Bad Girls

Bad Girls: Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell and Drew Barrymore

Bad Girls

Cast: Madeleine Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andie MacDowell, Drew Barrymore, James Russo

Madeleine Stowe, Andie MacDowell, Drew Barrymore and Mary Stuart Masterson star in the wild Western story of four fallen women on the run. Branded as outlaws, pursued by a posse and tracked by Pinkerton detectives, the four must ride together to stay alive. But when they're double crossed by a gang of ruthless desperados, the women decide it's time to stop running, and start fighting! BAD GIRLS is a rough-riding, straight-shooting, fun-filled adventure that writes a whole new chapter in the lore of the Western hero!

The Magnificent Ambersons

The Magnificent Ambersons

The Magnificent Ambersons

Cast: Madeleine Stowe, Bruce Greenwood, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Gretchen Mol, Jennifer Tilly

Alfonso Arau's handsome The Magnificent Ambersons, based on Orson Welles's original screenplay, is a brave attempt to restore the dramatic scenes lost when RKO radically recut Welles's magnificent 1941 masterpiece, but it's less a remake than a new take on the material. Bruce Greenwood makes a gracious and sincere Eugene Morgan, the inventor who woos heiress Isabel Amberson (a vibrant Madeleine Stowe) and finds his rival is her spoiled, arrogant son, George (played with sneering, bug-eyed intensity by Jonathan Rhys Meyers). It hits a few sour notes (notably Meyers and a terribly miscast Jennifer Tilly as the jealous Aunt Fanny), but the "new" scenes explore the sprawl of the city, the falling fortunes of the Amberson dynasty, and the almost incestuous intimacy between mother and son only hinted at in Welles's compromised version. It may lack the grand design and cinematic grace of Welles, but it creates its own gentle take on Booth Tarkington's turbulent novel.

The Last of the Mohicans

The Last of the Mohicans: Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe

The Last of the Mohicans

Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe, Wes Studi, Russell Means, Eric Schweig, Jodhi May, Steven Waddington

In 1757 during the French and Indian War, the British and French are battling for control of North America. Though they are bound by law to join the militia to aid the British, many settlers are reluctant to leave their frontier homes and families defenseless against Huron Indians allied with the French.

Chingachgook (Russell Means), his son Uncas (Eric Schweig), and Hawkeye (Daniel Day-Lewis), his adopted white son, visit the Cameron household. Jack Winthrop (Edward Blatchford) joins them and tells Hawkeye that he is gathering volunteers for the British army. The next morning, Jack and a group of others go to Albany, New York, to obtain terms from General Webb, who agrees to grant them leave if their homes are attacked. Satisfied, the volunteers join the British forces at Fort William Henry, sixty miles north of Albany.

Cora Munro (Madeleine Stowe) and her sister Alice (Jodhi May) have received word from their father, Colonel Edmund Munro (Maurice Roëves), the commander of the British garrison at the fort, to meet him there. A native guide named Magua (Wes Studi) and a detachment of British soldiers commanded by Major Duncan Heyward (Steven Waddington) escort the women on the trail. However, they are ambushed by Hurons led by Magua himself. All of the soldiers except Major Heyward are quickly killed. He, Cora and Alice are rescued by Hawkeye and his companions, who have been tracking the war band. Magua prepares to shoot Cora, but Hawkeye distracts him. Magua and the surviving Hurons scatter into the forest. The rescuers reluctantly agree to escort the survivors to Fort William Henry. Along the way, they discover that the Cameron homestead has been razed and everyone killed, though nothing has been stolen, a sure sign of a war party.

When they arrive at Fort William Henry, they find it under siege by the French. They manage to sneak inside. When Munro scolds his daughters for joining him, they realize that Magua has deceived them for unknown reasons. Munro tells Heyward that the fort can only hold out for three more days. Their only hope is to get a messenger through to General Webb at nearby Fort Edward for reinforcements.

Hawkeye tells the colonel and the colonials about the attack on the Camerons and the colonials demand that he release them to defend their homes, as General Webb agreed. Munro refuses, so Hawkeye helps Jack and his friends desert. Hawkeye, who stays behind to be with Cora, is arrested for sedition and sentenced to hang.

Several days pass. As the fort is on the verge of falling, the French commander, General Montcalm (Patrice Chéreau) offers Munro surrender terms. The garrison and their families are offered safe passage to Albany, on condition they return to England and no longer fight in the war. Munro reluctantly accepts, after Montcalm shows him an intercepted message that Webb has refused to send aid.

As the British march away, they are ambushed by a much larger force of Hurons led by Magua. Before Magua personally cuts out Munro's heart, he tells him he will kill the colonel's daughters so that his family will be extinguished. Earlier, it is revealed that Magua’s village had been destroyed years ago by British soldiers led by Munro, resulting in the death of his children and his wife marrying another man when she thought Magua was dead. Magua himself was made a slave.

