Bad Girls
99 minutes,
USA (1994), 15
Young Guns in skirts. Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore saddle up in a sassy Western adventure about four hookers on the lam.
Director:
Bad Girls Review
Young Guns in skirts. Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore saddle up in a sassy Western adventure about four hookers on the lam.
The early 1990s saw a glut of westerns hitting cinemas with Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven lording it over the likes of Tombstone, Wyatt Earp and Posse. Bad Girls joined the wagon trail in 1994 after a troubled production that saw original director Tamra Davis (Billy Madison) fired by 20th Century Fox and replaced by Jonathan Kaplan two weeks into the shoot.
It would have been interesting to see Davis's film. After all, Bad Girls' USP is that its four lead characters are women. You get the impression that it was conceived by the studio as a hard-hitting feminist horse-opera and Kaplan was drafted in, presumably, because of the grit and sensitivity he brought to Oscar winning rape drama The Accused (1988). However, if you're looking for a serious study of the female experience in the misogynistic Wild West, best search out The Ballad Of Little Jo or even the magnificent TV series 'Deadwood'. With its 15 certificate, Bad Girls has its edgy elements (including implied sexual violence) but, after Kaplan ordered a complete rewrite, the film ended up as an escapist Hollywood fantasy - the kind where brothel whores are as elegant as Madeleine Stowe and not even galloping action can ruffle the foxy participants' perfect hairdos.
It would have been interesting to see Davis's film. After all, Bad Girls' USP is that its four lead characters are women. You get the impression that it was conceived by the studio as a hard-hitting feminist horse-opera and Kaplan was drafted in, presumably, because of the grit and sensitivity he brought to Oscar winning rape drama The Accused (1988). However, if you're looking for a serious study of the female experience in the misogynistic Wild West, best search out The Ballad Of Little Jo or even the magnificent TV series 'Deadwood'. With its 15 certificate, Bad Girls has its edgy elements (including implied sexual violence) but, after Kaplan ordered a complete rewrite, the film ended up as an escapist Hollywood fantasy - the kind where brothel whores are as elegant as Madeleine Stowe and not even galloping action can ruffle the foxy participants' perfect hairdos.
"Not quite Bikini Girls With Machine Guns"
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