The film was theatrically released in the United States on August 20, 1993, by Fine Line Features. It received positive reviews from critics, but performed poorly at the box office. For their performances, Amis and Chung earned Independent Spirit Award nominations for Best Female Lead and Best Supporting Male, respectively.
Plot
Josephine Monaghan bears an illegitimate child. She leaves her newborn son under the care of her sister and heads West dressed as a man.
She meets Percy, who teaches her about how to survive in the frontier and nurses a deep suspicion of women. Jo accepts a job herding sheep in the mountains. After returning in the spring, Percy gives Jo a letter from Jo's sister. Percy opened it and knows he is a she. Percy promises Jo he will not share her secret if she finances his journey out of the territory.
When Jo has enough money saved, she buys her own homestead. One day in town, Jo comes across a mob about to lynch a Chinese laborer. Jo intervenes, and the "chinaman", Tinman Wong, goes to live with Jo to help with the homestead.
Tinman discovers the truth, and in doing so, reveals he is far more intelligent than he has pretended to be—he, too, has been masquerading for his own safety. The two begin a love affair.
The Western Cattle Company wants to buy up all the land in the area, and they kill anyone who does not comply. Jo dons a dress once again in a feeble effort to step back into a more traditionally feminine role. Tinman argues that it will be impossible for her to go back being a society woman, urging her to keep the homestead. Jo is not swayed, and meets with the representative from the cattle company, Henry Grey to tell him she will sell.
As Grey prepares the papers, Jo watches his wife who, through the warped glass, is visually reminiscent of Jo when she was a woman of society. Jo changes her mind and refuses to sell.
Many years later, Tinman Wong has died. Jo collapses while fetching water, and dies too. The undertaker discovers Little Jo was a woman. The town elders rush back to the undertaker's to inspect. All stand around the preparation table in shock. In town, the people tie Jo's dead body to her horse for a photograph. The final shot is of the newspaper story with before-and-after photographs, and the headline, "Rancher Jo Was a Woman."
Maggie Greenwald completed the screenplay in early 1991, after learning about the life of Monaghan. Six months before filming, Suzy Amis began training with a body builder and movement and vocal coaches, while taking sheepherding, shooting, and horse riding lessons.[5]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 77% of 53 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10.The website's consensus reads: "It sometimes moseys when it should have galloped, but The Ballad of Little Jo entertainingly upends genre formula while simultaneously highlighting its strengths."[6]
Emanuel Levy of Variety stated, "Greenwald is so committed to a feminist agenda that her treatment leaves out a good deal of the humor and suspense inherent in the story. […] Fortunately, Greenwald's casting and direction of the actors are more successful." Levy highlighted Amis' portrayal of Jo, opining that "what makes The Ballad of Little Jo worthy is Amis' full-bodied performance in what may be her most challenging role to date."[7]
Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, "It's not hard to view The Ballad of Little Jo as an allegorical critique of sex and power and men's-club values in America. In its disdain for those values, the film is as focused and cool-headed as the remarkable character whose story it tells." Holden also praised Amis' portrayal of Jo, noting that "the film is illuminated by Ms. Amis's haunting performance."[8]
Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Times described the film as "a severely de-romanticized view of the Old West and the women who labored—in more ways than one—on its frontiers." Rainer also wrote, "The film ends as more of a dirge than a ballad. But occasionally it casts a forlorn spell. The meaning of Jo Monaghan's life may not really emerge in this film but its mystery lingers."[9]
Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and stated, "The writer and director, Maggie Greenwald, wisely avoids an old-fashioned plot, and concerns herself more with the daily texture of life in the West." Ebert also noted that "it is rather rough and crude, but it's in the spirit of the film, in which men of poor breeding lived and worked together in desperate poverty of mind and body."[10]
The first musical by Steppenwolf, The Ballad of Little Jo was chosen as the initial production of its 25th anniversary season. However, the show was not terribly well received by critics.[14]
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