Day of the Outlaw

The 1959 movie, The Day of the Outlaw, the women as the “other” are a huge influence on the actions of the men in the movie which coincides with the feminist movements that were occurring in America at that time. In the very beginning of the movie there is a conflict between two men, Blaise Starret and another Hal Crane. There is tension because they are fighting over a woman, Helen Crane. They fight over Helen and threaten to kill one another. Helen is treated as some sort of pawn, or chip that they fight over, without minding her feelings.
The town is very small and has a total of only four or five women, who the pack of thieves are severely attracted to. When the men enter into to town one of the first things the followers of Bruhns wants to do is molest the women and drink alcohol. They treat the women as if they are pieces of meat and have no respect for their feelings or the fact that they have husbands. Although their leader, Jack Bruhn, does not allow them to touch or molest the women, they still are rude and cruel towards them. Towards the end of the movie Bruhn falls into the same mindset as the other men, forcing Helen to dance with him, and telling her that dancing with a lonely man isn’t the worst thing. As they dance they are holding the women tight and trying to kiss them against their will. They just make the women keep dancing. The previous two examples of relationships between women and men is in some way the opposite of the ongoing women’s movements going on in America. Women were beginning to receive more rights, and treated less like piece of meat, and more like equal human beings. This film somewhat makes a joke out of the feminist movements that were occurring in 1959 America.
Another relationship that comes about in the movie is between the youngest of the thieves, Jean, and a young woman named Ernine. This relationship is different than the other relations between the other men and women. Jean is protective of Ernine, and when it is time for them to leave the town he wants to stay with her. A reason for the way Jean treats women so differently may be that he is new to the group of thieves and he is much, much younger than the rest of the men. Jean’s actions towards Ernine relates a lot to the feminist movement in which women were beginning to be treated more equal to men, and their feelings were beginning to be recognized.