Johnny Guitar & Two Mules for Sister Sara

Typically in Westerns “there is no need to say that men are superior to women” (Tompkins 73), but this supposed fact is highly debatable in Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sarah. Women are standing up to their roles more than ever in the Western scenario, and the alpha cowboy is subdued by them to the point where its “alpha” status is questionable.
In Johnny Guitar, for instance, the main character of the movie is actually Vienna – not Johnny Guitar. The film focuses primarily on her as a leading role and her sexual drama with Johnny on the side. She’s much more dominant and independent than the typical woman in the Western. One could say that Vienna is more of an alpha cowboy than Johnny himself, with her particularly masculine ways of handling herself in the land, and her great marksmanship with the gun. She actually has her own rival, Emma, who also happens to be a woman.
In the case of Two Mules for Sister Sarah, we are presented with Sarah who is similar and different to Vienna in several ways. She seems to have more feminine ways, but still packs qualities of an alpha female. In Westerns, supposedly, “women cannot express their rage because to do so marks them as unfeminine” (Tompkins 127), but Sister Sara expresses her rage and does a very fine job at it, too. We see her snap entirely on Hogan’s face when she finds out she confronted her fear of heights and there wasn’t going to be an explosion in the end. We also see her drinking and even smoking; this is no ordinary nun – I mean, prostitute. She carries a more feminine role as a sidekick, aiding Hogan when he is injured and using her faux religion to help in battle. In a way, she’s smarter than Hogan, seeing as she deceived him throughout most of the film until she reveals her true persona. The alpha cowboy, however, instead of being offended, is actually turned on by her – and once he finds out that she isn’t actually a nun, he goes for her. The final twist is when we see the ending - instead of the typical western ending scene, lone ranger in the horizon style; we are presented with the alpha cowboy, followed suit by his faithful prostitute dress extravagantly in red.