True Women (1997)

Euphemia Ashby (Tina Marjino / Annabeth Gish) and Georgia Lawshe (Rachael Leigh Cook / Angelina Jolie) are best friends growing up in Georgia, though both eventually wind up in Texas.

For Euphemia, the move comes at a young age. After the death of her father, she’s forced to leave her friend to live with sister Sarah McClure (Dana Delany) in Peach Creek, Texas.

She arrives in time for Santa Ana’s invasion of Texas territory, and watches a very pregnant Sarah lead 1,000 women and children on a dash toward Louisiana and out of danger while her husband is off fighting with the Texas Rangers.

Texas wins the war, of course, but Sarah and husband Bartlett pay a steep personal price. Their youngest son dies on that trip, and the baby Sarah is carrying is stillborn.

Next comes war with the Comanche. Again, Bartlett heads off to fight. This time, Sarah has a grand new home to protect. And barely survives, with the help of Euphemia.

Back East, Georgia is enjoying the comfortable life of a lovely plantation owner’s daughter, learning she can turns men’s head with a single smile.

But she’s haunted by the experience of the forced relocation and hatred toward the Creek and Cherokee Indians that she witness as a youth, even more so because she’s one-quarter Creek, a well-guarded family secret.

Her relocation comes after she falls in love with Dr. Peter Woods, who is determined to head to Texas to start his own plantation and provide medical attention in an area where doctors are in short supply.

Georgia helps build that plantation with the help of her slaves and is briefly reunited with Euphemia.

The reunion doesn’t end well. Euphemia despises the practice of slavery and can’t forgive her former friend for actively taking a part in it.

It will take another war — The Civil War — to bring the friends back together again after both women watch their men march off to fight for the South.

Angelina Jolie as Georgia Lawshe Woods, a Georgia born beauty who finds herself on the Texas frontier in True Women (1997)

Annabeth Fish as Eupehmia Ashby, wondering if she’s going to have to shoot her own sister when Indians raid in True Women (1997)

Review:

The melodrama comes in thick doses and some of Sarah’s heroic deeds seem a bit far fetched, but this is an effective and sometimes moving two-part television movie that initially aired on CBS.

The revelation is Angelina Jolie, her star power obvious even before her breakthrough performance in 1999’s “Girl, Interrupted.” Here’s, she’s a spoiled rich girl who’s been given everything she wants and is “so unpredictable, I don’t even know what I’m going to do next.”

Mostly what she and the other female leads do is survive life on a harsh frontier, where there are constant reminders of how quick life can end. Dana Delany and Tina
Majorino (as young Euphemia) are also impressive.

If there’s a drawback, it’s the film’s race to a conclusion and the feeling that another hour or two would have introduced us to the women’s children and their lives as mothers.

That might have made their later trials and endeavors come off as more genuine and less as contrived, over the top drama.

At minimum, viewers would have been more emotionally invested when the carpetbaggers show up on Georgia’s doorstep, threatening both of her daughters in one way or another.

Dana Delany as Sarah McClure, fleeing a Comanche war party in True Women (1997)

Powers Boothe as Bartlett McClure, Texas Ranger and husband of Sarah in Ture Women (1997)

Directed by:
Karen Arthur

Cast:
Dana Delany … Sarah McClure
Annabeth Gish … Euphemia Ashby
Angelina Jolie … Georgia Virgina Lawshe Woods
Tina Majorino …young Euphemia
Rachael Leigh Cook … young Georgia
Michael York … Lewis Lawshe
Jeffrey Nordling … Dr. Peter Woods
Salli Richardson-Whitfield … Martha
Tony Todd … Ed Tom
Julie Carmen … Cherokee Lawshe
Mathew Glave … William King
Jon Schneider … Sam Houston
Michael Greyeyes … Tarantula
Anen Tremko … Matilda Lockhart
Irene Bedard … Tobe
Powers Boothe … Bartlett McClure
Charles S. Dutton … Josiah
Khadjah Karriem … Tildy
Oriana Huron … Cherokee at 18
Reed Frerichs … Travis McClure
Karey Green … Little Sweet
Richard Dillard … Sheriff
Jill Parker-Jones … Mrs. Colville

Runtime: 183 min.

