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Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Play trailer Poster for Even Cowgirls Get the Blues R 1994 1h 46m Fantasy Play Trailer Watchlist
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17% Tomatometer 29 Reviews 28% Popcornmeter 5,000+ Ratings
A beautiful young woman with unusually big thumbs, Sissy Hankshaw (Uma Thurman) decides, fittingly enough, to become a hitchhiker. After finding work as a model for feminine products, Sissy goes to shoot an ad at the Rubber Rose, a ranch owned by the Countess (John Hurt), the company's flamboyant cross-dressing head. While at the ranch, Sissy meets numerous other eccentric characters, including an outgoing and rebellious cowgirl named Bonanza Jellybean (Rain Phoenix).
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Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Critics Reviews

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Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader 12/10/2018
Gus Van Sant adapts Tom Robbins's comic, countercultural novel of the 70s... and while the results are both cheerful and occasionally inventive, they can't hold a candle to his previous features. Go to Full Review Colette Maude Empire Magazine 12/10/2018
1/5
Unlike the book, which retains some humanity amid philosophical digressions and flowery dialogue, Van Sant's film is cold and the gallery of eccentrics merely come across as vulgar caricatures. Go to Full Review Kenneth Turan Los Angeles Times 12/10/2018
Though the director's sensibility worked extraordinarily well when applied to hard-edged subject matter like "Drugstore Cowboy" and even "My Own Private Idaho," combining it with Robbins' flimsy jokiness has resulted in a film whose tedium is painful. Go to Full Review Steve Warren Southern Voice (Atlanta) 05/09/2023
None of the characters or plot elements is sufficiently developed. Even readers of the book may be as confused as they are disappointed. Go to Full Review Lawrence Frascella The Advocate 04/18/2022
You can watch this entire film hunting for its core, but you won't find it, either in Van Sant's shaky themes or in Uma Thurman's drab, self-involved lead performance. Go to Full Review Jas Keimig The Stranger (Seattle, WA) 12/08/2021
...like a pesky sauce, the ingredients of this film frequently break from each other, creating a dissatisfying viewing experience... Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Petros T @PetrosTserpelis Jul 27 It has a cast full of great actors (with Uma Thurman crucially doing the heroine justice and John Hurt also standing out) and Tom Robbins himself doing the narration, and should be commended for trying its luck at replicating the author's colourful dialogue, but it unfortunately fails at conveying the heft of his surrealism. The story as presented in the film is largely inconsequential and superficial, reaching each plot point because it has to, like a shell that can only keep up appearances. See more rob d @ArdeeCook 01/29/2024 A bunch of bizarre details in search of an engaging story. The source material is not done justice here. A glib, tossed off outline of a movie. A disappointment after My Own Private Idaho and Drugstore Cowboy. See more 05/22/2015 This is an epic cinematic error. The frustrating thing is that this should have been a great movie. Instead it is painfully bad on all counts. See more 07/23/2014 That's so funny. This Is my all time favorite movie. I had no idea it got bad reviews. I think it's incredibly original, it's racey, it's sexy, errrrotic, political, liberal, thought provoking . The acting is great, kinda cheesy, but hilarious and perfect. Great cast, great soundtrack kd Lang. I don't find it boring at all. I have fantasies of being sissy hankshaw, what a life. I love love love this movie See more 06/14/2014 This movie is the worst I heve ever seen, in fact, it almost killed me it was so bad. I made a youTube review explaining how it almost killed me . http://youtu.be/Y4VqXl0BOGM See more 12/25/2013 YEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! too good to be true, AN UMA THURMAN LESBIAN MOVIE! One that emphasizes her exotic looking hand shots(to freakish extremes!) See more Read all reviews
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

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Cast & Crew

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Gus Van Sant

Director

Uma Thurman

Sissy Hankshaw

John Hurt

The Countess

Rain Phoenix

Bonanza Jellybean

Lorraine Bracco

Delores Del Ruby

Angie Dickinson

Miss Adrian

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Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993) View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis A beautiful young woman with unusually big thumbs, Sissy Hankshaw (Uma Thurman) decides, fittingly enough, to become a hitchhiker. After finding work as a model for feminine products, Sissy goes to shoot an ad at the Rubber Rose, a ranch owned by the Countess (John Hurt), the company's flamboyant cross-dressing head. While at the ranch, Sissy meets numerous other eccentric characters, including an outgoing and rebellious cowgirl named Bonanza Jellybean (Rain Phoenix).
Director
Gus Van Sant
Producer
Laurie Parker
Screenwriter
Gus Van Sant
Distributor
Fine Line Features, New Line Home Video [us], Laurenfilm S.A.
Production Co
New Line Cinema, Fourth Vision
Rating
R
Genre
Fantasy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
May 20, 1994, Wide
Release Date (DVD)
Mar 24, 2015
Box Office (Gross USA)
$1.7M
Runtime
1h 46m
Sound Mix
Dolby, Stereo
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