- The Ballad of Little Jo (1993) 5.2. Find out where to watch on. We don't have enough data to suggest any movies based on The Ballad of Little Jo.
- The Ballad of Little Jo (1993) Program. A horse opera with an unusual perspective, Maggie Greenwald's The Ballad of Little Jo combines a gritty visual.
- Drama / Western uit 1993. Geregisseerd door Maggie Greenwald. Al met al is The Ballad of Little Jo een ongelofelijk levensverhaal dat gaat over seksisme.
- Suzy Amis' superlative performance dominates every frame of 'The Ballad of Little Jo,' an earnest drama about a woman.
- The Ballad of Little Jo is based on a true. Unfortunately ignored when it went out to theatres in the fall of 1993, The Ballad of Little Jo has fared rather better.
The Ballad of Little Jo summary of box office results. 1993: Genre: Western: Runtime: 2 hrs. MPAA Rating: R: Production Budget: N/A: Summary.
The Ballad of Little Jo. The Ballad of Little Jo is a 1. American western film inspired by the true story of a society woman who tries to escape the stigma of bearing a child out of wedlock by going out to the West, and living disguised as a man. The film stars Suzy Amis, Bo Hopkins, Ian Mc. Kellen, David Chung, Heather Graham, Carrie Snodgress and Melissa Leo, and was written and directed by Maggie Greenwald.
Roger Ebert described the film as depicting a culture in which . She is expelled from her family and home in disgrace, and with no other resources, she leaves her newborn son under the care of her sister and heads West. On the road, Josephine discovers that her options are very limited.
The Ballad of Little Jo. Release Date: January 1st, 1993.
As a single woman traveling alone, she is viewed with suspicion, or as sexual prey for any man. She assists a traveling salesman (Ren. Seeing it as her only protection, Josephine scars her face, and begins to dress as a man . Percy recommends Jo for a job at the stable, and teaches her about how to survive in the frontier.
But Percy nurses a deep suspicion of women, viewing them to be . After returning in the spring, Percy gives Jo a letter for her that he had received months earlier. The letter is from Jo's sister, and Percy having opened it, now knows he is a she. He is furious at being made a fool of by a woman and .
He attacks and tries to rape Jo, but she draws her gun and subdues him. Largely ostracized by the town's people since the incident with the prostitute, Percy promises Jo he will not share her secret if she finances his journey out of the territory. She agrees, though swears to him she will find him and kill him if he breaks his silence.
For five years she works as a shepherd, braving the deadly winters alone to the worry of her employer, Frank Badger (Hopkins), who has taken a liking to the . A local girl, Mary, (Graham) has her eye on Jo. Blind to the truth, most hope the two will court. However, Mary ends up wedding her cousin, Lucas Brown, soon after Jo returns from her first winter as a sheep herder. One day in town, Jo comes across a mob about to lynch a Chinese laborer for trying to . Though he seems slow- witted, Jo is not happy at having company forced upon her, and is afraid he will discover she is not a man.
She keeps as much distance as possible. But Tinman easily discovers the truth about Jo, and in doing so, reveals he is far more intelligent than he has pretended to be. Jo drops her guard and the two begin a love affair. A feud begins to brew between the sheep herders and cattlemen who are moving into the territory.
The Western Cattle Company wants to buy up all the land in the area, and they kill anyone who does not comply. One by one, the sheep herders give in, or are murdered by masked gunmen. Jo has witnessed the brutal murders of too many of her friends, and the violence that will be necessary to win this kind of fight goes against her gentle nature. This is a masculine quality that goes beyond her ability to . Tinman argues that it will be impossible for her to go back being the society woman, urging her to keep the homestead, and stand against the cattlemen in the upcoming election. Jo will not be swayed, and meets with the representative from the cattle company, Henry Grey (Anthony Heald) to tell him she will sell. Tinman falls ill, and Jo summons Badger's wife (Snodgrass), who practices folk medicine, to tend him.