Hawkeye, Cora, Alice, Uncas, Chingachgook, Heyward and two other soldiers escape and hide in a cave behind a waterfall, but Magua and his men are close behind. With their gunpowder wet, Hawkeye and his two companions jump into the falls, knowing their presence would precipitate a hopeless fight. Heyward and the two women are captured while the remaining soldiers are killed.

The prisoners are taken to a Huron village, with Hawkeye, Uncas and Chingachgook in pursuit. Magua is bargaining with the sachem when they are interrupted by the arrival of an unarmed Hawkeye running the gauntlet of hostile warriors. With Heyward translating, Hawkeye convinces the chief that Magua is acting for himself, rather than the Hurons' best interests and traditions. The chief agrees and renders his judgment: Cora is to be burned alive to atone for Magua's dead children; Magua is given Alice to be his wife so that both bloodlines can continue. Heyward is to be returned to the British in the hope of avoiding reprisals. Hawkeye is given safe passage in recognition of his bravery. Desperate, he pleads to take Cora’s place. Heyward, out of love for Cora and newfound respect for Hawkeye, deliberately mistranslates, offering himself instead. When the chief accepts, Magua curses him and leaves with Alice and his men.

Uncas immediately follows the war band to rescue Alice, while Chingachgook waits for Hawkeye. As Heyward is being burned at the stake, Hawkeye stops at a safe distance and shoots Heyward, ending his suffering. They then set off in pursuit of Magua.

Uncas catches up with Magua's band alone. He kills several men before engaging Magua in single combat. Magua kills Uncas, dropping his body off a cliff. Alice throws herself off the cliff after him. A devastated Hawkeye, Chingachgook and Cora witness their deaths from a distance. Finally catching up, the two men slay several warriors. As Hawkeye holds the rest at bay, Chingachgook duels Magua and avenges his son.
In the final scene, Chingachgook and Hawkeye engage in a spiritual ritual to send Uncas' spirit to his ancestors. With the death of Uncas, his last blood relative, Chingachgook names himself 'the Last of the Mohicans'.

12 Monkeys

12 Monkeys: Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt

12 Monkeys

Cast: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Christopher Plummer, David Morse

James Cole (Bruce Willis) is a convicted criminal living in a grim post-apocalyptic future. In 1996-1997, the Earth's surface was contaminated by a virus so deadly that it forced the surviving population to live underground. To earn a pardon, Cole allows scientists to send him on dangerous missions to the past to collect information on the virus, thought to be released by a terrorist organization known as the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. If possible, he is to obtain a pure sample of the original virus so a cure can be made. Throughout the film, Cole is troubled with recurring dreams involving a chase and a shooting in an airport.

On Cole's first trip, he arrives in Baltimore in 1990, not 1996 as planned. He is arrested and hospitalized in a mental institution on the diagnosis of Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeleine Stowe). There, he encounters Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt), a fellow mental patient with animal rights and anti-consumerist leanings. Cole tries unsuccessfully to leave a voice mail on a number monitored by the scientists in the future. After a failed escape attempt, Cole is restrained and locked in a cell, but then disappears, returning to the future. Back in his own time, Cole is interviewed by the scientists, who play a distorted voice mail message which gives the location of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys and states that they are responsible for the virus. He is also shown photos of numerous people, including Goines. The scientists then send him back to 1996.

Cole kidnaps Railly and sets out in search of Goines, learning that he is founder of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys. When confronted, however, Goines denies any involvement with the virus and suggests that wiping out humanity was Cole's idea, originally broached at the asylum in 1990. Cole vanishes again as the police approach. After Cole disappears, Railly begins to doubt her diagnosis of Cole when she finds evidence that he is telling the truth. Cole, on the other hand, convinces himself that his future experiences are hallucinations, and persuades the scientists to send him back again. Railly attempts to settle the question of Cole's sanity by leaving a voice mail on the number he provided, creating the message the scientists played prior to his second mission. They both now realize that the coming plague is real, and make plans to enjoy the time they have left.

On their way to the airport, they learn that the Army of the Twelve Monkeys is a red herring; all the Army has done is delay traffic by releasing all the animals in the zoo. At the airport, Cole leaves a last message telling the scientists they are on the wrong track following the Army of the Twelve Monkeys, and that he will not return. He is soon confronted by Jose (Jon Seda), an acquaintance from his own time, who gives Cole a handgun and instructions to complete his mission. At the same time, Railly spots the true culprit behind the virus: Dr. Peters (David Morse), an assistant at the Goines virology lab. Peters is about to embark on a tour of several cities around the world, which matches the sequence (memorized by Cole) of viral outbreaks. Cole, while fighting through security, is fatally shot as he tries to stop Peters. As Cole dies in Railly's arms, she makes eye contact with a small boy – the young James Cole witnessing his own death; the scene that will replay in his dreams for years to come. Dr. Peters, safely aboard, sits down next to Jones (Carol Florence), one of the lead scientists in the future.