The Ballad of Little Jo (1993)

Suzy Amis is Jo Monaghan, a woman shunned by her family after having an illegitimate child. She heads West where she discovers two choices — she can find a husband, or enter the world’s oldest profession.

She opts for a different path. She scars her own face, then dons a man’s clothes. And by being discreet, she manages to pass herself off as a man in the town of Rudy Hills, where she befriends another loner named Percy Corcoran and a bigoted sheep rancher named Frank Badget.

Finding a way to make a living out West proves perhaps more difficult. After an unsuccessful stint as a miner and another shoveling manure at the town stables, Little Jo hires on to tend Badget’s sheep over the winter. The seclusion of the job suits her needs perfectly, and she eventually starts her own sheep ranch.

Two complications threaten the peace she’s found out West. She hires a former railroad worker named Tinman Wong, who quickly discovers she isn’t a man. They wind up falling for one another, but have to hope no one learns of their relationship.

Then there’s the cattle syndicate that’s been buying up land around Rudy Hills. And, yep, they’d love nothing better than to own Little Jo’s ranch, perhaps in an attempt to squeeze Frank Badget off his.

Review:

If you’re looking for action, look elsewhere. This isn’t a film filled with wall-to-wall gunfights.

But it is an interesting character study of a young woman who decides a solitary life is better than living life as a defenseless young woman out West. And who eventually rediscovers her womanly ways in the least expected of ways, by hiring a Chinese man just to keep Frank Badget from torturing him.

Only the ending seems to strike the wrong note as residents of Rudy Hills rush to the undertaker’s office to view Little Jo’s dead body after learning she isn’t a man at all. Her years of hard work and heroism in helping fight off the cattle syndicate apparently didn’t earn her respect after her death.

The film was based on a true story. Future star Heather Graham has a small role as the daughter of a saloon keeper, a young woman all the townsfolk think is sweet on Little Jo.

Directed by:
Maggie Greenwald

Cast:
Suzy Amis … Jo Monaghan
Bo Hopkins … Frank Badget
Ian McKellen … Percy Corcoran
David Chung … Tinman Wong
Heather Graham … Mary Addie
Rene Auberjonois … Streight Hollander
Carrie Snodgress … Ruth Badger
Anthony Heald … Henry Grey
Melissa Leo … Beatrice Grey

Runtime: 121 min.

Memorable lines:

Frank, as Jo tries to stop him from tormenting Tinman Wong for seeking a job: “Jo, you’re a righteous son of a bitch. You’re always opposing me.”
Jo: “I’m not out to oppose you, Frank. We just don’t agree.”
Frank: “Don’t you ever have any fun.”
Jo: “We don’t agree on what’s fun, either.”

Jo: “What do you think would happen if they found out about me? Little Jo Monahan turns out to be a woman and she’s lovers with an ailing Chinaman. They’d kill us.”
Tinman: “Unquestionably. Brutally.”

Tinman: “I want peace the last days of my life. You found it living as a man. I found it living with you.”