_**Not so bad cowgirls**_

In 1891, four prostitutes in Echo City, Colorado (Madeleine Stowe, Andie MacDowell, Mary Stuart Masterson and Drew Barrymore), flee the law with Pinkertons hot on their trail. Eventually they have to tangle with a band of Hispanic outlaws to retrieve some money.

"Bad Girls" (1994) is a Western with cowgirls as the protagonists rather than cowboys. It combines the tone of "Silverado" (1985) and the later “The Mask of Zorro” (1998) so anyone who likes those flicks will probably like this one even if it’s arguably the least of ’em.

The Western staples are checked with a saloon brouhaha, a lynch mob, a posse, Pinkerton detectives, a swimmin' hole scene, steam locomotives, a handsome hero (Dermot Mulroney), magnificent Western vistas, a bank robbery, a mirthful Latino bandit (James Russo) and the four heroes grimly walking side-by-side to the showdown. Yet there are a few original elements as well if you look closely.

While all four of the stars are beautiful in their unique way, young Drew stands out and is just stunning. Speaking of the females, occupations & freedom were limited to women in the Old West, and the movie effectively drives this home.

People usually cite the available professions as marriage, school-marming, prostitution and old biddy-hood. But what about clerking of one manner or another? What about entertainment, like at local saloons, traveling troupes and Old West Shows? What about writing, like Harriet Beecher Stowe? What about ranch-owning? In other words, there were more options, but women had to use their imagination and take a bold step. The four heroines in “Bad Girls” are up to the task.

Like the two Westerns noted above, this one takes the larger-than-life, mythmaking approach rather than shoot for anything very believable. If you can roll with that, it fills the bill, just not as well as “The Mask of Zorro” or “American Outlaws” (2001).

The opening act wrongly paints the Christians marching in Echo City as enemies when, in real life, they would be the very people trying to help the protagonists out of the miserable bondage of prostitution, which all four wanted free from in the first place. While I understand people’s issues with life-stifling legalists, depicting the trampling of the Bible is gross ignorance.

The movie runs 1 hour, 39 minutes, and was shot at Alamo Village, Brackettville, Texas , and nearby Del Rio, as well as Red Hills Ranch, Sonora, California, and nearby Sierra Railroad, Jamestown.

GRADE: C+