Badger comes along, and is furious when Grey arrives with his wife so that Jo can sign the final papers for the sale of the homestead. Feeling betrayed by Jo for helping the cattle company to ! I thought you'd amount to something. In an instant, Jo changes her mind and refuses to sell to Grey, who leaves in disgust issuing less than veiled threats. Tinman recovers, and on election day, Badger and Jo ride to Ruby City but are met by several of Grey's masked gunmen.
Badger shoots one of the gunmen, but is wounded, so it is up to Jo to finish the fight. She kills the two remaining men, but the pain of the act of killing is clearly indicated on her face.
The plot jumps to many years later, after Tinman Wong has died. Jo collapses while fetching water, and Badger finds her in bed, near death. He takes her in his wagon to the Ruby City doctor, but she is dead before they arrive. As Badger buys rounds of drinks at the saloon in memory of Little Jo, the undertaker rushes in with his shocking discovery. The town elders rush back to the undertaker's to inspect.
All stand around the preparation table in shock, all except Mrs. Addie (Cathy Haase), the saloon owner, who laughs and laughs. Badger is furious at the betrayal by his friend, and because Jo . In town, the people tie Jo's dead body to her horse for a photograph. The final shot is of the newspaper story with the before- and- after photographs, and the headline.
The Ballad of Little Jo. Suzy Amis’ superlative performance dominates every frame of “The Ballad of Little Jo,” an earnest drama about a woman who disguises herself as a man to survive hardship in the Old West.
But this well- intentioned, revisionist frontier saga is too solemn and dramatically unexciting to generate wide appeal beyond a core of female viewers and ardent followers of indie pics. Josephine Monaghan (Amis) is a wealthy woman from the East, cast out by her family after giving birth out of wedlock. Realizing her only chance for freedom in the West is as a man, Josephine proceeds to cut her long hair, scar her face, put on trousers — and change her name to Little Jo. Miraculously, she is accepted as a man by everyone, including macho Percy Corcoran (Ian Mc. Kellen), who provides practical advice, and Frank Badger (Bo Hopkins) who instructs her in sheepherding. Before long, she learns how to mine, hunt, and manage a self- sufficient existence. In an intriguing role reversal, Wong is assigned to cook, mend and take care of her needs, while she functions as the breadwinner.
However, once he discovers her true identity, an affair ensues and they secretly set up house. Her perspective is boldly novel, but despite her efforts to demystify the Old West, Greenwald ends up mythologizing her heroine as a symbol of pioneering endurance. In its ambience and matter- of- fact treatment, pic recalls Richard Pearce’s 1. Heartland,” another honorable tribute to the frontier’s courageous women. Greenwald also fails to capture Jo’s inner torment and struggle in maintaining her disguisedidentity.
Jo’s relationship with Wong is sketchily depicted, and same could be said of the schematic conflict with the wealthy cattlemen who want to buy her land. For instance, the sequence in which a young woman (Heather Graham) thinks she’s found the ideal husband in Jo is full of droll possibilities that are unfulfilled. Bo Hopkins is cast against type as a sensitive rancher who helps Jo.
Shakespearean actor Mc. Kellen plays a miner who teaches Jo the meaning of manhood , but then reveals his own sexist tendencies.
Auberjonois is also fine as the peddler who betrays the young Josephine. Always believable, Amis never makes a false move. Produced by Fred Berner, Brenda Goodman. Executive producers, Barry Bernardi, Ira Deutchman, John Sloss. Directed, written by Maggie Greenwald. Crew. Camera (Technicolor), Declan Quinn; editor, Keith Reamer; music, David Mansfield; production design, Mark Friedberg; costume design, Claudia Brown; sound (Dolby), Felipe Borrerro; associate producer, Anne Dillon; casting, Judy Claman, Jeffery Passero. Reviewed at the Charles Aidikoff screening room, Beverly Hills, Aug.
Running time: 1. 20 min. With. Little Jo - Suzy Amis. Frank Badger - Bo Hopkins. Percy Corcoran - Ian Mc. Kellen. Tinman Wong - David Chung.
Ruth Badger - Carrie Snodgress. Streight Hollander - Rene Auberjonois. Mary Addie - Heather Graham. Jasper Hill - Sam Robards. Shop Keeper - Ruth Maleczech.