Reviews (9)

A TRUE HIDDEN GEM!
Easily one of the best movies I have ever seen, hands down. A "sleeper", that I caught by accident late one night as I was channel surfing, yawning and stretching for bed. Within the first few minutes I was rivetted. The film features excellence at every possible level, from camera work, casting, script,set, acting and of course direction. This story in the wrong hands would have been a complete farce, but here we are treated to a story that is so believable (don't forget, it is based on a true story!) and gripping I still don't know how it is not a huge cult classic at the very least! This woman's life-story is told with dignity, patience and a fearless honesty that few movies can approach. The ending is particularly wonderful as are the love scenes between Little Jo and her Chinese lover. Most of my friends consider me a bit of a "foreign film snob", truth is I just dislike "Hollywood" movies and have always felt that there has for years always been so many wonderful movies made in other countries that we have little access too! In my opinion most of the time these films make US films look ridiculous. However, this film, Maggie Greenwald et al restored my faith in the possibility that good movies, good ART could be made in the United States of America.

Feminist Western
A surprisingly lowkey, realistic journey of a woman who was determined to live outside the expectations heaped upon her. The "true story" it is in large part based on (along with two others, actually) is "Mountain Charley" an engrossing little tale of woman who lives as a man during the gold-rush years in Colorado and California. Both tales have harrowing episodes of gender violence, and tender moments of a life fulfilled on one's own terms.

Feminist Western Works Well
The western had long been the last bastion of male supremacy for Hollywood. With THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO, director Maggie Greenwald presents the same hostile west that bedeviled John Wayne decades ago, but this time the protagnist is a woman named Josephine (Suzy Amis), who enters the movie as a well-to-do eastern lady who has the bad fortune to have an illegitimate baby. Her uncaring family casts her out, and Little Jo has no choice but to head west where she is subject to near rape. To protect herself, she disguises herself as a man. Now this may sound as if the film could easily turn into something as ludicrous as a western TOOTSIE, but it does not. Instead, Amis is totally convincing as a man who faces the same problems as if she were truly a man. Amis meets several men (Ian McKellen and Rene Auberjonois) who at first help her, then turn on her. She meets a Chinese man (David Chung), with whom she establishes first a friendly relation, then a physical one. By the film's end, Amis has proved that the gender of a settler is less important in securing her place in the west than is the determination that she shows. Heather Grahame does well in a secondary role, and newcomer Irina Passmoore also shines as two women, who in contrast to Little Jo, further stamp her as the first of the politically correct cowgirls.

Maggie Greenwald's The Ballad of Little Jo
Before watching this, do not make the mistake of lumping this film in with silly cross dressing comedies like "Tootsie" and "Mrs. Doubtfire." While based on a true story, director Greenwald sidesteps many western (and Hollywood) conventions to bring one of the best westerns of the 1990's.

Suzy Amis plays Jo, a woman who is a little too trusting of some bad men. After escaping to the west and leaving her born out of wedlock son behind, she is almost raped by two soldiers. To hide from them, she wears men's clothing and scars her face, eventually using her new facade to get what she needs in the west to survive. Ian McKellen plays a woman hater who takes her in, believing she is a young man. She eventually befriends Bo Hopkins, who has his best role in years, and starts a sheep ranch. She falls in love with a Chinese man she was forced to hire as her cook, and must eventually do battle with a cattle comglomerate trying to get a foothold and driving the sheep ranchers out.

Amis resembles Eric Stoltz in her scenes as a man, and is totally believable. McKellan and Rene Auberjonois have small but pivotal roles as older father figures who Amis trusts, but eventually turn on her. Bo Hopkins is great as the neighbor Amis tolerates, befriends, and tolerates. David Chung plays the Chinese man nicknamed Tin Man as an ailing opium addicted flawed man. He looks perfect for the part, life scars and all. Heather Graham also has a small part as Amis' paramour, and does her best with it.

The most surprising aspects of this film is what the film is not. There are no cute "Yentl" scenes, where Amis falls in love with a man as a man. The cattle company war, a standard western plot point, never overwhelms the story, or comes to a trite conclusion. The final scenes, with Jo's unmasking, seem almost like farce, but when thought about later, play very truthfully and touchingly, especially Hopkins' reaction.

