PS "Day of the Outlaw"

During the time period between the end of the 1950’s and the beginning of the 1960’s the second wave of the feminist movement was beginning. In this movement women fought hard to gain more rights and respect from society. During this time films portrayed this movement within its works. The film Day of the Outlaw does just this, where you see women being respected.

In a majority of Westerns it is typical that women are told what to do by the men, as well as are not respected by the men because they do not listen to them or show any emotion to them. In the Day of the Outlaw this is exactly the opposite. The strongest issue addressed with women in the film was love. In past westerns the men or cowboys refuse to love a woman. Men are a part of the land and do not want to be tied down. The film shows two love stories which are very odd for a western. The first is the relationship between Blaise and Helen. Blaise is the main man in the town and had a chance to be with the woman of his dreams, but chose the land over her, typical of a western. However, Blaise comes to the realization that he still loves her and wants to be with her, but understands now that she is married it cannot truly be. Helen throughout the film shifts her feelings of love towards Blaise back and forth and tries to hide it. In the end knowing he really will never get her, Blaise puts his life on the line to save her and the rest of the town. The very rare trait of love is seen one again between Gean and Ernine. Gean comes to the town as a member of the gang, but once he sees Ernine he falls for her and makes sure he takes care of her brother and promises he won’t let anything happen to her. He struggles to leave her at the end of the film and Ernine cries as he leaves. Blaise and the captain of the gang realize Gean is in love and young, they understand he does not need to die and allow him to turn back to be with Ernine to start a new and better life. Men going back to women and starting a new life is something rarely seen previously in westerns. The film truly portrays love in a bigger manner as seen in the town. The town has only twenty people, but the men in town are characters that chose love and have settled down to have a life different from Blaise, who cannot quite understand that. These three love situations represent in society during that time period that love was becoming more mutual instead of just up to the man and that it is ok for a man to love a woman.

Another issue involving women seen in the film is the fact that the women were respected by the men on many different levels. In early westerns men would ignore women and had little or just brief conversations with them. In this film conversation with women take place many times. Blaise and Helen speak often and it is always a conversation where they hear each other out and then make a response. Even out of respect for Helen as the film goes on, Blaise tries to give Helen her space with her husband and realizes to get over her he needs to be more formal with her by calling her Mrs. Crane and she does the same to him at the beginning, but towards the end calls him Blaise because she still does care for him. Even when Helen offers herself to Blaise as a bargaining chip he says no for many reasons, but in the past westerns no matter what the reasons no would not be the answer for a man. Respect for women is also seen when the gang takes over town and all the town’s men try to protect the women and even risk being killed to go and see their women. Respect is also seen towards the women when the captain of the gang tells his men that they are not allowed to touch the women in anyway and he makes sure none of them are assaulted in any way. This is specifically seen when Tex forces himself on Helen and Bruhn steps in with a gun and stops him and then begins dancing with her formally unlike the other men. General levels of respect are becoming a growing issue in society as seen through this film.

I believe this film does a great job showing the issues during the women’s movement as well as the attitudes going on at that same time. The film shows the transformation of issues that before were mostly male dominated. In the early westerns men were not seen falling in love with women, starting a new life with them, explaining to them their true feelings, or going back to the woman after he had left them. The same goes for respect towards the woman. Men hardly spoke to women and the only thing on their mind when it came to the woman was sex and having them take care of the home or telling them what to do. Times are changing in the United States and this is being seen through the progression of western films. Women finally are becoming equals to men.