Logline of Thelma and Louise: Two best friends set out on an adventure, but it soon turns around to a terrifying escape from being hunted by the police, as these two girls escape for the crimes they committed.
Writer: Callie Khouri
Director: Ridley Scott
Genre: Action road dramedy
Starring: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel
Release Date: May 24, 1991
Script Can Be Found Here
As part of a weekly series, I’m looking at some of the WGA’s List of Top 101 Screenplays to see how everyone’s favorite screenwriting formula shows up. I neither condone nor condemn the framework. I’m just deeply curious about how it shows up in modern, great films.
Rank on WGA List: #72
“Thelma and Louise” Summary:
Louise Sawyer (Susan Sarandon), a sharp-tongued waitress, and Thelma Dickinson (Geena Davis), a passive housewife, are two friends who are getting ready to go on a weekend fishing trip. Established early on are that the pair lives in Arkansas, and that Thelma is a bit of a meek and ditzy housewife who doesn’t tell Darryl, her tacky, carpet salesman of a husband that she’s going on vacation with her friend.
En route to the cabin, they stop at a roadhouse bar where Thelma dances drunkenly with the flirtatious Harlan Puckett. When Harlan attempts to rape Thelma, Louise intervenes by threatening to shoot him and then going through with it after he provokes her. The two flee the scene of the crime.
They deliberate at a motel about their next steps. While Thelma wants to turn themselves in, Louise doesn’t believe that anyone will believe them (especially since how everyone saw Thelma’s flirtatious behavior on the dance floor). They instead decide to flee to Mexico (without going through Texas). Louise contacts Jimmy, her musician boyfriend, to wire them money to Oklahoma City, which will be their next stop on their journey.
While driving, they encounter an attractive hitchhiker named J.D. (Brad Pitt). At first, Louise is reluctant to have him come along, but Thelma gives in. In Oklahoma City, Jimmy surprises Louise with the money. Getting separate rooms, Jimmy proposes to Louise (who refuses), and Thelma sleeps with J.D. (who also learns that J.D. is a criminal on the lam).
The morning after, Thelma mentions to Louise that she has slept with J.D., who has stolen the savings and fled. Once they’re back on the road, Thelma robs a convenience store using the same script that J.D. gave her.
At this point, Hal Slocumb (Harvey Keitel) of the Arkansas State Police is tracking the women, interrogates the caught J.D., Jimmy, and taps the line at Darryl’s house. Despite their situation (and all of the awful men in their lives who seem to screw them over), Hal emerges as the one man in their lives who’s redeemable. He unsuccessfully attempts to have them give up.
As they drive, Thelma declares that she can’t go back, that something in her has switched or crossed over. She also prods about what happened in Texas; it becomes clear that Louise was raped and that Thelma should never bring it up again.
When they are pulled over by a New Mexico state trooper for speeding, Thelma prevents him from reporting them to the authorities by holding him at gunpoint and locking him in the trunk of his police car. As they continue to drive, they encounter a skeevy truck driver who makes obscene gestures at them. Demanding an apology from them, which he refuses, they fire at his fuel tanker and cause it to explode.
The authorities (including Hal) close in at the pair near the Grand Canyon. Hal makes a last-ditch effort into talking them into surrendering. Instead of being captured, Thelma proposes that they “keep going.” They say good-bye to each other and Louise drives the car over the cliff to their deaths.
