Even Cowgirls Get The Blues

In one of my recent posts, I wrote about The Hotel New Hampshire and unfilmmable novels. Author Tom Robbins is someone whose work is so odd that most filmmakers haven't even tried adapting it for the screen. However, filmmaker Gus Van Sant, never one to play by the rules, gave it a shot with 1994's Even Cowgirls Get The Blues.

Uma Thurman stars as Sissy Hankshaw, a beautiful young lady who was born with enormous thumbs. She puts her freakishly large digits to work and becomes the world's greatest hitchhiker. Her travels lead her to New York, where she becomes a fashion model for a cross dressing designer known as The Countess, John Hurt. The Countess sends her on a shoot to a ranch ran by women. While there, Sissy bonds with a rebellious cowgirl named Jellybean Bananza, Rain Phoenix, and a mystic hippy known as The Chink, Pat Morita, who lives in the mountains. They lead Sissy on a sexual and life changing awakening.

This was savaged by the critics and ignored by audiences, but I kind of like it. It's not a masterpiece but Van Sant does his best to bring Robbins' trippy words to life. And the cast, which also includes Keanu Reeves, Crispin Glover, Sean Young, Angie Dickinson, Roseanne Barr, Buck Henry, Heather Graham, Lorraine Bracco, Carol Kane, and Ed Begley, Jr. seem to be having a field day bringing this oddity to life. And K.D. Lang's score is very catchy.

It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're in the modd for something different Even Cowgirls Get The Blues is a fun diversion.

It's available on dvd.