Greenwald's camera turns a small film into an epic, with gorgeous Montana scenery. Her script is also very smart, never going for cheap laughs or the kind of exploitation that a male director may have gone for. I strongly recommend "The Ballad of Little Jo."

This is rated (R) for physical violence, strong gun violence, some sexual violence, gore, some profanity, some female nudity, sexual content, sexual references, drug abuse, and adult situations.

A true portrait
Ths is a beautiful and sensitive film, with moments of heart-wrenching realism and of great tenderness. Not only is it an honest portrayal of a woman alone in the West, but also it is one of the few American films I have seen to address with dignity and truthfulness the predicament of nineteenth century Chinese immigrants, and to star a fine Chinese-American actor, David Chung. The scenes between Jo and her lover, played by Chung, are very moving, and extremely sexy, and for me were highlights of this excellent movie. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Fated Journey
The quality of the video is marginal but watchable. The background of music by DeBussy is wonderful. The simplicity of expectation is unique. This is not a film for everyone. However, if you grew up with something missing and noticed yourself drifting, in the post teen years or well beyond, there is a tale here to relate to with an ethereal component to sort of guess at to maybe answer the question of why it all had to be this way. this is a simple yet complex, rather miraculous film which I'd love to see show up on DVD with better sound especially instead of some of the garbage they are dredging for that medium. I can watch this film over and over and never quite get it or get enough of it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The boys are back in town, but they're wearing their carbon-paper suits in this frantic but not nearly as funny sequel to the action-comedy hit. The first time around, the combination of Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte had the element of surprise going for it: Who expected these two to have chemistry? This time, chemistry is virtually all they have in a veritable rehash of the first film. What plot there is has to do with Nolte's needing Murphy (who is just out of jail) to help him clear his own name and save his job on the police force. Director Walter Hill is back in place, but this time the script is the work of action hack Jeb Stuart and the movie barely gives Murphy room to unleash his comic riffs; when he does, we're expecting them (though he's still entertaining). --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (17)

More of a remake than a sequel
Jack Cates (Nick Nolte) has been tracking an elusive druglord named the Iceman for the last few years. During a botched arrest attempt he discovers that the Iceman has arranged a hit on old friend Reggie Hammond (Eddie Murphy) who's about to be released from prison. Cates is certain to face the loss of his badge if he doesn't wrap this up, so he turns to Hammond to help him bring in the Iceman. Three sadistic bikers (hired by the Iceman) are also hunting the pair, one of whom is the revenge hungry brother of the psycho Cates killed in the first film. Nolte and Murphy still click, and the movie is never boring, but this is basically a rehash with minor changes made here and there. We revisit their fistfights, another redneck bar, another hotel shootout, and so on. One plus is that the profanity has been toned down (at least by Murphy's standards) and there is some exciting gunplay amidst all the shattering glass you would find in a Walter Hill film. Hill might have turned in a much better film had he veered away from all this familar territory.

the boys are back in town
they are back. nick nolte and eddie murphy return in this smash hit sequal another 48 hrs. this time around a killer known as the iceman ganza's brother from the first 48 hrs is doing the dirty work and nick nolte is the only cop on the force who thinks he exists. just like before nick and eddie get 2 days to track this guy down. not to many people like this movie,but i thought it was a very good sequal. of course the first is better but this one is very good to. how can you not like it we have a bus that flips over 17 times with eddie murphy in it,eddie murphy holding up another redneck bar,and the ending is very good as well. rated r for strong violence,strong language,and some nudity

Can anyone please answer this question???
Why didnt Reggie recognize the Iceman (Detective Keyhoe) in the first movie...In the first movie, Reggie was in the precinct quite often, why didnt he recognize the Iceman then??????

I like this movie, but Reggie was the only one who knew what the Iceman looked like and the Iceman worked right next to Nolte?? his friend??...it is just a huge hole in the plot, but I did find the movie fun

Egad!
Should never have been made. A deflated carbon copy of the original. Inaugerated Murphy's early 90's slide. Murphy and Nolte can barely be bothered to show up for this nonsense.

