The Western and the West

3:10 to Yuma

2009-12-18T09:22:00.000-08:00

The two versions of 3:10 to Yuma differ greatly from one another. The later version, filmed in 2007, can be considered a revision of the original version, filmed in 1957. For example, in the original version, Dan Evans is a much more masculine character. He is very macho, which is typical of the alpha male cowboy. In the remake of the film, Dan’s character would not be considered the alpha male of the film because he appears as a much weaker man. In comparison to Ben Wade’s character, it is difficult to classify him as the alpha male. Instead, Wade takes on that role in the remake, even though he happens to be the outlaw. In both versions, Wade is playing a psychological game with Dan. He tries to charm Dan’s wife in both versions of the film, though he is much more charming with women in the original than in the remake. In the remake, he is also more aware of Dan’s relationship with his older son. Dan’s son doesn’t seem to have a lot of respect for his father because Dan can barely provide for his family, financially speaking. This is why in the remake Dan begs to take Wade to the train station in Yuma. He’ll get paid for his services, and he is ready to risk his own life in order to make some cash. The remake sends the message that men will do anything for money, which speaks for the time in which the film was made. In today’s society, that is the attitude that people in the United States often demonstrate. Our country is also much more violent today, which the remake shows with the increase of violence. The violence in the remake is at times over the top and totally unnecessary, but it says that our country is violent today and people enjoy seeing more violence in films.

The Unforgiven

2009-12-18T08:48:00.001-08:00

The Unforgiven can be considered a revisionist Western film because ideas in the film are different than the ideas that traditional Westerns films present. The portrayal of the alpha male cowboy, Will, is significantly different from the portrayal of alpha male characters in more traditional Westerns. When the Schofield Kid offers Will to split a money reward for killing two men, Will turns to another ex-paid killer, Ned. Throughout the film, Will refuses to continue with the plan to kill the men without his companion by his side. This is not typical behavior of an alpha male, whom we are used to seeing live a life of solitude in films such as The Searchers. Another interesting thing about Ned is that he is African American, which would have made him an inferior “other” in earlier Westerns. In this film, however, he is never inferior to Will. Will also makes decisions guided by his emotions, which we rarely see in the alpha male cowboy. Will is obviously deeply affected by the passing of his wife, and he is emotionally connected to every decision he makes in the film. He has two young children to care for, and part of the reason he accepts the Schofield Kid’s offer is because the money will help support his family. He is always dwelling on his wife’s death, and we can read that emotion on his face. Traditional alpha male cowboys rarely show their emotions, which makes The Unforgiven a revisionist film in that respect.

Johnny Guitar/Two Mules for Sister Sara

2009-12-11T08:59:00.000-08:00

In West of Everything, Jane Tompkins says, “Westerns either push women out of the picture completely or assign them roles in which they exist only to serve the needs of men” (Tompkins 39-40). This is certainly not true of Western films that present revisionist ideas about women, such as Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sara. For example, Vienna, the lead character in Johnny Guitar, is a business-minded woman in a Western. She has a strong presence from the start of the film. She first appears on screen at the top of the stairs in her saloon when Johnny Guitar comes in to talk with her, establishing her power we see throughout the rest of the film. She is aggressive and strong-minded, and she doesn’t get along well with another woman in the film, Emma Small. The two women hate each other, and when Emma persuades the town to hang Vienna for her involvement with The Dancin’ Kid, Johnny saves her at the last second. Johnny’s presence in Vienna’s life brings her the strength to act as she does throughout the film; however, she still portrays a strong woman and she handles her own confrontation with Emma by killing her at end of the film. Vienna possesses the qualities of an alpha male, such as the ability to shoot, and she even dresses androgynously. Although Johnny Guitar is considered a classic Western, it certainly raises revisionist ideas about women.

Another film that doesn’t push a woman out of the picture is Two Mules for Sister Sara. At the beginning of the film, Hogan, a gunfighter, saves Sara from three men who are trying to rape her. Sara does not display characteristics of classic Western women because she isn’t what Hogan thinks she is. She is posing as a nun involved in the Mexican revolutionary movement against the French; however, she is really a prostitute with knowledge of the French fort. Sara is a smart, tough woman who is wise to play the victim in order to keep Hogan around. Some of her actions definitely cause Hogan to question what kind of a nun she is, because he is surprised to see her smoking a cigar and sneaking a drink of whiskey. It is obvious that she is liberated from men because she is able to successfully pose as a nun throughout the majority of the film. Although she keeps Hogan around for protection, Hogan ends up needing Sara just as much as she needs him at the end of the film. Hogan is clearly attracted to Sara, and they stay together after they successfully help the Mexicans capture the French fort. The way the alpha male cowboy relates to Sara in this film is very different from what we have seen in classical Westerns, which is why this film isn’t classified as such.

