A woman disguises herself as a man in order to make it in the rough-and-tumble Old West. When she falls in love with a man, she must risk her life if she is to reveal her secret.
A feminist western based on a true story.
In the 1800's, Josephine Monaghan, a young woman from a wealthy Eastern family, finds herself pregnant and unwed. Disowned by her parents, and without a home, Jo deposits her child with her sister and heads westward.
Almost immediately she discovers the many dangers the newly settled frontier holds for an unaccompanied female. In desperation, Jo makes a risky -- and illegal -- decision: she shears her hair, scars her face and puts on trousers... becoming, in the eyes of the world, a man.
This was based on a true story about a woman who passed as a man; no one discovered her secret until she died.
The real reasons she made this choice are not known; the film explores one of many possibilities. Nor was she the only woman to have done this -- there are several documented cases of woman who decided to live as men during that period.
Shot in Panavision, in Technicolor.
Rated BBFC 15.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Snap Case
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Review 1:
"...Acute and provocative....The film is illuminated by [Amis's] haunting performance..."
Source: New York Times
p.C10 08/20/1993
Review 2:
"...Greenwald takes an invigorating feminist slant on the Old West..."
Source: Rolling Stone
p.83 08/19/1993
Review 3:
"...Suzy Amis' superlative performance dominates every frame of THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO, an earnest drama..."
Source: Variety
08/30/1993
Review 4:
"...Amis is a wonderful actor...and works some kind of magic..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.42 09/10/1993
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