Bad Sequel! Bad, BAD Sequel!
They get in fistfights again, they still treat eachother like dirt, Eddie does "Roxanne" again, Nolte shoots at the guy holding a gun against Eddie's head again, another redneck bar, the same "sky blue Cadillac", the list goes on and on. Never have I seen a sequel so desperate to cling to its predecessor as this one. And sequels are NOTORIOUS for clinging to their predecessors ("American Pie 2" and "American Wedding" anyone?). It has its moments, but trouble is you've seen most of them before when they were still fresh and original. Worth renting if you're a fan of the original, but certainly not a "must-own". ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Todd Solondz's first; funny but nowhere near his later stuff
"Fear, Anxiety, Depression" is writer/director Todd Solondz's debut and the only film of his which he stars in. It's funny but nowhere near as interesting/effective as his later works. It's funny, but not particularly insightful and Solondz, despite his zany appearance, hasn't the charisma to carry the film. It's also notable for appearances by Stanley Tucci and the late Second City vet J.J. Barry as Ira's always bellowing father. The film tanked and even Solondz wasn't so pleased with it, causing him to ditch showbiz altogether for several years. Still, it's not a total washout. This was really just a minor taste of what he is capable of. ... Read more

Description

Starring Suzy Amis. Disgraced, a 19th century society girl journey's west disguised as a man. Inspired by a true story. Year: 124 Director: Maggie Greenwald Starring:Suzy Amis, Bo Hopkins, Ian Mckellen ... Read more

Reviews (9)

A TRUE HIDDEN GEM!
Easily one of the best movies I have ever seen, hands down. A "sleeper", that I caught by accident late one night as I was channel surfing, yawning and stretching for bed. Within the first few minutes I was rivetted. The film features excellence at every possible level, from camera work, casting, script,set, acting and of course direction. This story in the wrong hands would have been a complete farce, but here we are treated to a story that is so believable (don't forget, it is based on a true story!) and gripping I still don't know how it is not a huge cult classic at the very least! This woman's life-story is told with dignity, patience and a fearless honesty that few movies can approach. The ending is particularly wonderful as are the love scenes between Little Jo and her Chinese lover. Most of my friends consider me a bit of a "foreign film snob", truth is I just dislike "Hollywood" movies and have always felt that there has for years always been so many wonderful movies made in other countries that we have little access too! In my opinion most of the time these films make US films look ridiculous. However, this film, Maggie Greenwald et al restored my faith in the possibility that good movies, good ART could be made in the United States of America.

Feminist Western
A surprisingly lowkey, realistic journey of a woman who was determined to live outside the expectations heaped upon her. The "true story" it is in large part based on (along with two others, actually) is "Mountain Charley" an engrossing little tale of woman who lives as a man during the gold-rush years in Colorado and California. Both tales have harrowing episodes of gender violence, and tender moments of a life fulfilled on one's own terms.

Feminist Western Works Well
The western had long been the last bastion of male supremacy for Hollywood. With THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO, director Maggie Greenwald presents the same hostile west that bedeviled John Wayne decades ago, but this time the protagnist is a woman named Josephine (Suzy Amis), who enters the movie as a well-to-do eastern lady who has the bad fortune to have an illegitimate baby. Her uncaring family casts her out, and Little Jo has no choice but to head west where she is subject to near rape. To protect herself, she disguises herself as a man. Now this may sound as if the film could easily turn into something as ludicrous as a western TOOTSIE, but it does not. Instead, Amis is totally convincing as a man who faces the same problems as if she were truly a man. Amis meets several men (Ian McKellen and Rene Auberjonois) who at first help her, then turn on her. She meets a Chinese man (David Chung), with whom she establishes first a friendly relation, then a physical one. By the film's end, Amis has proved that the gender of a settler is less important in securing her place in the west than is the determination that she shows. Heather Grahame does well in a secondary role, and newcomer Irina Passmoore also shines as two women, who in contrast to Little Jo, further stamp her as the first of the politically correct cowgirls.

Maggie Greenwald's The Ballad of Little Jo
Before watching this, do not make the mistake of lumping this film in with silly cross dressing comedies like "Tootsie" and "Mrs. Doubtfire." While based on a true story, director Greenwald sidesteps many western (and Hollywood) conventions to bring one of the best westerns of the 1990's.

