I have a collection of over 300 action movies on VHS and as you could probably guess, very few of them pass the Bechdel test. While The Long Kiss Goodnight probably wouldn't pass it either, it does feature feminist film starlet Geena Davis in a role that is simultaneously tough and feminine. Now I'm not trying to hold this movie up as a work of radical feminist cinema, it's written by the guy who did Lethal Weapon and directed by the man responsible for Deep Blue Sea aka the one where Samuel L. Jackson gets eaten by a shark. But that being said, Geena Davis plays an amnesiac housewife who begins to remember that she is actually a lethal, female assassin. But unlike most female focused action movies, her character's dueling feminine sides (homemaker/mom versus deadly femme fatale) plays a pivotal role, making this the rare action movie where you couldn't just swap in a male lead and only rewrite a handful of lines.
Also, if I can just gush for a moment, this movie seriously rocks. Geena Davis is tougher than adamantium nails and seriously, at one point she ice skates across a lake while shooting a car full of bad guys. And Samuel L. Jackson plays her wisecracking sidekick. And her assassin name is CHARLIE BALTIMORE! How cool is that? Rent and enjoy. Oh, and don't forget, "Life is pain."
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