try one last time to beat the odds. Having won every time before, it is likely that they had no idea that they were outnumbered this time. The movie freeze-frames as they emerge from the building, and multiple rounds of shots are heard as it is clear that they have met their death. Interestingly, they have found themselves in numerous tight spots earlier in the movie where it seemed that they would not survive. When they try to escape from pursuers that chase them to the edge of a cliff, they take a chance and jump into the water below and are washed downstream, surviving what at the time seems like an impossible jump. Thus, when they die at the end, it is after the viewer has been sitting on the edge of his seat for numerous close calls throughout the film and has begun to view the two men as nearly indestructible.
Thelma and Louise do share some traits with Butch and Sundance. Like the men, they are robbers pursued by the law. However, unlike them, Thelma and Louise are rank amateurs who happened to fall into crime. Louise never intended to kill a man, and Thelma only robbed a convenience store because she was robbed of all their money and they needed to survive. Once embroiled in a life of crime, however, Thelma and Louise just sink deeper and deeper into it. Although they seem to desire getting out of crime, they both keep committing crimes, and it is as though they have been captured by the lifestyle and are now unable to resist it. After the murder in the beginning of the film, Louise wants to go to Mexico and make a new life for herself, and at first it appears that she is going to be able to accomplish this. Her boyfriend brings her a wad of cash, and the authorities have not caught up with the women yet, so they start out on the open road and head toward freedom. However, after being robbed and then robbing the convenience store, their options begin to evaporate. Thelma has revealed to her lover, played...