Not Just Another Western

In the days of the Wild West, when the law favored en and there was little tolerance for a woman who stepped out of place, the girls had to stick together. At the very least, that is the premise of Bad Girls, starring Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell, and Drew Barrymore. These four heartthrobs star as prostitutes-turned-outlaws when Cody (Stowe) kills a man for taking too many liberties with Anita (Masterson).

While Cody is on her way to the gallows without trial (just the immediate condemnation by a preacher who was trying to get the brothel shut down), Anita, Eileen (MacDowell), and Lilly (Barrymore) perform a daring rescue and the four women flee town. Now fugitives with a group of detectives and bounty hunters after their heads, the four women are left pondering where to go from there. As it turns out, Anita has a title to some land in Oregon Country that she was planning on working with her deceased husband, and the four women decide that it would be best to take up that task together.

It wouldn't be a good Western movie if the fun stopped there, though. First the girls need to make a stop in Texas to pick up some stowed cash that Cody had tucked away, and ultiamtely they would make several unscheduled stops as the Pinkerton Detectives (the bounty hunters) and Kid Jarett's gang (the folks Cody used to run with) get in their way.

While most of what you will see in Bad Girls has been done before -- runaway wagons, train and bank robberies, shoot-outs, and daring escapes -- the very nature of the movie's starring cast is what sets it apart from a traditional gunslinging Wild West flick. The four beauties get themselves in to, and out of, several situations by using more than just their guns (but don't worry, there's plenty of shooting, too!) by dazzling people with their charm, as well as their wits. This gang of all-female outlaws have don pretty ladies' dresses to seduce men in to giving them what they want, then skip town by the seat of their, uhh... skirts.

While Bad Girls doesn't do much to break new ground in even these not-quite-Western moments (who hasn't seen a girl try to cry her way out of jail?), the execution is what really sets this movie apart from others. All four of the women are marvelous actresses, and their performances as gunslinging ex-prostitutes who just want to put their pasts behind them will make you wish you could lend a hand.

Some strong language, suggestive themes, brief nudity, and violence mean that Bad Girls probably isn't suitable for children. Western movie purists might also find this movie to be a bit shallow, as nothing truly groundbreaking happens with the movie's plot. However, if you're an adult who just wants some good action, great acting, and a quadruple helping of adorable women at the center of it all, I would highly recommend Bad Girls to you. It may not bring anything new to the table, but this old recipe sure has enough spice to make it interesting.