Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues Based on the eccentric Tom Robbins’ novel, this campy queer Nineties Western brings together director Gus Van Sant, star Uma Thurman, and music by k.d. lang … yet was a critical and commercial failure. We find that hard to believe with a plot that includes cowgirls at the Rubber Rose Ranch facing off with the FBI over their seizing of the property’s endangered whooping cranes. Clearly they’ve got their hands full, but are not without a little free time for a brief affair between Sissy Hankshaw (Thurman) and head cowgirl Bonanza Jellybean (Rain Phoenix). Damn those critics; I give this one two large, prosthetic thumbs up. – Rina Laby