Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

"I still respect Gus Van Sant tremendously, by the way. I admire his eye and his courage. Any artist worthy of the name has to take chances, and, obviously, the greater the risk the greater the danger of failure." --- Tom Robbins

In 1993, Gus Van Sant's long awaited, and unfairly hated, adaption of Tom Robbins' cult novel made its way to the big screen. For all the bad reviews and angry fans (of both Van Sant and Robbins!)the film generated, it's really not that bad of a movie. Sure, van sant has made better films, but there's still much to like in this one. The opening scenes are terrific, blending the hippy surrealism of the novel with k.d. lang's eerie country music and some gorgeous cinematography; the movie definitely starts out on the right foot. It does stumble at times, but any movie adaption of a Tom Robbins novel is bound to fail, due in equal parts to Robbins' brilliance and his unique style of prose. Robbins uses internal narrative to great extent, along with several breaks in action (usually), and a myriad of other techniques that don't necessarily lend themselves to cinematic adaption. But Van Sant decided to try it anyway, and I applaud him for it. It's one of the greatest books of modern times, and while the movie doesn't live up to that, it's still a decent effort. Robbins himself provides the voice over narration but provided very little else to the development of the film, besides obvious inspiration. Watch for Ken Kesey, William S. Burroughs, and River Phoenix in brief cameo appearances.

The plot itself, as much as can be described, is a road movie centering around Sissy Hankshaw (Uma Thurman), Jellybean Bonanza (Rain Phoenix), feminism, peyote, and the near extinction of whooping cranes. As surreal as the book is, the movie increases that surrealism tenfold. This is why the movie doesn't always "work". Sissy is born with a genetic defect: huge thumbs. She discovers the hidden powers of her oversized digits, namely her unmatched talent for hitchhiking. She travels around the country, back and forth, for the hell of it. Eventually she agrees to model for a feminine hygeine product, produced by the Russian countess (John Hurt). A few years later, the countess sends Sissy out to his ranch, where she meets, among others, Jellybean Bonanza. I could fill up a few pages trying to make you understand the plot, but i'm not going to waste that time. If you haven't seen the movie or read the book, you definitely should (probably the book first, as it is ten times better). then all of this will make more sense. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues might be confusing and at times frustrating, but it still shows the distinct mark of both Robbins and Van Sant, and I can't think of two people I'd rather hang out with for a couple of hours.

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