Where was Thelma and Louise filmed?

In one of the opening scenes of the 1991 movie Thelma and Louise, the two leading women are preparing to embark on a fun weekend road trip. They are planning to visit a cabin, allowing both women a chance to escape for a while. Louise has a musician boyfriend and works at a diner while Thelma is a housewife with an overbearing husband. Thelma’s husband is revealed to be controlling, and overall terrible, in one of the first scenes.

When Thelma reveals she hasn’t told her husband about the trip yet, Louise says, “You mean you haven't asked him, yet? Thelma, for Christ's sake! Is he your husband or your father? It is just two days, for God's sake. Don't be a child. Tell him you're going with me. Tell him I'm having a nervous breakdown.”

Thelma tells her friend, “That don't carry much weight with Darryl. He already thinks you're out of your mind.”

The location used for this shot was filmed in Moab, Utah, which acted as the fictional start to the iconic road trip.

When the two best friends first start on their road trip, they stop at a bar. While in this bar, Thelma meets a man named Harlan and starts to dance with him. When the two end up in the parking lot, Harlan tries to assault Thelma. Louise shows up to stop when with a gun to his head.

“In the future, when a woman's crying like that, she isn't having any fun!” Louise tells Harlan.

At first, the women try to walk away, but Harlan starts to yell and cuss at them. Louise turns around to shoot him, killing him. The two best friends then have to make a run for it. They decide to run to Mexico, but Louise says they can’t go through Texas to do it.

Thelma says, “Wait. What? You wanna go to Mexico from Oklahoma, but you don't wanna go through Texas?”

“Thelma, you know how I feel about Texas! We're not going that way,” Louise tells her.

Thelma says, “Yeah, I know, Louise, but we're running for our lives. I mean, can't you make an exception? I mean, look at the map! The only thing between Oklahoma and Mexico is Texas!”

The bar where Harlan is shot was filmed at the real bar called Silver Bullet at the time. The bar is still standing today but is called Cowboy Country.

During the time that Thelma and Louise are running from the law, Louise gets in touch with her musician boyfriend named Jimmy. She wants him to wire her all the money she has, and he promises to. However, Jimmy shows up in person with the money instead, and also proposes to Louise. He shows her an engagement ring and says, “Why don't you try it on? You didn't see that one coming, did you?”

Louise asks Jimmy why he is choosing now to propose, and his response is, “Try not to get too excited, Louise. I just flew across two states with that ring in my fuckin' hand, and uh... You know I hate to fly.”

She ultimately turns down Jimmy’s proposal in order to continue the journey with Thelma. This scene was filmed at the Vagabond Inn located near downtown Los Angeles. Fans of the iconic film can still visit this inn today.

During one of the top scenes of the movie Thelma and Louise, the two best friends confront a truck driver who has harassed them a few times throughout the movie. They manage to run him off the road in the desert and confront him about his actions.

Louise tells the truck driver, “Yeah, where do you get off behaving like that with women you don't even know? Huh? Huh? How'd you feel if someone did that to your mother? Or your sister? Or your wife?”

The two women proceed to blow up the man’s truck and then drive off to leave him alone in the desert. This scene and many other desert scenes in the movie were filmed in Moab, Utah near the La Sal Mountains.

The Vagabond Inn found near downtown Los Angeles was used for scenes in the movie where Thelma and Louise spend time at a motel with each of their lovers. While Louise is with her established boyfriend Jimmy, Thelma has invited over a drifter named J.D. whom the women don’t know that much about. When Thelma brings him back to the motel the two sleep together, and she learns more about his life as a driver and thief.

Thelma tells him, “You're a real live outlaw, aren't ya?”

J.D.‘s response to her is, “Well, I may be an outlaw, darlin', but, uh, you're the one stealin' my heart.” After this scene of Thelma and J.D. together in the motel, J.D. makes a run for it and steals all of the money that Jimmy brought down for Louise. This leads the women to commit even more crimes in order to continue running.

During the movie Thelma and Louise, Thelma robs a convenience store in order to get money and make up for the fact that J.D. stole from them. These events are later shown through the surveillance footage from the store, and Thelma can be heard talking to those in the store.

She tells them, “Good mornin' ladies and gentlemen. This is a robbery. Now, if nobody loses their head, nobody will lose their head. Simon says y'all lie down on the floor, please, right away. Thank you. Ma'am, would you get down? Not you, sir. Let's see who'll win a prize for keepin' their cool. Sir, will you do the honors? Take all the cash out of the drawer, put it in a paper bag.”

Before leaving the store Thelma says, “Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all for your cooperation. Now, stay down on the floor 'til I'm gone, and have a good day.”

The shots of Louise driving away from this new crime were filmed in Utah’s Arches National Park.