Bad Girls

Gunslingerettes line up for the atrocity exhibition.

Bad Girls is directed by Jonathan Kaplan from a screenplay by Ken Friedman and Yolande Turner. It stars Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore. The plot sees the four girl actors playing prostitutes on the run following a justifiable homicide and a hanging escape. Suffice to say that they get into scrapes & double crosses whilst being pursued by the Pinkertons.

Being asked to suspend disbelief is one thing, being force fed drivel masquerading as pro-feminism is entirely another. Bad Girls is a mess of a movie, an insult to the Western genre, to the fans of the lady actors, to the lady actors themselves, who simply deserve much much better and arguably worst of all - to women in general. The script is laughable, serving only as an excuse for the gals to sling those guns and hips when possible, whilst being abused and saved by "men", while the plotting is by the numbers as everything falls into place readily. There's even slow-mo shots where they serve no purpose of enhancement. Throw into the mix that three of the ladies look nothing like on the run outlaws, all shine and span and make up with nice hair (Masterson the exception as she has a modicum of believability about her), well it's rather a depressing experience all told. Sure, as a red blooded guy I'm not going to be turned off by Barrymore's shapely thighs adorned in white stockings, or Stowe's truly gorgeous face, but when the highlights of a "girl" Western is something that's only aesthetically sexy for men, then they clearly have got it wrong.

So what's the justification for it being so bad? Well the back story offers up the answer. Film was meant to be directed by a woman, Tamra Davis (erm-Billy Madison & Crossroads), but she was jettisoned a couple of weeks into production. The plan with Davis at the helm was for it to be a Western told from a female point of view. However, Kaplan (The Accused/Unlawful Entry)...

Not so bad cowgirls

In 1891, four prostitutes in Echo City, Colorado (Madeleine Stowe, Andie MacDowell, Mary Stuart Masterson and Drew Barrymore), flee the law with Pinkertons hot on their trail. Eventually they have to tangle with a band of Hispanic outlaws to retrieve some money.

"Bad Girls" (1994) is a Western with cowgirls as the protagonists rather than cowboys. It combines the tone of "Silverado" (1985) and the later “The Mask of Zorro” (1998) so anyone who likes those flicks will probably like this one even if it’s arguably the least of ’em.

The Western staples are checked with a saloon brouhaha, a lynch mob, a posse, Pinkerton detectives, a swimmin' hole scene, steam locomotives, a handsome hero (Dermot Mulroney), magnificent Western vistas, a bank robbery, a mirthful Latino bandit (James Russo) and the four heroes grimly walking side-by-side to the showdown. Yet there are a few original elements as well if you look closely.

While all four of the stars are beautiful in their unique way, young Drew stands out and is just stunning. Speaking of the females, occupations & freedom were limited to women in the Old West, and the movie effectively drives this home.

People usually cite the available professions as marriage, school-marming, prostitution and old biddy-hood. But what about clerking of one manner or another? What about entertainment, like at local saloons, traveling troupes and Old West Shows? What about writing, like Harriet Beecher Stowe? What about ranch-owning? In other words, there were more options, but women had to use their imagination and take a bold step. The four heroines in “Bad Girls” are up to the task.

Like the two Westerns noted above, this one takes the larger-than-life, mythmaking approach rather than shoot for anything very believable. If you can roll with that, it fills the bill, just not as well as “The Mask of Zorro” or “American Outlaws” (2001).

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