Unforgiven

2009-12-11T08:22:00.001-08:00

When watching Unforgiven, it is clear that you are not watching a stereotypical western. The clearest indication of this is the alpha male cowboy, Munny. The stereotypical alpha male cowboy is usually ruthless in his struggle to survive, but is also clean cut, and looking for justice. In Unforgiven, Munny is clearly ruthless. However, he is anything but clean cut. He is a pig farmer, and looks like one. He is usually unshaved. In concerns of looking for justice, it is clear that the only reason Munny accepts the job is to get money. This is later proven when he sees the hooker that was cut. He was told that her face was tremendously disfigured, and that she was completely scarred. However, when he sees her, he knows that this was an exaggeration, and that she is only slightly scarred. He realizes that its not justice to kill the people who cut her, but continues anyways. Another way that Munny differs from the typical alpha male is that he is not associated with the law at all, and instead is a former bandit. He also is beaten by the town sheriff, who he in the end kills. This shows Munny’s complete disregard for the law, and his destruction of it. Another way that Munny differs is his alcoholism. While characters like Rooster Cogburn were shown to be alcoholics, and while some characters did frown upon drinking, it was never painted in as terrible a picture as Munny made. Munny made it clear that he could only do the terrible things he had done in this life because he was drunk. This is shown again by how he gets drunk before killing Little Bill and his posy. This view of alcohol paints the picture that it releases the monster, rather than the picture that it was a typical and mostly harmless part of the west, as was shown in many other films.
Another part of how Unforgiven is a revisionist western is shown by Munny’s sidekick. Ned Logan is black, and married to a native American. But, as a sidekick, he is treated as an equal. In The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, Pompey is Doniphon’s sidekick, but is never treated as an equal. He is the person who fetches something, or puts away the horses, but never someone who adds valuable information. In Rooster Cogburn, Wolf is shown in a more positive light as a minority sidekick, but is still a very flat character. He seems simple, never saying anything very insightful. Ned is the complete opposite of these characters. Ned is treated as an equal and a friend by Munny. Ned proves to be a character with actual emotions, shown by the pain he expresses when shooting someone. Although his death didn’t say too much about how race, it does paint a better picture of brutality in the west. In Red River, Dunson buried and said a prayer over the men he killed. In Day of the Outlaw, they make sure to bury Bruhns in respect to him. In Unforgiven, Ned is put on display. This blatent disrespect for a corpse is new to the films we have watched, and paints a picture of a much more brutal west.

Johnny Guitar, Two Mules

2009-12-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

In Two Mules for Sister Sara and Johnny Guitar, we are given views of female characters that are stronger than typical portrayals of western women. However, these females are still portrayed as the “other” in the films, and continue to provide men with problems. The first of these problems is the need for being saved. Tompkins believes that westerns portray women as the weaker sex, and that women constantly need to be saved by the alpha male. In Johnny Guitar, we see the classic version of the male saving the female. When she is about to be hung, Johnny manages to swoop in and save the day. This is the typical way of thinking that females are always the people being saved, and bringing challenges upon the alpha male. In Two Mules for Sister Sara, we see a variation on this classic method. In the beginning of the film, Hogan does save Sara from the three rapists. He then also saves her from the French army. This follows the typical damsel in distress, making extra work for the alpha male stereotype. However, this stereotype starts to change when Hogan is shot by the Indians. On the ground, injured, Hogan is in a terrible position. The Indians are in the position to kill him. However, Sara holds up her cross, and one of the Indians is convinced to let them pass. Sara then helps pull the arrow out of Hogan, something he wouldn’t have been able to do on his own. By Sara saving Hogan’s life, the story is going completely away from the stereotype. The fact that both Sara and Hogan saved the other’s life promotes more of a mutually beneficial relationship than the one shown in Johnny Guitar.
Another clear way to show female characters creating a challenge for the alpha male in Johnny Guitar is the way that Johnny is dragged into a fight that he didn’t start at all. He had nothing to do with Vienna’s decision to open the saloon, or her plans to start her own town. Instead, Johnny must wander in to save the day. Johnny plays the knight in shining armor, coming in to finish a battle that he didn’t start. In Two Mules for Sister Sara, we start off with a similar situation. Hogan saves Sara from the French, which is a battle that he had nothing to do with. However, the situation then switches from Hogan helping Sara out in her battle, to Sara helping Hogan out in his. Hogan is trying to bring down the French garrison, and is helped along the way by Sara. She gives him the layouts of the garrison, tells him about the French holiday, finds out what the French are doing at the train station, climbs up the bridge to plant the dynamite, and gets Hogan inside the garrison. All of this help is for a battle that she didn’t start. This is another way that the film promotes much more of a mutually beneficial relationship between the alpha male and the female, compared to the one way relationship in Johnny Guitar.

Red River

2009-12-11T07:28:00.000-08:00

In Red River, we see two main male figures, Matt and Dunson. In the beginning of the film, Dunson is clearly marked as the alpha male. However, as the film goes on, this title is questioned. Matt, who began the story, as a strong boy, ends the movie by becoming a strong alpha male. The presence of two alpha males seems new for a western film, but by looking at the actions of Dunson and Matt, it is clear that they both have the skill, ruthlessness, and grit for the title.
The film starts out with Dunson breaking away from the wagon train, leaving his love, and starting a new life. It is clear from the moment that he kills one of the two Mexicans who say the land belongs to their boss that he is both dangerous, and a man to respect. While running the wagon train, he shows the ruthlessness that Matheson describes as making a cowboy hardboiled. Dunson drives his men hard, kills anyone who disobeys him, and embodies the ruthless environment that he lives in. All these things make him the stereotypical alpha male.
When looking at Matt, it is clear that he does not start off as the alpha male. While he does have the talent, shown by him drawing faster than Dunson, he still plays a back seat to him. While he often doesn’t agree with everything Dunson is doing, it is clear that he is not willing to challenge him. Eventually, this starts to change. As the men become more and more restless, and rebelling against Dunson starts to quell up, Matt is forced from the alpha male’ apprentice to the role as the new alpha male. In the starting parts of the film, Matt was shown to be a hard cowboy, but never truly ruthless. This changes when Matt takes over the cattle against Dunson’s wishes. Matt sends an injured Dunson away, and takes his cattle. Matt does this to make sure that the cattle safely get to a place where they can be sold. By committing this ruthless act, Matt shows that he is adapting to his environment, with the goal of surviving in mind. Matt must be ruthless, and this involves going against the man who raised him.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

