Thelma and Louise has four production companies to its name, which means many paws were put to work in the production and distribution of the film. We've got Pathé Entertainment, Percy Main, Star Partners III Ltd., and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Of these four companies, MGM had the biggest paws—literally, lion paws. You know when you start a movie and you have that little framed lion yawning or roaring or whatever before the film starts? That means MGM made the movie. And that it's gonna be classic.

MGM is one of Hollywood's oldest and most venerable film production companies. MGM is to movies what Coca-Cola is to soda.

So, how did Thelma and Louise get there?

Well, Ridley Scott took the film to a mysterious Italian named Giancarlo Parretti at Pathé Entertainment who was reportedly rescuing Hollywood studios in dire straits—and Parretti promised to finance the film. Parretti bought Pathé-affiliated MGM, but he disappeared from the scene with most of the money he'd promised Thelma and Louise. That meant that they had to spend a lot less on advertising than they had originally planned, but that didn't seem to stop people from going bonkers about the film when it was released.

To put a face to these many production companies, though, we have to point you to Mimi Polk Gitlin, who was the actual producer of the film. She ran Ridley Scott's production company and was his producing partner in crime. Thanks to Gitlin, Ridley Scott got on board in the first place. And she couldn't have made a better choice.