April Showers: Thelma & Louise
Friday, April 18, 2014 at 11:30PM waterworks all month long... this one's from the vaults
Tonight's shower is provided by mother nature rather than traditional indoor plumbing. That's appropriate since Thelma & Louise (1991) is elemental: all wide open spaces, blazing sun, dusty earth and women as hard driving forces of nature.
While the film belongs to Susan Sarandon's Louise, Geena Davis's Thelma is the maddening/adorable one. Among her many exasperating yet endearing qualities is her uninhibited horniness for one J.D. (early Brad Pitt). In the still above, Louise has booted the caddish hitchhiker out of their car since the friends are getting hotel rooms for the night. J.D. struts away into the rain shower, fully confident that Thelma's eyes are still on him. He even kicks up a boot heel, a private little show for her, as the car drives away.
There he goes. I love watching him go.
Wrangler butts drive her nuts... or something.
If you've seen more than two or three movies in your lifetime you'll know that this lustfully observed exit will not be J.D.'s exit from the movie. But Thelma apparently hasn't seen so many movies. She's surprised (and thrilled) when he comes a'knocking on her hotel room door later that same night.
J.D. is such a skilled charmer that the outcome of his neighborly call is never in doubt. The aw shucks grin is ease itself. He even knows just how to pose in the pouring rain so that the water runs, just so, off his cowboy hat. This 'I'll get out of your hair now' wet puppy act is all pretense. He's no puppy but a dog. He knows he's getting out of the rain. He knows he's getting into her bed.
Do you remember the first time you saw Brad Pitt in a movie? This was mine.
Reader Comments (11)
"i've always believed that if done properly, armed robbery doesn't have to be an unpleasant experience."
this was my introduction to brad pitt as well. i very nearly bought a car afterwards just so i could drive around picking up hitchhikers
I may have seen him in things before Thelma and Louise, but this was the first time I remembered him. The little dance for Thelma's husband in the police station is a gem of a scene.
Re Wrangler Butts: Wrangler jeans are cut with much higher waist bands than other brands. They are true cowboy jeans because cowboys don't wear underwear and the higher waist cut keeps their private parts private when they bend over or ride broncos. Thelma would know this.
Thelma is a dirty girl for wanting a dirty boy.
I took a "fluff" class senior year of high school called Mass Media, and we were allowed to do a project on anything we wanted as long as it had anything to do with media in any shape or form. My friend Meaghan and I decided to do our project on Brad Pitt, because it would be easy and we thought he was hot. I had recently seen "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and was feeling all sorts of vapors.
That being said, I had never seen "Thelma & Louise" before, and found myself obsessed with it. I think I watched it five times by the time my senior year was over. There was something so depressing and existential about it that I could never escape.
What a beauty he was.
Brad doesn't seem to be aging particularly well...
Funny you say that Mark, I think he's aging extremely well. He looked fantastic in "Moneyball".
Mine too! I must confess that as an actressexual all I really cared about was Susan Sarandon.
I first saw him in "A River Runs Through It" demonstrating the four-count rhythm.
Hmmm, I'm not sure about the first time I saw him, since I don't recall the order in which I saw a bunch of his early '90s work. It actually might have been Cool World (don't judge me, I was 12 at the time and thought it looked...cool) or A River Runs Through It or even True Romance. He was insanely charismatic but also sweetly vulnerable and maddening in River...just perfectly cast.
I think the first film I saw Brad Pitt in was either "Cool World" (which I hardly remember as a kid) or "Fight Club." Then again, I vaguely remember trying to watch "Seven Years in Tibet" but gave up since a 3+ film for a 12 year old is no fun.
FYI, Pitt's part in "Thelma and Louise" was originally supposed to go to Grant Show, aka Jake on "Melrose Place," but he had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts with the show.