2009-12-11T07:04:00.000-08:00

In The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, we are given a view of three male figures. The first, Stoddard, is an aspiring lawyer from the east. He is strong willed, but new to the west, and not built in the mold of the typical cowboy. The next, Doniphon, is a surly, older cowboy. He seems to care for justice and is inclined to doing the right thing, but at the same time is incredibly rough. The last, Liberty Valance, is a despicable, ruthless villain. He seems to lack any morals, and is quick with a gun. When looking at Matheson’s article, we clearly see that Doniphon and Liberty clearly match the hardboiled male belief, while Stoddard is obviously representative of changing times.
According to Matheson, the western setting is similar to a film noir setting. In film noir, the streets are dark and grimy, which reflects the dirty lifestyle that the characters live in. While the visuals in The Man who Shot Liberty Valance don’t quite reflect the ruthless world in which the cowboys live in, the world is still a dark and dangerous place. This is shown early in Stoddard’s flashback, where his stagecoach is robber by Valance. Stoddard witnesses an attempted robbing of an old lady, and is himself left for dead. This harsh world is exemplified by its criminals. Matheson talks about how callous and ruthless the criminals are, which is obvious in Valance. During the shootout scene between Valance and Stoddard, Valance tricks Stoddard, and gets in a quick shot before Stoddard realizes what is happening. This trickery goes along with Matheson’s belief that the best gunfighter might not always win, because it is the ruthless that survives in the harsh environment. In this sense, Matheson is completely correct in her assessment of villains, by how ruthless and merciless Valance is.
In the article, Matheson downplays the heroic nature of the alpha male. Matheson claims that the alpha male can’t always be the knight in shining armor, and must instead be as ruthless as the villains. Using this film, I completely agree with this assessment. Simply by looking at the shootout scene again, we see truth in this argument. Valance played a trick on Stoddard in order to get a cheap shot at him, and gain an advantage. This ruthlessness is expected from criminals. However, Doniphon also gets a cheap shot at Valance. By hiding in the dark, he gives Valance no chance. Doniphon doesn’t challenge him like Stoddard does. Stoddard tried to be honorable rather than ruthless, and that would have resulted in his death.
In the film, I do not believe that Stoddard is an alpha male. This is why he is not hardboiled. Stoddard is an idealist, believing that the west can be contained, and that law will prevail. He is also an idealist when it comes to morals. He challenged Liberty straight up to a fight, even when he knows he may lose. This may make him a good person, but it doesn’t guarantee his survival, like being ruthless would.

Spaghetti Westerns

2009-12-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

Spaghetti Westerns differ significantly from the standard American Western. Firstly, Spaghetti Westerns were made by Italian directors and usually filmed in Spain (because the Spanish terrestrial was very similar to that of the United States). The influence of a foreign director also shows us the outside perception on Americans. The characters which play in Spaghetti Westerns have very different personalities than those in American Westerns. They are much more self-centered and revolve their roles around self-interest rather than the well-being of the “whole,” seen in American Westerns. I find this particularly interesting because I am European, and I can see the self-centered personalities in the movie stars that Europeans are known for. the American Westerns, however, display characters with a much more work and time oriented personality who serve to better society’s quality.

The perception of American society, from a foreign point of view, is seen in the most famous Spaghetti Western, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The impression given by this film is that it was extremely violent. American Westerns do not seem to be as gory or feature so much murder. The plot of the film, the three main characters chasing after the large sum of money, also symbolizes the popular opinion that Americans care solely about money. The goal of getting the money was more important to the characters than anything else. They would do everything within their power (even kill mercilessly) to get to it. The second movie, Navajo Joe, was also radically different from American Westerns because it featured an alpha male who was Native American. This movie also revolved about restless chasing of money, concepts which are very different than what we see conveyed in traditional westerns.

Navajo Joe/ The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

2009-12-01T12:05:00.001-08:00

These two spaghetti westerns differ from the classic western largely in terms of violence, race, and the overall portrayal of the American Western cowboy. In Navajo Joe, the movie starts out with gruesome and violent scalpings. Unlike a traditional western where Native Americans would be doing the scalping, this spaghetti western portrays American cowboys doing the scalpings. They show no mercy or code of honor as they destroy a whole village. Evidently the Italian film makers view white Americans to be just as savage as the white Americans viewed Native Americans to be. The next notable difference was Navajo Joe's use of a gun. In traditional American westerns, Native Americans were never seen using rifles, but bow and arrows and more barbaric means of killing. Navajo Joe not only uses a rifle but has the best shot in the movie. Not long into the movie is Navajo Joe seen as the alpha male. Soon the whole town is relying on his help. This spaghetti western portrays the western townspeople as completely helpless against any bandits. Not even the sheriff could stand up to such bandits. He stated that the townspeople do not even carry guns. This is completely opposite of what a traditional western portrays a western town and its sheriff. Also, the righteousness of the cowboys and Indians is changed in the spaghetti western. Navajo Joe portrays the cowboy as being righteous, fighting for the revenge of his people, while making the lead cowboy seem like a villain. The camera always shows Navajo Joe atop a large hill with righteous music playing. In a classic western, the Indians were always shown as barbaric and mysterious. They were never a main character.

