory lane movies is The Tempest. I can't resist Sarandon, Rowlands and even Molly Ringwold. It makes me dream of those Greek Isles to this very day and hopefully I'll get there one day.

Ben said...

I actually just saw this for the first time and, please don't hate me, wasn't that impressed. I liked the performances, especially Geena Davis', but the movie seemed a bit dated to me. And the scenes with the cops following them were really extraneous.

I think I've realized that my least favorite time period in movies is from about 1985-1991. There simply wasn't that much truly visionary work being done by directors....

/3rtfu11 said...

Ben,
My Own Private Idaho (1991)
Barton Fink (1991)
Jungle Fever (1991)
Naked Lunch (1991)
The Grifters (1990)
Do The Right Thing (1989)
Dead Ringers (1988)
School Daze (1988)
Robocop (1987)
The Fly (1986)
Aliens (1986)
The Color Purple (1985)

Blinking Cursor said...

As a semi-related post, today, October 5th, is Kate Winslet's birthday. And Sept 30th was Marion Cotillard's birthday. Therefore, a post celebrating Winslet and/or Cotillard would be appropriate (not to mention nice) for their fans.

On the topic of Sarandon, I quite like her as an actress and wish she would take on more roles. However, I guess the difficulties of finding roles for more mature actresses is still as prevalent ever in Hollywood .

Ben said...

Thanks /3artful.

I've seen most of those, and can honestly say I only LOVE Do the Right Thing and perhaps The Color Purple. Most of the rest I admire rather than love....