Day of the Outlaw

In Day of the Outlaw, women are once again treated poorly by the men in the film. When the outlaws arrive in the town, they talk about women as objects and as the potential source of their fun if only their captain, Bruhn, would allow his men to enjoy themselves. Bruhn lets the men of the town know that his men won’t molest the town’s women unless he gives them permission, and he promises Blaise Starrett that he will keep his men under control. Bruhn’s control over his men is starting to weaken as his health is starting to weaken, which happens after the horse doctor in the town removes a bullet from his chest. This increasing loss of control is obvious when the men persuade Bruhn to let them have a night of dancing with the women because they have been travelling for weeks and want to get pleasure out of the town. Bruhn gives in to the men, and they “borrow” all of the women of the town to dance with, even if the women are married. Helen Crane, who is a married woman and has had an affair with Blaise, tries to stand up for the women and questions Bruhn about why they must dance with the men. Bruhn tells her there are worse things the women could be doing than dancing with a few lonely men. However, they aren’t just dancing. The men are very forceful with the women, pushing them up against the walls and forcing themselves upon the women, even though it is obvious the women are trying to resist the men. It is odd how the men of the town don’t try harder to keep their women away from the outlaws. They let the outlaws take their women away for the night, which shows that they also view the women as objects if they allow that to happen.

This film seems to be a response to the feminist movement of the early 20^th century. Women had always been inferior to men, as we have seen in other Western films, and during the first wave of the feminist movement, women focused on gaining equal rights and appearing as equal to men. In this film, Helen stands up for the women when they are forced to dance with the men. She also tries to use her affair with Blaise to save her husband. Blaise wants to kill her husband and Helen tries to use the feelings Blaise has for her to stop him. However, he dismisses her pleading, letting her know that her power over him isn’t strong enough to affect his decision. She represents the feminist movement, and the men’s attitude toward the women is a response dismissing the things that Helen stands for. The men don’t view women as their equal when they treat the women as sex objects and when they don’t take their opinions into consideration.