I MAY BE A "HO" BUT I HAVE STANDARDS

PLEASE NOTE, EPINIONS WILL NOT LET ME USE THE PROPER TERM HERE SO I MUST INSERT "HO" INSTEAD

"I was worthless before I married, I am worthless as a widow, funny - I had value as a .ho.."...so says dainty Mary Stuart Masterson, after learning from an attorney that the land claim she and her husband had purchased in Oregon was no longer valid since he had died.

Bad Girls is listed as a western but I question this. True, depicting the era, but not your typical western here ladies and gents. Starring Andie Macdowell(Eileen) as a misplaced ‘Southern Girl'; Mary Stuart Masterson(Anita), virtuous widow; Madeleine Stowe(Cody), sly, lethal and just a bit shady; and ever loving Drew Barrymore(Lilly) for just a bit of spice. Throw in the guys, bad and good - James LeGros(William), innocent rancher suddenly has a house full of questionable ladies on his hands; Dermot Mulroney(Josh), just a little bit shady with his own scores to settle; James Russo(Kid Jarrett), nefarious bad guy and ex-lover of Cody; Robert Loggia(Frank, Kid's father), at first you like him but that soon passes.

This movie starts out typical enough for westerns - bar scene, guy beating up the .ho... But this little lady (Anita) is a friend of Cody's and Cody will not stand for it. She shoots the guy. Now in my mind, although I hate guns (insert DUH here), it seemed like the right thing to do. She was defending her friend. Happened all the time with the guys, but this was a GIRL! Flash to Cody siting on the horse, noose around her neck - we seemed to have left out the trial for her - and enter the Bad Girls. They break Cody away and so ensues the story.

The girls move on, they have that piece of land in Oregon (hadn't found out yet they were going to get stiffed on that one) and they were going to open a lumber mill. Quite a change here, but as Cody says ‘If we can sell our bodies, we can sell wood!' Seems Cody has also been a shrewd and apparently successful prostitute, she has been salting money away for her future. The Girls go to collect the money and run into good old Kid Jarrett - in the process of robbing the bank himself. Oh, did I mention those Pinkerton guards? Guess they were done looking for Butch and Sundance and decided to go after the Girls. Frankly I thought the bank robbery scene to be totally hilarious - the banker, played by Rodger Boyce, is shown at his groveling best. In the end, Kid secures Cody's money for her and then turns around and steals it back. Revenge must be metered.

All the Girls escape, except Eileen, who gets thrown in jail. The Girls come back to help her get out .... quite a cute little gig by Lilly .... who proceeds to show the jailer that she has boo-boo's that need ‘kissed' to distract him while the others break her out. The girls get away and go after Kid to get their money back. Some where along the way they pick up Josh who definitely has a major case for Cody. He also wants to get his hands on Kid because he was responsible for killing Josh's family. They are all now staying at the ranch of poor William. This is all getting very confusing!

There is a stolen machine gun involved. Kid stole it from the Army, the Girls stole it from Kid, Kid stole Lilly, the Girls stole Frank. There is meant to be some exchange here gun for Lilly or Frank for the money .. Anyway, this never happens but a really good gun fight does. The Girls kick some serious butt!

In all, a better movie than Unforgiven by Eastwood but not as good as Dances With Wolves by Costner. It is Thelma and Louise x 2 but in silky shirts and chaps I enjoyed seeing the women taking on not only the bad guys but also the shady and deplorable people in their hometown. There is a lot of violence, some brief but tasteful nudity (Drew=very sexy in this), a little rough language. Probably not fit for the whole family, in fact probably not fit for most people unless you have a twisted mind like I do.

Let's see - ending totals...Kid Jarrett and his guys, all dead; Josh, dead; William and Eileen stay together; Pinkerton guards while looking for the Girls stand caging a drink of rot-gut while the remaining Girls ride off behind them to find their fortune.