Thomasine & Bushrod 1974

In Texas in 1911, Thomasine [Vonetta McGee] knocks out a man who tries to force himself on her without paying for her services, revealing that she’s not just a dancer or a provider—she’s a seasoned bounty hunter who uses her charm to draw in her latest, unsuspecting target. The marshal [George Murdock] tallies her bounty with a steady, practical hand, yet his respect for her skill sits uneasily beside a wary, resentful note about her bold, self-confident attitude. While she’s jailed, a wanted poster of her former lover catches her eye: Bushrod [Max Julien], and the encounter rekindles an old flame as she tracks him down and they briefly rekindle their relationship.

Bushrod proves no ordinary partner in crime; together they corner a notorious bank robber nicknamed “Adolph the Butcher” [Jackson D. Kane], a man who once murdered his sister and now meets his match in their audacious pursuit of loot. Moments after the bloodshed, the marshal arrives on the scene with the intent to arrest Bushrod, but Thomasine intervenes, and the pair slip away into the widening road ahead. What follows is a bold, restless spree: fugitives on the run, they begin robbing banks—moving with the era’s changing pace as automobiles replace horses and give their flight a fresh sense of speed and danger. The duo becomes a subject of growing attention in the press as they distribute a portion of their stolen money to African Americans, Mexicans, Native Americans, and poor whites, a choice that earns them some favorable coverage even as the law closes in.

Despite the romance and the rush, a more sober current runs through Thomasine’s mind: she’s pregnant and dreams of building a nest egg, a life away from constant danger and exposure. Their sense of possibility is shared by Jomo, a Jamaican-born friend who joins them for a time. Jomo [Glynn Turman] approaches life with a more casual approach to crime, and his presence gives the trio a bond that transcends mere partnership. But trouble is never far behind; during a routine check, Jomo is nabbed during a town visit and refuses to reveal where his friends have hidden. The marshal tightens the grip, hanging him by his hands and then dropping him into a pit of poisonous snakes, a brutal demonstration of the costs of defiance.

Thomasine and Bushrod rush to find him, slipping into a new car Jomo had procured for their escape. Yet the world closes in around them as they walk into a carefully laid trap, surrounded by the marshal and a swarm of gunmen. In a hail of gunfire, Thomasine is struck in the back and falls, her life fading as the world blurs around her. Enraged, Bushrod charges the marshal, who shoots him in the chest, but Bushrod does not yield. He returns fire and shoots the marshal in the head, killing him and sealing their fates in a brutal act of loyalty and defiance. The film closes on a stark echo of a simpler moment from their past—a flashback to a time when Thomasine and Bushrod playfully splashed each other with water in a clear, flowing stream, a stark contrast to the violence that ends their story.