One of the most obvious differences between the classic western and the spaghetti western is the violence. Not only is there a lot more violence in both Navajo Joe and the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, but the violence is much more dramatic. In a typical western gun fight, if someone was shot the camera would simply pan away without long, over-the-top dramatics. In these two spaghetti westerns, especially Navajo Joe, when someone is shot their death is drawn out to show them screaming and falling in agony. The directors of the spaghetti westerns obviously really want to accentuate the killing in their films, as they believe violence is one of the most important aspects of the western. Also in the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly there is a bit of racism. Why does the ugly have to be a Mexican? They portray the Mexican as a dirty cheater who is no match for Blondie (Clint Eastwood). The Ugly is always the one being tied around the rope and depending on Blondie. The last difference I noticed was the music. In the classic western the music seemed much more subtle. In these spaghetti westerns it seemed like there was a lot more instances where there was music for a more dramatic effect. The music itself seemed much more dramatic at times and almost too-western like for the movies. It seemed like the spaghetti westerns took every aspect of the traditional western and multiplied it by five. More violence, more music, more racism.

Spaghetti Westerns

2009-12-01T10:55:00.001-08:00

Western films have many sub categories with Classical Westerns being the most notable. Star director John Ford made numerous Classical Western films which became instant classics with one of the most recognizable faces in all of America, John Wayne, as the lead character. Another popular subcategory of Western films is Spaghetti Westerns.

Spaghetti Westerns, named for the primarily Italian directors that made them, were characterized as being low budget films. With the majority of these films being shot in parts of Spain that resembled the American Mountain West, these films were notorious for having more action and being more violent than Classical Westerns.

The most famous of the spaghetti Westerns is the 1966 film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. This film is dramatically violent with numerous killings. Another spaghetti Western, Navajo Joe, depicts an outlaw Duncan who has massacred an entire Indian village. The brutal violence and heavy action in directors Sergio Leone and Sergio Corbucci’s movies hoped to excite viewers about the Western film again which had become somewhat repetitive. Leone has been quoted as saying that he depicted such violent killings in his films because this was how Cowboys in the West actually were. Spaghetti Westerns were drawing on the violence that had become associated with America during the 1960’s.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly & Navajo Joe

In several spaghetti westerns it is common, like in Navajo Joe, for the Native Americans to become the victims, as well as, the “alpha male cowboy.” The protagonist in this film, Joe, was an Indian who saved the town from Duncan and his gang. This gang was trying to rob the bank and continually terrorizing the town. Duncan’s gang initially had killed Joe’s family and scalped his wife for a mere dollar. This film and others portray a significant increase in violence and are more graphic than the typical American Western.

In terms of cultural studies, the films Navajo Joe and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly were released in 1966, which marked the end of the civil rights movement and the beginning of the second wave of the feminist movement. In the traditional American Western, these cultural issues would be represented with an increase in women’s rights and the presences of African Americans interact with the townspeople, no longer slaves. For example, in the revisionist films Rooster Cogburn and The Unforgiven, both Sister and Ned Logan previously characterized as ‘others’ maintain a significant presence throughout the films, no longer lacking a role. However, in spaghetti westerns women had little to no presence. In The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, we never even see a women except when she finds her husband and child murdered. The spaghetti westerns use extreme violence and intense music in their films. The directors also use close ups to enhance the visualization and gore. They use money in both films to show that the American cowboy is consumed by greed and will stop at no mercy until he obtains what he desires.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

2009-11-30T16:26:00.000-08:00

Another way 3:10 to Yuma the remake challenges the classic Western is the alpha male cowboy’s view on duty. In the classic Western, the cowboy views his duty to protect and enforce law only when he is affected by the actions of others. He does not believe he is there to fight someone else’s battle and hardly works for a monetary value. This is seen when Dan refuses to bring Ben Wade to the train. His reasoning for refusing to the sheriff is “that’s not my job, I ain’t no deputy.” In the remake it is Dan’s son who completes this task as Dan has been shot, but in the original Dan rides the train with Ben to ensure his arrival to Yuma.

3:10 to Yuma

2009-11-19T07:42:00.001-08:00

The 1957 original version of 3:10 To Yuma has some major differences with the remake version of 2007. In fact, the 2007 version is in some ways a revision of the original. One of the biggest differences between the two films is the ending. In the 1957 version, Ben Wade and Dan Evans escape on the train to Yuma and it rains in the end of the movie. In the 2007 version, Dan Evans dies and Ben Wade kills his group of outlaws. Wade then gets on the train by himself to go to Yuma as Dan Evans’ son points a gun at him. The ending of the later film is much more violent than the earlier film. This seems to signify that the earlier film was not violent enough. Ben Wade seems much more violent and sociopathic in the later film because he kills more people not only in the end but also throughout the film.
In the later version, Dan Evans tries to prove to his sons that he is brave and heroic, whereas in the earlier version Dan Evans only wants to earn the money so that he can save his ranch. This is a revision, because in the later film Dan’s kids do not respect him and in the earlier film Dan’s kids think the world of their father. In the 1957 version, Dan’s children hardly make an appearance at all. His wife, however, makes many appearances, from the beginning to when she rides to meet him in Contention to when she sees him in the train in the end. In the later film, the director must not have wanted to make the same point with Dan’s wife because she did not have nearly as much of a role as she did in the earlier version. Dan’s son takes to the forefront in the later version. This is a revision because in the earlier version the women act as the main “other” whereas in the later version the young boy acts as the “other”.
Another point of revision is the point of other races in the film. In the newer version, Asians worked to build the railroad and both an Apache and a Mexican were part of Wade’s gang. In the later version, the director wanted to show all of the different types of people in the west, especially the Chinese that built the railroads, whereas the older version did not care to show many other races at all. This is a strong point of revision, because it signifies that today people are more apt to show people of all race and creed to play a part in an event, whereas in the 1950s people were less apt to show others of different races.