Suzy Amis plays Jo, a woman who is a little too trusting of some bad men. After escaping to the west and leaving her born out of wedlock son behind, she is almost raped by two soldiers. To hide from them, she wears men's clothing and scars her face, eventually using her new facade to get what she needs in the west to survive. Ian McKellen plays a woman hater who takes her in, believing she is a young man. She eventually befriends Bo Hopkins, who has his best role in years, and starts a sheep ranch. She falls in love with a Chinese man she was forced to hire as her cook, and must eventually do battle with a cattle comglomerate trying to get a foothold and driving the sheep ranchers out.

Amis resembles Eric Stoltz in her scenes as a man, and is totally believable. McKellan and Rene Auberjonois have small but pivotal roles as older father figures who Amis trusts, but eventually turn on her. Bo Hopkins is great as the neighbor Amis tolerates, befriends, and tolerates. David Chung plays the Chinese man nicknamed Tin Man as an ailing opium addicted flawed man. He looks perfect for the part, life scars and all. Heather Graham also has a small part as Amis' paramour, and does her best with it.

The most surprising aspects of this film is what the film is not. There are no cute "Yentl" scenes, where Amis falls in love with a man as a man. The cattle company war, a standard western plot point, never overwhelms the story, or comes to a trite conclusion. The final scenes, with Jo's unmasking, seem almost like farce, but when thought about later, play very truthfully and touchingly, especially Hopkins' reaction.

Greenwald's camera turns a small film into an epic, with gorgeous Montana scenery. Her script is also very smart, never going for cheap laughs or the kind of exploitation that a male director may have gone for. I strongly recommend "The Ballad of Little Jo."

This is rated (R) for physical violence, strong gun violence, some sexual violence, gore, some profanity, some female nudity, sexual content, sexual references, drug abuse, and adult situations.

A true portrait
Ths is a beautiful and sensitive film, with moments of heart-wrenching realism and of great tenderness. Not only is it an honest portrayal of a woman alone in the West, but also it is one of the few American films I have seen to address with dignity and truthfulness the predicament of nineteenth century Chinese immigrants, and to star a fine Chinese-American actor, David Chung. The scenes between Jo and her lover, played by Chung, are very moving, and extremely sexy, and for me were highlights of this excellent movie. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

what a junk!
you called this an important genre movie? well, i should have killed myself before inserted it into the vhs player. this is one of the worst movies ever put into production. the movie is also one of the worst scripted, directed, acted movies that i just want to forget. thanks but no thanks this time.

Important but disappointing
This film was a key element of the "Jim Thompson revival" of the late Eighties and Nineties, following the reissue of Thompson's novels and just preceding the great film version of The Grifters. Unfortuantely, most of the novel has vanished in the transition to the screeen. Thompson's great strengths were his ironic plots and pyrotechnic language: Greenwald's movie eliminates about half of the twelve intertwined plots that run through the book and contains very little dialogue. All the viewer is left with is a bleak and cynical tale of violence that smacks of daytime television.

Have a strong stomach
The plot isn't the best, but I rented it mostly to watch a young Jorja Fox. Jorja Fox (listed as Jorjan Fox) plays Myra Pavlov, a barmaid at her father's nightclub. Myra is in an abusive relationship with both her father (who may or may not be molesting her) and her boyfriend (who gives her crack cocaine). But that's the SUB plot.

The main plot here is that Pete Pavlov (the father) decides to hire a stripper (Danny Lee) for his struggling nightclub. The stripper and the clean-up man (Ralph) are attracted to each other, which is not good news for his bed-ridden wife Luanne. The doc in the movie says that there's no medical explanation for the bedridden bit. While she grudging allows Ralph to sleep with other women, the fact that he falls in love sends Luanne off the deep end, and she starts spreading ugly rumors that have just enough basis in fact to stick. So when she winds up dead, it's only the begining of a circle of violence and hatred.

The movie is told, somewhat, in Myra's persepctive, and in the end, she is the only one left responsible for what was done. Definitly not a movie for a weak stomach or sensitivity to abuse. If all you're interested in is seeing a young Jorja Fox, it's fine. ... Read more