“Thelma and Louise” Analysis:
| Number | STC Element | Page(s) in Script | Event in Script |
| 1 | Opening Image (page 1) | Page 1 | Louise is a waitress in a coffee shop, slamming dirty coffee cups from the counter into a bus tray. |
| 2 | Theme Stated (by page 5) | N/A | N/A |
| 3 | Set-Up (pages 1-10) | Pages 1-10 | Six Things that Need Fixing: 1. Thelma is married to an ass (Darryl), who wears “men’s jewelry”, 2. She doesn’t have agency over her own life 3. She didn’t tell him that she’s going out with Louise, 4. Darryl’s potentially cheating on her or at least has a facet of her life that’s unbeknownst to him, (“Funny how many people wanna buy carpet on a Friday night”), 5. Thelma packs too much for a two-day trip (she’s a bit daffy), 6. She’s afraid to handle a gun |
| 4 | Catalyst (page 12) | Page 20 | To rescue Thelma from rape, Louise shoots Harlan in the parking lot. |
| 5 | Debate (pages 12-25) | Pages 20 – 36 | Thelma and Louise drive away, deliberate about what to do; they go to a truck stop/coffee shop, they stay at a motel; Louise decides that they don’t live in a world that would support their side of the story. Louise contacts Jimmy and asks that he wires them money in Oklahoma. |
| 6 | Break Into Two (page 25) | Page 36 | Thelma agrees with Louise to go to Oklahoma City – they’re two women on the run. |
| 7 | B-Story (page 30) | Page 43 | Thelma runs into hitchhiker (JD) for the first time |
| 8 | Fun and Games (pages 30-55) | Pages 36 – 66 | Hal puts out an APB on the girls; they drive and meet and pick up J.D. for the ride |
| 9 | Midpoint (page 55) | Page 66 | Thelma sleeps with J.D., has a sexual awakening; she also learns the script to rob a convenience store. |
| 10 | Bad Guys Close In (pages 55-75) | Pages 66 – 90 | Thelma tells Louise of her sexcapade; they learn that they have gotten robbed by J.D.; Thelma holds up a convenience store to get more money |
| 11 | All is Lost (page 75) | Page 90 | Whiff of Death: Thelma calls Darryl; she knows that the law enforcement have bugged their lines and that they’re wanted. Louise talks to Hal (who knows where they’re going). There’s NO turning back. |
| 12 | Dark Night of the Soul (pages 75-85) | Pages 90 – 104 | They keep driving through the desert and get pulled over by the cop. |
| 13 | Break Into Three (page 85) | Pages 104 – 108 | Thelma rescues Louise and puts a cop in the trunk |
| 14 | Finale (pages 85-110) | Pages 108 – 137 | They continue to escape the law, blow up Earl’s tanker, and continue to evade police in a high-speed chase. |
| 15 | Final Image (page 110) | Page 137 | Determined not to succumb to the law, they drive over the edge of a canyon. |
Lessons from the Screenplay:
Like Back to the Future, Thelma and Louise does hit a lot of the same STC benchmarks, but it does so at somewhat different pace (note how many of the above events in the script occur later than what is prescribed in STC).
Again, this late pacing doesn’t matter so much as the film follows a rising line of action, puts Thelma and Louise through constant conflict, hits all major beats, and does so with organic and integrated choices.
Several notes:
- Theme Stated: I didn’t see one mentioned in the first few pages of the film with the slight exception of Louise asking Thelma “Is he your husband or your father?” when Thelma mentions she needs to ask Darryl for permission. While breaking free from a man’s world seems to be the dominant theme here in Thelma and Louise, I hesitate to say that this line completely encapsulates it.
- Catalyst/Debate/Break Into Two: Note how after the catalyst, there is room for debate. Stunned, these women don’t know how to react once Louise has shot Harlan; stunned and shocked but also fearing that no one would believe them in this perceived she-was-asking-for-it date rape culture, it makes logical sense that they would need to time to process their next move. Note how when they decide to go on the run, this action is considerably higher stakes than just shooting a guy in self-defense.
- B-plot: The B-plot involves Thelma falling for J.D. only to have her rob them. Here’s the thing, though: to paraphrase a common aphorism, when they lose (the money), they don’t lose the lesson. In other words, Thelma takes what she learned from J.D. (the script to rob a bank) and uses it to get (some) money back. Thelma is taking a survival tactic from the man’s world and using it against it.
Overall, Thelma and Louise may be a buddy film, but it’s more of Thelma’s story than it is Louise’s. We know this for several reasons: 1) it’s called Thelma and Louise, not Louise and Thelma; 2) Thelma seems to go on the bigger journey of self-realization because Louise, to a certain extent, remains constant as a spitfire. Thelma goes from meek housewife to a cheating, convenience store-robbing outlaw. Both of them, however, would rather die than continue to live in a man’s world.
Open to your thoughts…