3:10 to Yuma

2009-11-19T00:37:00.000-08:00

The film, Day of the Outlaw, really depicts a negative attitude toward women. The women in this little town out west are truly treated not as people, but objects. We see the townsmen moving them around trying to keep them safe, but the outlaws eventually capture them. A great example of the inequality of women is the scene of the dance. The outlaws are only looking for the sexual pleasures of the women. They have no care for their feelings or the fact that they are living beings. Tex and Pace are probably the worst out of all the outlaws. They are the most brutal and continue to push the limits by throwing themselves onto the women. Constantly they are trying to make sexual advances on the townswomen and torturing other townspeople so their desires can be satisfied.
As for a cultural study stand point, we see Helen in this film try to be a leader and offer advice to the fellow townspeople. The 2nd wave of the feminist movement was just beginning when this film was made, 1959. Helen describes a great example a women who is constantly giving advice but no one will actually consider it. She represents the beginning of the movement and the struggles women had with getting their voice heard. The men continue to only listen to themselves, and disregard Helen’s advice or opinion on most of the matters at hand. It is very difficult for any women in this time period to have any sort of power over men other than one in a sexual nature.

Day of the Outlaw

2009-11-03T09:29:00.000-08:00

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.

Day of the Outlaw

2009-11-03T09:19:00.001-08:00

When comparing Day of the Outlaw to the other films assigned or any other western for that matter, one finds themselves contemplating its legitimacy in the era. It is considered an unusual Western of its time, right on the brink of the civil rights movement. The women in this film regress from their previous advancement in revisionist films back to being treated as inanimate objects.
As the film progresses, we see a band of outlaws invade the small town of Bitters, led by Jack Bruhn, a former cavalry officer. The outlaws take the town hostage while running from the law. In the ensuing scenes, they capture the women forcing them to attend the “Saturday” night dance. This party demonstrates the demeanor towards women and their inability to defend themselves. The women are seen constantly trying to fight off the vulgar advances of the outlaws. Bouncing back and forth between the men, the women are no longer viewed as human beings with emotions but rather objects available to all men for sexual gratification.
The main woman character, Helen Crane, represents the beginning of the feminist movement. She resists the crude advancement of one outlaw at the dance, instead spending time with Jack Bruhn, who seems to show some respect towards the women. Helen, however, uses her body to get what she wants. She offers herself to one of the outlaws in attempts to save her husband’s life. Helen realizes her place as an object for sexual release and uses it to her advantage. This thought process is the beginning of women going after their rights.

Day of the Outlaw

Tompkins explains, “men are superior to women” which both of the two movies we watched this week, Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sara go against with their main characters being women (Tompkins 73). In Johnny Guitar, the alpha male is Johnny Guitar, but he does not quite act like the alpha male until later in the movie. One of the main characters is Vienna, the female saloon owner who acts much like an alpha cowboy who is introduced standing on a balcony above the men in her saloon, which shows her alpha complex right off the bat. Johnny is meant to protect Vienna, as more issues are created between her and her enemy, Emma Small and the men traveling with her. Vienna and Emma have a lot of similarities including being strong willed, masculine, and the leader/commander of their respective groups. Emma convinces the townsfolk and the men in her pack that Vienna has robbed a bank (which she did not) and therefore everybody is after Vienna. Emma’s command over so many people is unlike the normal qualities and tendencies of a woman in the west. Every word that comes out of Emma’s mouth is strong and all the men follow. Vienna is the same way, Johnny Guitar listens to what Vienna says, for example when she wants to go to the bank even though it is not what he wants to do, they still go. Both Emma and especially Vienna create issues for the Alpha male cowboy, including when Vienna is about to be hanged by Emma and her posse so Johnny must step in and save Vienna. Both of the woman, although the “other,” do not act as though they are the “other.” They both have intense alpha personalities and create different issues for the men following them. Another interesting point is how Johnny is meant to protect Vienna, but as soon as she picks up a gun it is pretty obvious that she does not need protection. The only time that she needs his help is when he saves her, which brings in his alpha male qualities.
The two main characters in Two Mules for Sister Sara are Hogan (the alpha male) and Sister Sara. Sister Sara’s first identity, a nun, is much more appropriate (characteristically) for a woman to be in a western, according to the way Tompkins describes women. She denies whiskey and acts very innocent throughout their journey and both respectful and inferior to Hogan, the alpha male. As the movie progresses and we learn her real identity, a prostitute, her character traits stray further from the way women are commonly regarded in westerns. As a prostitute, not only is Sister Sara making her own money and not relying on a man, but she also smokes cigars and drinks whiskey frequently. Hogan, the alpha male cowboy, has a hard time acting like a true alpha male because he must deal with Sister Sara. Hogan is fond of Sara, and talks frequently to her, straying far from how Tompkins describes the alpha male, silent. When Hogan finds out about the whore house and Sister Sara not being a nun, he yells at Sister Sara saying that she played him. He feels betrayed, and it is not very often that we see an alpha male be mislead by a woman.

Johny Guitar & Two Mules for Sister Sarah

2009-10-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

Both movies assigned for this week have shifted the western ideals we studied by Tompkins and Matheson and turned them practically upside-down. Tompkins statements about women being second-hand characters and not being very authoritarian with Matheson’s strong position in favor of the whole alpha-male macho man are being completely ignored by these two movies, Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sarah.
In the film Johnny Guitar, it is more than clear that the two main characters are Emma and Vienna and surprisingly it came as a shock when I believed the main conflict between both was going to be Johnny Guitar, it was not, the problem was in a disagreement of whether more visitors was god or bad for the town. The western portrays them as two strong willed women that did not take no for an answer, “alpha-girls”. This can be clearly seen when Vienna kills Emma, and a striking moment for Johnny Guitar in the movie is that he appears to save Vienna.
In the other film, Two mules for Sister Sarah, another side of women is shown. A manipulative, word-wise and deceiving Sarah in his being shown to the audience, while she manages to achieve everything she wants. Sarah, being a non, also manages a whorehouse near the French army and the image of the innocent girl immediately leaves our thoughts. Despite all of this, she was once saved by Hogan, the alpha male, and she returns her favor to him by saving him too.

