Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1994)
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22% of critics liked it
(18 reviews) -
29% of users liked it
(5,997 ratings)
Writer/director Gus Van Sant's early bid for big-time commercial success -- a success he didn't manage to achieve until Good Will Hunting -- is based on Tom Robbins' 1976 feminist bestseller. Uma Thurman plays Sissy Hankshaw, a woman born with very large thumbs. After her parents (Grace… More Writer/director Gus Van Sant's early bid for big-time commercial success -- a success he didn't manage to achieve until Good Will Hunting -- is based on Tom Robbins' 1976 feminist bestseller. Uma Thurman plays Sissy Hankshaw, a woman born with very large thumbs. After her parents (Grace Zabriskie and Ken Kesey) take her to a doctor (Buck Henry), who offers her parents no remedy for their daughter's condition, the film races ahead to the 1970s. Sissy is now a popular feminine hygiene spray model for a product called Yoni Yum, the product of a company owned by The Countess (John Hurt in drag). Sissy travels to the Rubber Rose beauty ranch, also owned by The Countess, to shoot a Yoni Yum commercial. At the ranch, she makes the acquaintance of the inscrutable Chink (Pat Morita) and Bonanza Jellybean (Rain Phoenix). But under the nose of The Countess, the cowgirls on the ranch are talking mutiny, with the women trying to liberate the Rubber Rose Ranch from the chains of patriarchal oppression. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Directed By
- Gus Van Sant
- Written By
- Gus Van Sant
- Genres
- Drama, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Comedy
- In Theaters
- May 20, 1994 Wide
- Studio
- Fine Line Features
Critic Reviews
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Jack Kroll, Newsweek
There are just too many half-cooked ingredients in this utopian stew of a movie.
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Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com
Despite a promising start, Cowgirls is one of the most boring movies of all time, a ridiculous stew of mysticism, flat satire, and whimsy.
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Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Arguably Van Sant's weakest film, this adaptation of Tom Robbins's feminist anarchic manifesto is poorly conceived, directed, and acted.
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Jon Niccum, Lawrence Journal-World
One of the most unwatchable disasters of the '80s
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Alex Sandell, Juicy Cerebellum
I thought this was okay. I'm very embarrassed by that.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Uma Thurman
as Sissy Hankshaw
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John Hurt
as The Countess
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Rain Phoenix
as Bonanza Jellybean
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Noriyuki 'Pat' Morita
as The Chink
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Lorraine Bracco
as Delores Del Ruby
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Keanu Reeves
as Julian
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Angie Dickinson
as Miss Adrian
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Sean Young
as Marie Barth
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Crispin Glover
as Howard Barth
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Roseanne
as Zoe
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Ed Begley Jr
as Rupert
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William S. Burroughs
as Himself
- Steve Buscemi
- Faye Dunaway
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Wade Evans
as Cameraman
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Heather Graham
as Cowgirl Heather
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Scott Patrick Green
as Pilgrim
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Eric Hull
as White House Undersecretary
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Carol Kane
as Carla
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Ken Kesey
as Sissy's Daddy
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Udo Kier
as Commercial Director
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Oliver Kirk
as Sheriff
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River Phoenix
as Pilgrim (uncredited)
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Tom Robbins
as Narrator
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Lin Shaye
as Rubber Rose Maid
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Victoria Williams
as Cowgirl Debbie
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Grace Zabriskie
as Mrs Hankshaw
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Buck Henry
as Dr. Dreyfus
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Michael Parker
as Pilgrim Driver
- Lily Tomlin
- Alexa
- Richard Pagano
- Debi Manwiller
- Sharon Bialy
