Hosts criticize contemporary "female westerns," contrasting styles and casting

Brad and Ben, hosts of The Big Picture podcast, devoted a portion of the show to what they called “female westerns,” naming The Quick and the Dead, The Ballad of Little Joe, Bad Girls and Even Cowgirls Get the Blues as examples. The hosts debated whether casting established actors (in particular Sharon Stone) and shifting genre conventions produced worthwhile films.

Brad criticized some contemporary entries for what he called unoriginal or unsuccessful execution, saying of The Quick and the Dead that Sharon Stone “tries to act like she can run the the old West,” and calling the quartet of films “a quadruplet of of crap” in the course of the episode’s commentary. Ben countered that the genre has been male‑dominated historically and suggested that female‑led westerns are an attempt to diversify the genre; at one point he said, “See, that's sexist,” when Brad framed the shift as problematic.

The hosts described The Ballad of Little Joe as a slow, largely plotless film about a woman who disguises herself to fit into cowboy society; Brad said the story resembles Yentl “without the singing.” They also summarized Bad Girls as a film about a group seeking to recover stolen money and described Even Cowgirls Get the Blues as a film with a David Lynch–like sensibility without Lynch’s violence.

Why this matters: the discussion reflects how hosts and listeners evaluate attempts to rework classic genres, focusing on casting choices, narrative pacing and whether films preserve or subvert traditional western tropes. The segment was commentary and criticism; no external actions or policy considerations were raised.