Johnny Guitar/Two Mules for Sister Sara

2009-10-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

In this weeks films, Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sara, women continue to break the stereotypical mold that they have been placed into during the earlier films. No longer are women viewed as “silly, blathering on about manly business that is none of her concern, and beneath it all really asking for sex” such as Tess Millay in Red River. (61) Rather, women are playing alpha cowboy characters whom put up a fight, can yield a weapon, and deceive men.

In Johnny Guitar, Vienna (Joan Crawford), is a business woman who owns her own saloon and has aspirations of building her own town however, she often runs into issues with other members of her town. Not only is Vienna the alpha cowboy in this film but the person whom she disputes with the most, Emma Small, could also be considered an alpha character.

In the less famous film, Two Mules for Sister Sara, Sara, whom we perceive as a nun, has a deep secret. Throughout the film we see her engaging in questionable activity for a nun until Hogan, played by Clint Eastwood, discovers that she is not a nun. In earlier films a women character would not even think about pulling a deceiving act like this.

Johnny Guitar/ Two Mules for Sister Sara

2009-10-27T11:40:00.000-07:00

In the two films, Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sara, the "other" is a strong-minded woman in both movies. They both go above and beyond what typical Western women would do with their lives. Tompkins states that "in many Westerns, women are the motive for male activity (it's women who are being avenged, it's a woman the men are trying to rescue) at the same time as what women stand for- love and forgiveness in place of vengeance- is precisely what the activity denies" (Tompkins 41). In Two Mules for Sister Sara, Sara was in fact rescued by the cowboy, Hogan, but instead of standing for love and forgiveness, Sara helps along Hogans plot for violence against the French army. To make matters more peculiar, the viewer finds out in the end of the movie Sara was no nun, rather a prostitute. This was a shock to Hogan as well as the viewer, but not so much at the fact that she was not a perfect nun, but that she could undermine Hogan's intelligence throughout the whole movie. Also, in Johnny Guitar, Vienna is not seeking love and forgiveness in place of vengeance toward the end of the film, as she finds herself in a stand off with Emma and kills her. At multiple points in the movie she draws her gun, proving she can protect herself and is willing to fight.

Tompkins also points out that "most Western novels and movies have already accomplished and repressed: the destruction of female authority. ... Western's either push women out of the picture completely or assign them roles in which they exist only to serve the needs of men" (Tompkins 39). The women in both films challenge this assessment of women as well, as they do much more than just serve the needs of men. In Johnny Guitar, Vienna owns her own saloon and has men waiting on her and working for her. She hires Johnny Guitar to serve the needs of her. She can handle a gun and talk down a posse of angry men. Over the five years Johnny Guitar has not seen her, she has built her own business and has big ambitions. She did not sit around and wait for a man to return, such as the women in The Searchers. The roles are quiet reversed in Two Mules for Sister Sarah as well, but in more of an ironic way. While Sara's profession is normally to serve the needs of men, she gets Hogan to serve her needs by protecting her on her journey. By pretending to be a nun, Sarah avoids many conflicts and keeps Hogan respecting her throughout the journey. In the end of both films, both women achieve happiness by being so strong-willed and strong-minded, something you don't see in an "other" in more traditional Westerns.

Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sarah

2009-10-27T11:32:00.000-07:00

In the two films assigned for this week, Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sara, the women once again challenge the classic western by dominating the men and differing from their respective roles as “the shadow of a more important male” (40). Tompkins states that in the classic western “there is no need to say that men are superior to women,” this fact is commonly understood (73). However, in these two females the characters Sarah and Vienna challenge the men around, them whether by deceit or power, for the respect that they deserve.

In the film Johnny Guitar, the town’s saloon owner is a strong-willed, determined woman named Vienna. Throughout the film she comes into great conflict with the townsmen and a particular woman named Emma, who is a local rancher. The two women have conflicting views about visitors to their town, which has begun to increase with the railroad.

Vienna, delighted to have more business is threatened that the town will shut down her saloon. They desire her to keep the land rather than let it be developed into the railroad. This feud continues to grow throughout the film with Vienna and Emma. As their relationship reaches a climax, we see Vienna take the life of Emma, while hers is saved by Johnny whom she is in a rocky relationship with.

The relationship between Vienna and Johnny is quite different than anything we have every seen in the classic western. Vienna is the more dominant one in the relationship, forcing Johnny to question his manhood. In describing Vienna, he notes that he has “never seen a woman act like such a man; she thinks like one, acts like one, and sometimes makes me think I’m not one.” Her ability to demoralize Johnny in their relationships verifies her role as the “alpha male.” Another instance where we see Johnny as the inferior actor in the relationship is when he pleads for Vienna to confirm her love for him. In this conversation she indulges him by declaring that she loves him, however, soon after, she becomes aggravated with his lack of confidence in himself. She tells him to “stop feeling sorry for yourself, I didn’t find this place, I had to build it!” Thus confirming that she needs someone strong in her life that she can depend on to help her business grow and prosper not someone who is going to be a free-rider. In order to appease Vienna, Johnny transforms himself from Johnny Logan; the dependent man in her life to Johnny Guitar the reinvented, independent self-sufficient savior.

