''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'' is a 1993 American romantic

comedy-drama Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

film based on

Tom Robbins Thomas Eugene Robbins (born July 22, 1932) is a best-selling and prolific American novelist. His most notable works are "seriocomedies" (also known as "comedy drama"), such as ''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues''. Tom Robbins has lived in La Conner ...

' 1976 novel of the same name. The film was directed by

Gus Van Sant Gus Green Van Sant Jr. (born July 24, 1952) is an American film director, producer, photographer, and musician. He has earned acclaim as both an independent and mainstream filmmaker. His films typically deal with themes of marginalized subcultu ...

(credited as Gus Van Sant Jr.) and starred an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast t ...

led by

Uma Thurman Uma Karuna Thurman (born April 29, 1970) is an American actress and former model. She has performed in a variety of films, from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action films. Following her appearances on the December 1985 an ...

Lorraine Bracco Lorraine Bracco (born October 2, 1954) is an American actress. Known for her distinct husky voice and Brooklyn accent, she has been nominated for an Academy Award, four Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, and three Screen Actors Guild Awards ...

Angie Dickinson Angeline Dickinson (née Brown; born September 30, 1931) is an American actress. She began her career on television, appearing in many anthology series during the 1950s, before gaining her breakthrough role in ''Gun the Man Down'' (1956) wit ...

, Noriyuki "Pat" Morita,

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 25 January 2017) was an English actor whose career spanned over five decades. Hurt was regarded as one of Britain's finest actors. Director David Lynch described him as "simply the greatest actor in t ...

, 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 River Jude Phoenix (; August 23, 1970 – October 31, 1993) was an American actor, musician and activist. Phoenix grew up in an itinerant family, as the older brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix. He ...

Plot

Sissy Hankshaw is a woman born with a

mutation In biology, a mutation is an alteration in the nucleic acid sequence of the genome of an organism, virus, or extrachromosomal DNA. Viral genomes contain either DNA or RNA. Mutations result from errors during DNA or viral replication, m ...

(she would not call it a defect) giving her enormously large thumbs. Sissy makes the most of her thumbs by becoming a hitchhiker. Her travels eventually take her to New York City, where she becomes a model for a homosexual feminine hygiene products mogul, known as "The Countess". A few years later, he introduces her to his "beauty ranch", the Rubber Rose Ranch. The main plot revolves around the cowgirls who work at the ranch after they violently take over and drug the endangered whooping cranes that nest along the lake on their land, making the once migratory birds stay. The cowgirls end up in a showdown with government agencies because the cranes will not leave the ranch and the cowgirls refuse to allow the men on the ranch to take the cranes. Sissy and the ranch leader, Bonanza Jellybean, have a brief love affair. After a fatal shootout between the cowgirls and the various agencies, the cranes leave, and Sissy takes over running the ranch.

Cast

Production

''Even Cowgirls Get the Blues'' was shot throughout

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

: Portland,

Terrebonne Terrebonne, meaning ''good earth'' in French, is a name of several places in North America: ;Canada *Terrebonne, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal **Terrebonne station, a commuter railway station in Terrebonne, Quebec ** Terrebonne City Council, the go ...

Sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

, and Bend. Though some viewers claim that River Phoenix is visible in a brief cameo near the end of the film, director Gus Van Sant, costar Udo Kier, and Phoenix's own assistant at the time, Sue Solgot, have all asserted that Phoenix was not in the film. Van Sant further states, "River wasn't even in the desert when we shot. That is Jim Baldwin in the beekeeper's hat."

Reception

The film was a critical and commercial failure. After its world premiere in September 1993 at the

1993 Toronto International Film Festival The 18th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 9 and September 18, 1993. '' M. Butterfly'' by David Cronenberg was selected as the opening film. Forest Whitaker won FIPRESCI Internation ...

, the film was set to open, but due to the negative response, it was delayed for more editing. The picture opened in

wide release In the American motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across the country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical r ...

on May 20, 1994, and grossed a mere $1,708,873 against an estimated $8 million budget. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, it has an approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of . On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a score of 28% based on reviews from 16 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Film historian and critic

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fi ...

said "The novel was hopelessly dated, and there is not enough

peyote The peyote (; ''Lophophora williamsii'' ) is a small, spineless cactus which contains Psychoactive cactus, psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline. ''Peyote'' is a Spanish word derived from the Nahuatl (), meaning "caterpillar Pupa#Cocoo ...

in the entire American Southwest to render this movie comprehensible ''or'' endurable...K.D. Lang's icscore is the picture's sole worthy component." Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club called it "forgettable" and "tedious", and "It was god-awful. Unwatchable, almost." Richard F. Weingroff of

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...

said "Forget it - skip this lousy movie and read the novel by Tom Robbins."

Year-end lists

* First worst – Robert Denerstein, ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As ...

'' * First worst –

Janet Maslin Janet R. Maslin (born August 12, 1949) is an American journalist, best known as a film and literary critic for ''The New York Times''. She served as a ''Times'' film critic from 1977 to 1999 and as a book critic from 2000 to 2015. In 2000 Maslin ...

, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' * Second worst – Desson Howe, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' * Eighth worst –

Peter Travers Peter Joseph Travers (born ) is an American film critic, journalist, and television presenter. He reviews films for ABC News and previously served as a movie critic for ''People'' and ''Rolling Stone''. Travers also hosts the film interview prog ...

, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' * Top 10 worst (not ranked) – Dan Webster, ''

The Spokesman-Review ''The Spokesman-Review'' is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Spokane, Washington, the city's sole remaining daily publication. It has the third-highest readership among daily newspapers in the state, with most of its readership base i ...

'' * Top 12 worst (not ranked) – David Elliott, ''

The San Diego Union-Tribune ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...

'' * Dishonorable mention – William Arnold, ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington, United States. The newspaper was fo ...

Accolades

Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actress Razzie Award for Worst Actress is an award presented at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards to the worst actress of the previous year. Male actors performing in drag are eligible, as it is intended as a humorous award. The following is a list of ...

(''nominated'' - lost to

Sharon Stone Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress. Known for primarily playing femme fatales and women of mystery on film and television, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1990s. She is the recipient of various ...

for ''

Intersection In mathematics, the intersection of two or more objects is another object consisting of everything that is contained in all of the objects simultaneously. For example, in Euclidean geometry, when two lines in a plane are not parallel, thei ...

'' and ''

The Specialist ''The Specialist'' is a 1994 American action thriller film directed by Luis Llosa and starring Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, James Woods, Eric Roberts, and Rod Steiger. It is loosely based on "The Specialist" series of novels by John Shirley ...

'') *

Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress The Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress is an award presented annually at the Golden Raspberry Awards (or "Razzies") to the worst supporting actress of the previous year. Nominees and winners are voted on by the Golden Raspberry F ...

Sean Young Mary Sean Young (born November 20, 1959) is an American actress. She is particularly known for working in sci-fi films, although she has performed roles in a variety of genres. Young's early roles include the independent romance '' Jane Aust ...

(''nominated'' - lost to

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American comedian, television producer, actress, author, and television personality. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series '' Star Search'' ...

for ''

Car 54, Where Are You? ''Car 54, Where Are You?'' is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 1961 to April 1963. Filmed in black and white, the series starred Joe E. Ross as Gunther Toody and Fred Gwynne as Francis Muldoon, two mismatched New York City p ...

'', ''

Exit to Eden ''Exit to Eden'' is a 1985 novel by Anne Rice, initially published under the pen name Anne Rampling, but subsequently under Rice's name. The novel explores the subject of BDSM in romance novel form. The novel also brought attention to Rice's pub ...

'', and ''

The Flintstones ''The Flintstones'' is an American animated sitcom produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions. The series takes place in a romanticized Stone Age setting and follows the activities of the titular family, the Flintstones, and their next-door neighb ...

'')

Home media

The film was released on Region 1 DVD on November 2, 2004, containing its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 and on

NTSC The first American standard for analog television broadcast was developed by National Television System Committee (NTSC)National Television System Committee (1951–1953), Report and Reports of Panel No. 11, 11-A, 12–19, with Some supplement ...

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diameter typical ...

Image Entertainment RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 34 ...

on November 4, 2004, also in its original aspect ratio. 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 Pictures Home Entertainment Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (formerly Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Universal Studios Home Video, MCA/Universal Home Video, MCA Home Video, MCA Videodisc and MCA Videocassette, Inc.) is the home video distribution division of Am ...

in a 1.33:1 full frame version.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released on November 2, 1993 by

Sire Records Sire Records (formerly Sire Records Company) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group and distributed by Warner Records. History Beginnings The label was founded in 1966 as Sire Productions by Seymour Stein and Richard Gottehre ...

. k.d. lang performed the music. The album was composed by lang and

Ben Mink Benjamin Mink (born January 22, 1951) is a Canadian songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer best known as a longtime collaborator of Canadian singer k.d. lang. He plays several string instruments, notably the guitar, violin, and the m ...

. The soundtrack went top 10 in Australia and top five in New Zealand (numbers 10 and four, respectively), and also peaked at number 82 on the ''Billboard'' 200 in the United States. # " Just Keep Me Moving" (3:56) # "Much Finer Place" (0:51) # "Or Was I" (3:07) # "Hush Sweet Lover" (4:05) # "Myth" (4:08) # "Apogee" (0:37) # "Virtual Vortex" (0:44) # " Lifted by Love" (3:02) # "Overture" (2:03) # "Kundalini Yoga Waltz" (1:07) # "In Perfect Dreams" (3:07) # "Curious Soul Astray" (3:40) # "Ride of Bonanza Jellybean" (1:47) # "Don't Be a Lemming Polka" (2:17) # "Sweet Little Cherokee" (2:48) # "Cowgirl Pride" (1:47)

Chart performance

Certifications

References

External links

* * * *
"How to Fix a Film at the Very Last Minute (or Even Later)"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (Film) 1990s English-language films 1990s German-language films 1993 LGBT-related films 1993 films 1990s romantic comedy-drama films American LGBT-related films American romantic comedy-drama films Films directed by Gus Van Sant Films with screenplays by Gus Van Sant 1990s feminist films Films based on American novels Films based on romance novels Films shot in Bend, Oregon Films shot in Portland, Oregon Films about hitchhiking Lesbian-related films American road comedy-drama films 1990s road comedy-drama films William S. Burroughs LGBT-related romantic comedy-drama films 1990s American films