THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO (1993)

THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO (R) Kicked out of her stuffy 19th-century Boston family, headstrong Josephine Monaghan heads west to the Rockies, where she learns that her gender is a dangerous liability. So she dresses as a man. For the rest of her life. Writer-director Maggie Greenwald tells the story in a weather-beaten style that feels like a folk song, and Suzy Amis (looking like Eric Stoltz with a hangover) is a marvel as the terse, grey-faced loner with a rainbow locked up inside. B+ ( 188, Sept. 17) -TB