In the second film, Two Mules for Sister Sarah, Sarah is first seen being saved by Hogan the alpha male cowboy. However, as the plot develops we learn that Sarah is not as innocent as she portrays. Even though she is dressed as a nun, insists on giving the dead a Christian burial-even the ones that tried to rape and murder her she actually runs a prostitute circle near the French army. Nonetheless, this façade saves Hogan’s life several times during their journey from shielding from the Yaquis Indians and raising money for artillery to gathering information about the garrison.

This relationship between Sarah and Hogan develops from infatuation to lust and extreme desire. In this non-classic western, the two protagonists in the end save each other and both give up their previous lives to be together in the end.

Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sara

2009-10-27T10:21:00.000-07:00

Both Vienna and Emma in the film Johnny Guitar and Sara in the film Two Mules for Sister Sara offer challenges to their respective alpha males as well as to women in classic westerns. In Johnny Guitar, Vienna is a saloon owner outside of a small town in the west. She has conflict throughout the film with the rest of the townspeople and especially Emma. In her critique West of Everything, author Jane Tompkins writes that, “in the case of women in Westerns generally…there’s nothing to them” (61). This description may fit some women in westerns, such as Debbie Edwards in Debbie Edwards in The Searchers, but it most certainly does not apply to Vienna or Emma. Vienna is a very strong woman, as she owns a saloon and runs it all by herself. She seems to have a power over men, as they both respect and fear her. The final fight in the film is not even between two men; rather Vienna kills Emma in the end. This action alone signifies that women in this film have more power than men have. The climax of the film involves two strong women, and this shows that women can do just as good a job of using guns and fighting as men.
In Two Mules for Sister Sara, Sara convinces alpha male cowboy Hogan that she is a nun in need of protection. Tompkins writes that, “the position represented by language, always associated with women…is allowed to appear in Westerns” (55), and this most certainly holds true in Two Mules for Sister Sara. Sara must use her language to convince Hogan that she is a nun when in fact she is a working girl. She uses her language because her actions sometimes seem masculine and certainly not like a nun; such as when uses a gun, drinks, and climbs up the railroad bridge to plant dynamite. Men are the ones who use guns, drink, and climb tall structures, not women. When Hogan is injured, Sara must aim his gun and plant the dynamite. I can even see this as Sara doing better than Hogan in this situation, which poses a threat to the traditional alpha male cowboy. Just taking part in these actions challenges the alpha male, because she shows that women can do just as much as men can. This defies the traditional alpha male cowboy and blurs the difference between male and female characteristics in Westerns.

Johnny Guitar & Two Mules for Sister Sara

2009-10-27T10:13:00.001-07:00

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.

Johnny Guitar/Two Mules for Sister Sara

2009-10-27T09:56:00.000-07:00

In Johnny Guitar we see two women who off challenges toward the traditional women of the western. First, there is Vienna who is a saloon owner who is not very liked by the locals. She is a hard pressed woman who will wield a gun and is unafraid of pointing it at another. She is not the typical woman who “exists only to serve the need of men” (Tompkins 40). Her saloon that she opens up will serve the needs of men when the railroad comes through since it will provide gambling and alcohol that men often need in the west. But she is not a prostitute that would typically occupy the saloon. For, her she is an entrepreneur in the west who is able to get information from men and then try to make money off of it.

The other woman is Emma who like Vienna is a strong and authoritative woman. Throughout the film she doesn’t back down in trying to get rid of Vienna. She actually has a set of virtue ethics that traditionally would apply to the men of the film. And for the most part the men fulfill of the posse are the moral ones who have to be talked into killing by Emma who insists that Vienna should be put to death for a crime she didn’t do. Ultimately, the two women appear to be the two competing alphas in the film. Just like Tom Doniphan and Liberty Valance were the competing equals in The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, these two women do the same. Even with at the end when the two women face off in a duel that is never seen in other westerns. Women settling scores with guns just aren’t a part of the traditional western where the women are watching in the background. Johnny Guitar really demonstrates a role reversal for the sexes.

Another example of women fulfilling a role that women are not traditionally accustomed to in westerns is that of Sara in Two Mules for Sister Sara. We see Sara initially as a helpless nun who is on a mission to help others. But then we get glances along the way that Sara is not a traditional nun. First we see her sneak off and have a smoke. Then she has a drink of whiskey. And finally she begins swearing. Even Clint Eastwood’s character Hogan calls her out when he see that she is dinking and swearing. His question of “what type of sister are you” is quite accurate for both him and the audience. And as we learn later she is rather a saloon girl in hiding. She was able to deceive an alpha cowboy like Hogan for the length of their journey together. It projects the woman as witty and the cowboy as a fool which doesn’t happen often in the films. The cowboy is usually the one fooling others. Again there is a role reversal between the men and women.

Two Mules for Sara / Johnny Guitar

2009-10-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

In Two Mules for Sister Sara, Sara, played by Shirley MacLaine, challenges Hogan, the alpha male, often during the film. When Sara’s mule was hurt Hogan suggested she stay in the village for a week to allow the wound to heal. Instead of waiting she traded her grown mule to in the village for a young smaller mule. She continued on with Hogan despite his suggestion. This is like the women Tompkins describes such as “the Indian woman in The Seachers (1956) who attaches herself to the young male lead.” (Tompkins 8) When Hogan is shot Sara is there to attend to his wound. He guided her through the process of taking the bow out of his body but she completed the action with mighty skill and strong will. He thanks her for her help. She is unlike the “[Indian] woman [who] is treated so abominably by the characters – ridiculed, humiliated.”(Tompkins 8) Sara proves herself equal to the alpha male because of her strong will, and determination. After revealing herself she guided the Mexican army into the French base. She aided in the ambush of the French fort. In the end Hogan and Sara walk off in the landscape happily ever after.