Jeffrey Nordling as Dr. Peter Woods, turning the head of Georgia Virginia Lawshe in True Women (1997)

Mathew Glave as William King, the Texas rancher Euphemia decides to marry in True Women (1997)

Memorable lines:

Young Euphemia: “Your mamma won’t let us keep 17 frogs, Georgia.”
Young Georgia: “No, but my daddy will. He lets me have anything I want.”
Euphemia: “But that makes for poor character. At least that’s what my pappa says.”
Georgia: “Who needs good character? Besides, I’ll have more fun.”

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Sarah McClure, to a woman mourning the death of her husband at the hands of the Mexican army: “I will not let you spread a fever of defeat among these brave women.”

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Sarah McClure, as her husband prepares to ride off for another fight: “I love you. Don’t you die, damn you.”
Young Eupehmia: “I love you too, damn you.”

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Matilda Lockhart, when Euphemia announces that she hopes to marry William King: “He’s as crazy as a bee with a stinger at both ends.”

Michael Greyeyes as the feared Comanche chief Tarantula, scouting the McClure homestead in True Women (1997)

Terrance Mann as Capt. Haller, demanding Georgia send daughter Cherokee to his bed in True Women (1997)

Euphemia, as Tarantula and his Comanche warriors approach: “What do they want?”
Sarah McClure: “Horses. Or women. A lot of the Indian children died this year from smallpox. They need women for breeding.”

———————-

Georgia, bragging: “My grandma was a queen.”
Martha, her half-black slave cousin, bringing her down a notch: “Guess those things don’t always get passed down.”

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Georgia, after being dazzled by Dr. Woods: “We are too different. He is an educated doctor. He is a creature of logic and order. I’m so unpredictable, I don’t know what I’m gonna do next. I can’t even remain vertical in his presence. It would never work.”

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Dr. Peter Woods, when Georgia announces she doesn’t want to have children: “I’m sorry you saw that woman die (in childbirth).”
Georgia: “No, I’m sorry I saw it. All my life, I have heard women waxing poetic about the joys of childbirth. It’s not a blessed event, Peter. It’s a bloody damn mess that could kill you. It is God’s little joke on women.”

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Georgia, watching her barn burn after she pushes for a woman’s right to vote: “Damn the world. Doesn’t hatred ever stop.”
Euphemia: “I don’t think it does, Georgia.”

Tina Majorino as young Euphemia, fleeing Santa Ana’s forces with her older sister Sarah McClure in True Women (1997)

Rachael Leigh Cook as young Georgia, bragging about her influence over her father in True Women (1997)

Michael York as Lewis Lawshe, trying to quiet Georgia’s concerns about her heritage in True Women (1997)

Julie Carmen as Cherokee Lawshe, confirming that her mother was a Creek Indian in True Women (1997)

Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Martha, the mulato cousin and Georgia’s servant in True Women (1997)

Khadjah Karriem as Tildy, Sarah McClure’s servant and Euphemia’s friend in True Women (1997)

Charles S. Dutton as Josiah, a black man who has taken in a Creek woman in True Women (1997)

Tony Todd as Ed Tom, Georgia’s longtime slave and the man she trusts with her cotton crop in True Women (1997)

Karey Green as Little Sweet, Georgia’s daughter, caught firing at a Union captain in True Women (1997)

Oriana Huron as Cherokee, Georgia’s daughter, who catches the eye of a Union captain in True Women (1997)

Jeffrey Nordling as Dr. Peter Woods, trying to sooth Georgia’s fears about childbirth in True Women (1997)

Dana Delany as Sarah McClure, welcoming Euphemia to her home in True Women (1997)

Annabeth Gish as Euphemia Ashby, yearning for a life that’s about more than survival in True Women (1997)

Angelina Jolie as Georgia Virginia Lawshe, falling for a young doctor in True Women (1997)