The Ballad of Little Jo
| The Ballad of Little Jo | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Maggie Greenwald |
| Produced by | Fred Berner |
| Written by | Maggie Greenwald |
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| Music by | David Mansfield |
| Cinematography | Declan Quinn |
| Edited by | Keith Reamer |
| Distributed by | Fine Line Features |
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Release date
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Running time
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121 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $543,091 |
The Ballad of Little Jo is a 1993 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 McKellen, 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 "men of poor breeding lived and worked together in desperate poverty of mind and body, and were so enclosed inside their roles that they hardly knew each other at all."
The Ballad of Little Jo was nominated for the 1994 Independent Spirit Award for best female lead (Amis) and best supporting male (Chung).
Josephine Monaghan (Amis) is a young society woman who is seduced by her family's portrait photographer, and as a result, bears an illegitimate child. 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. As a single woman traveling alone, she is viewed with suspicion, or as sexual prey for any man. She assists a traveling salesman (René Auberjonois) who subsequently tries to sell her services as a whore to passing strangers. Seeing it as her only protection, Josephine scars her face, and begins to dress as a man – thus becoming "Jo."
At a mining camp in Ruby City, she meets Percy (McKellen) who takes her under his wing. 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 "more trouble than they are worth." He later demonstrates his misogyny by slashing the face of a prostitute who refuses to give him oral sex.
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Wikipedia