Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (film)

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

The poster features Uma Thurman squatting along a highway with her thumb out hitch-hiking

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Produced by
  • Eric McLeod
  • Laurie Parker
  • Gus Van Sant
Screenplay by Gus Van Sant
Based on Even Cowgirls Get the Blues 
by Tom Robbins
Starring
Narrated by Tom Robbins
Music by
Cinematography
  • John J. Campbell
  • Eric Alan Edwards
Edited by
  • Curtiss Clayton
  • Gus Van Sant
Production
company
Fourth Vision
Distributed by Fine Line Features
Release dates
  • September 13, 1993 (1993-09-13) (TIFF)
  • May 20, 1994 (1994-05-20)
Running time
 96 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language
  • English
  • German
Budget $8 million
Box office $1.7 million[2]

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues is a 1993 American romantic comedy-drama film based on Tom Robbins' 1976 novel of the same name. The film was directed by Gus Van Sant (credited as Gus Van Sant, Jr.) and starred an ensemble cast led by Uma Thurman, Lorraine Bracco, Angie Dickinson, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita, Keanu Reeves, John Hurt, and Rain Phoenix. Robbins himself was the narrator. The soundtrack was sung entirely by k.d. lang. The film was dedicated to the late River Phoenix.

Plot

The film tells the story of Sissy Hankshaw, a woman born with a mutation (she would not call it a defect) giving her enormously large thumbs. The film is a transgressive romp, covering topics from homosexuality and free love to drug use and political rebellion to animal rights and body odor and religions. Sissy makes the most of her thumbs by becoming a hitchhiker. Her travels take her to New York, where she becomes a model for a transvestite feminine hygiene products mogul, known as The Countess, who introduces her to the man whom she will marry, an asthmatic, staid Mohawk named Julian Gitche. In her later travels, she encounters, among many others, a sexually open cowgirl named Bonanza Jellybean and an itinerant escapee from the Japanese internment camps happily mislabeled "The Chink".

Cast

Production

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues was shot throughout Oregon: Portland, Terrebonne, Sisters, and Bend.

Reception

The film was a critical and commercial failure. After its world premiere in September 1993 at the 1993 Toronto International Film Festival, the movie was set to open, but due to the negative response, it was delayed for more editing. The picture opened in wide release on May 20, 1994 and grossed a mere $1,708,873[2] on an estimated $8 million budget. It currently holds a 22% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

According to film critic/historian Leonard Maltin, "The novel was hopelessly dated, and there is not enough peyote in the entire American Southwest to render this movie comprehensible or endurable...K.D. Lang's score is the picture's sole worthy component."

Accolades

Home media

The film was released on Region 1 DVD on November 2, 2004, containing its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It received a second DVD release in the United States from UCA on April 6, 2010, now in a new cropped 1.78:1 widescreen version.

In 2007, the film received its first DVD release in the UK from Universal Home Entertainment in a 1.33:1 full frame version.

Soundtrack

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
Soundtrack album by k.d. lang
Released November 2, 1993 (1993-11-02)
Genre Country
Label Rhino
k.d. lang chronology
Ingénue
(1992)		 Even Cowgirls Get the Blues
(1993)		 All you Can Eat
(1995)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[3]
Entertainment WeeklyB[4]
Los Angeles Times[5]
NME(8/10)[6]
Q[6]
Robert Christgau[7]
Rolling Stone[8]

The soundtrack was released on November 2, 1993 by Rhino Records. k.d. lang performed the music. The album was composed by k.d. lang and Ben Mink.[9] The soundtrack went top 10 in Australia and top 5 in New Zealand (#10 and #4, respectively), and also peaked at #82 on the Billboard 200 in the United States.[10]

  1. "Just Keep Me Moving" (3:56)
  2. "Much Finer Place" (0:51)
  3. "Or Was I" (3:07)
  4. "Hush Sweet Lover" (4:05)
  5. "Myth" (4:08)
  6. "Apogee" (0:37)
  7. "Virtual Vortex" (0:44)
  8. "Lifted by Love" (3:02)
  9. "Overture" (2:03)
  10. "Kundalini Yoga Waltz" (1:07)
  11. "In Perfect Dreams" (3:07)
  12. "Curious Soul Astray" (3:40)
  13. "Ride of Bonanza Jellybean" (1:47)
  14. "Don't Be a Lemming Polka" (2:17)
  15. "Sweet Little Cherokee" (2:48)
  16. "Cowgirl Pride" (1:47)
Chart performance
Chart (1993) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Country Albums 6
Canadian RPM Top Albums 47
U.S. Billboard 200 82

See also

References

  1. ↑ "EVEN COWGIRLS GET THE BLUES (15)". Rank Film Distributors. British Board of Film Classification. July 1, 1994. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  2. 1 2 Even Cowgirls Get the Blues at Box Office Mojo
  3. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues - k.d. lang". Allmusic. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  4. ↑ Nash, Alanna (November 5, 1993). "k.d. Scores (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Review)". Entertainment Weekly: 67. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  5. ↑ Willman, Chris (November 7, 1993). "**1/2; k.d. lang, "Music From the Motion Picture Soundtrack 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'"; Sire/Warner Bros.". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  6. 1 2 "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Soundtrack CD Album". CD Universe. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  7. ↑ Christgau, Robert. "CG: k.d. lang". RobertChristgau.com. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  8. ↑ Evans, Paul (March 10, 1994). "k.d. lang: Even Cowgirls Get The Blues : Music Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 6, 2008. Retrieved April 18, 2013.
  9. ↑ Amazon.com: Even Cowgirls Get The Blues: Music From The Motion Picture Soundtrack: Music: k.d. lang
  10. ↑ "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues - Original Soundtrack". Billboard. Retrieved January 30, 2012.

External links

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