Read Best Reviews of Bad Girls (1994) Here
I've seen this movie a couple of times over the years and thought it was decent. Like Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, Bad Girls begins with the abuse of a prostitute whose vengeance sets the whole plot in motion. But in Bad Girls, plot development is synonymous with costume changes. Chaps, corsets, silks and flannel -for women on the run who carry no baggage other than their historical baggage as former prostitutes, these four desperadoes scam more new outfits than a bevy of runway models. And at least one of them had to be packing a curling iron. But, okay, this is Hollywood after all, and what's the point of having four women starring in a movie if they don't at least look good, albeit illogical.The really grievous problems with Bad Girls are its lack of plot and undeveloped characters. On the lam after the most trigger-happy of the bunch, Madeleine Stowe, kills a customer who's roughing up one of the other girls in the brothel, they have very little sense of purpose once they're on their own. With a vague plan of heading toward the Oregon Territory to run a sawmill, Bad Girls moves forward in episodic fashion as they encounter one difficulty (or love interest) after another. You can practically picture it as a weekly TV series that poses hour-long detours on the road to the elusive Oregon Territory. The barrenness of the plot would be less noticeable; however, if there were at least some solid characters to hang the story on. Stowe nicely plays the sternness of her character against the delicacy of her features but even her tough-gal posture is belittled when she is whipped by one man and rescued by another. Masterson, considering her range as an actress of intelligence and physical dexterity, is given surprisingly little to do. As for the others, MacDowell flirts and Barrymore pouts, though each does what she does very well.
The Cinematography is respectable, as is the directing for what the shooting schedule allowed. Not an extraordinary film, but one that entertains on one level. That and the sexual component really didn't need the exposure it received in this film. In other words it couldve been handled more tastefully, or axed altogether.This is a very underrated movie about 4 women who are trapped by their circumstances in the Old Wild West. Mary Stuart Masterson and Andie McDowell are both prostitutes who dream of a better life and when that chance comes along they run with it into unknown and scary territory. All of the female leads in this movie give very solid and real performances and Drew Barrymore proves that she has indeed grown into a fine woman.I give this movie 5 stars because it is a novel concept which the makers of this film managed to realize very successfully.
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