EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES
A Film Review by Jon A. Webb
Copyright 1994 Jon A. Webb
I feel that I liked "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues" more than it deserved. There is something about this film that is appealing, even though the writing is somewhat childish and the direction wooden.
Uma Thurman plays Sissy, the woman with incredible thumbs, who is born to hitchhike, She meets up with Bonanza Jellybean, played by Rain Phoenix (the latest of that strangely named, distinguished acting family) who leads the cowgirls on a Western dude ranch.
I never read "Cowgirls," so I don't know how true this is to the book. It seems to me that the story is a little dated now, when the shoe is on the other foot with regard to environmental issues, women's rights, and gay rights.
But it is also clear that this story has meaning for a lot of people, quite a few of whom are in this film. The cast list reads like something from Altman: Lorraine Bracco plays the whip-carrying peyote- inspired cowgirl leader; John Hurt plays The Countess; Keanu Reeves the Native American object of Sissy's desire; Angie Dickinson runs the dude ranch; Sean Young and Crispin Glover are members of an Andy Warholesque party circle; and so on. Its fun watching these actors stretch themselves in these odd roles.
Gus van Sant has every actor speak his or her lines as if they were reading the script for the first time. This awkward effect is probably deliberate, as he also used it in "My Own Private Idaho." I don't know why he does this; perhaps it mutes the intensity of this strange material a little and keeps it from seeming ridiculous. It is probably what saves such outrageous scenes as the one where the cowgirls confront the Countess (which I found hilarious) and the one where Sissy does the commercial.
I suppose it is the enthusiasm of the actors for the story, and the story itself, that made the film appealing to me. Lorraine Bracco, with her wild stare and whip seems to be truly enjoying herself, as does Sean Young with her teased hair. Buck Henry's turn as a crazed doctor seems heartfelt. Every one of these actors seems to genuinely want to be in this movie, disconnected and odd though it is.
This is not a particularly insightful film, like "Drugstore Cowboy;" it does not even have very good direction. It is not a tribute to the book, so far as I can tell. It is a record of people who really want to work together with this material, and who are enjoying themselves doing it, while being held sightly in check by a talented artist who should be working with better material than this.
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