In Johnny Guitar, Vienna, played by Joan Crawford, also challenges an alpha male, Johnny Guitar, played by Sterling Hayden. Vienna is an independent woman living in the West. Vienna stands up to the Dancin’ Kid and his men with the help of Johnny Guitar’s protection. Their relationship is not like the relationship described by Tompkins “not talking to a woman on an equal level can be a way for a man to dominate a relationship.” (Tompkins 59) I think that Vienna plays as much a role as Johnny and sometimes she can even play a bigger role. This is shown throughout the movie because she has the same strong will, and determination as Sara. She demonstrates this when she kills Emma. At the end the two part ways unlike the other film.

Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sara

2009-10-27T09:41:00.000-07:00

Johnny Guitar gives us another example of a woman owning their own business. Our main character Vienna is the owner of a saloon in a local town. The major challenge that she faces is the affect the railroad has on the town. She is personally happy to have the railroad come through the town because of all the potential business she can receive. However, other’s are not as pleased. One figure is Emma, who is a local rancher and does not want any new people impeding on her land. This is the first time we see two women butting heads in a film. Tompkins states, “Westerns strive to depict a world of clear alternative – independence versus connections, anarchy vs law, town vs desert – but they are just a compulsively driven to destroying these opposites and making them contain each other”(Tomkins 48). Emma and Vienna are a great example of contrasting forces. They really remind me of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance because both women are different styles of the “alpha female” in this movie.
Two Mules For Sister Sara is great example of deception in the Western film genre. In this scenario we have the alpha male, Hogan, accompanied by his “other” Sara. Sara tells Hogan tells that she is a nun and Hogan agrees to essentially be her personal escort/guard back to the French camp in which he is trying to spy on. It becomes prevalent that Sara is challenged to act the part as a nun. She has a particularly difficult time staying away from the cigars and a bottle of whisky which sparks Hogan’s attention. Tompkins states, “Language is gratuitous at best; at worst it is deceptive. It takes the place of things, screens them from view, creates a shadow world where anything can be made to look like anything else”(Tompkins 52). Both main characters in this film have to use language to set up their false backgrounds. It is kind of comical that both made these false pretenses and it is only till later that one of them catches on to the other’s lie.

Johnny Guitar/Two Mules for Sister Sara

2009-10-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

In classic westerns it was “the landscape that challenged the body”; however, this is not the sole challenge presented to the alpha male cowboys in Johnny Guitar and Two Mules for Sister Sara (Tompkins 71). Women were once considered “the shadow of a more important male” and were thought of as “extensions of the men they are paired with” (40). The emergence of the woman from this shadow is a vital part of these films, which portray the role of women as “other” as they offer challenges to the alpha male.

In Johnny Guitar, Vienna, owner of a saloon and a self-proclaimed “good gunfighter”, angers Emma and the other men in the town by owning her valuable plot of land on the railroad. McIvers threatens to shut down the saloon in twenty-four hours in order to take her land. Throughout the film, Vienna feuds with these people to keep her saloon and to also deny the belief that she was involved in the bank robbery. Another challenge exists within the relationship of Vienna and Johnny; it is as though she is challenging his manhood. When talking about her he says that he has “never seen a woman act like such a man; she thinks like one, acts like one, and sometimes makes me think I’m not one.” Missing his previous relationship with Vienna, Johnny asks her to tell him that she still loves him. She does so and as they are speaking and trying to resolve their differences Vienna tells Johnny to “stop feeling sorry for yourself, I didn’t find this place I had to build it!” It seems as though she was the motive for his activity (41). His transformation from Johnny Logan to Johnny Guitar was in order to win back Vienna. In the end of this film it was the alpha male who overcame his challenges with “the other” to save her life as she was about to be hung.

In Two Mules for Sister Sara, Sara challenges Hogan throughout the plot. He meets her as she is being attacked by three drunk men in the wilderness. The first challenge arises after he saves her life by killing these men but before leaving the site Sara, dressed as a nun, insists on giving the men a Christian burial, which Hogan believes to be unnecessary and he cannot imagine after what just happened why she would want to do this. He becomes angry when she uses his water to bless them. Although it poses as a challenge, I think Sara’s religious façade proves to be an asset to Hogan’s journey. Using her cross to deflect light on the Yaquis Indians, she saves Hogan and herself from attack by stepping in front of the gun. She provides him with information that helps him invade the garrison, takes the arrow out of his chest and keeps his gun steady as he shoots the dynamite on the bridge to stop the train. In the end of this film, the non-classic western of the two, it was the female who repaid the favor of being saved at the beginning of the film and helped Hogan to accomplish his task.

Johnny Guitar/Two Mules for Sister Sara

2009-10-26T05:06:00.000-07:00

The women in each of the films offer challenges to the respective alpha males as well as to women in classic westerns. Johnny Guitar is considered a classic; Two Mules is not. In both cases, explain these challenges as you understand their status as "other." Use Tompkins.

High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-20T15:56:00.000-07:00

In High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo, women are portrayed very differently than they were portrayed in previous Western films we’ve seen. In High Noon, there are two stronger female characters that both play a prominent role in the film. In The Ballad of Little Jo, Josephine takes on the role of the alpha male cowboy the moment she transforms her image from a woman to a man. In previous Westerns we’ve watched, the female characters practically went unnoticed because their role was insignificant in the diegesis. However, in these two films, women are a primary focus. In High Noon, we have Amy and Helen, both strong females. Even though Amy just married Will Kane, when he decides to stay in his town to face a deadly man he once put in jail, she decides she’ll leave without her new husband. Her religion is important to her, and she doesn’t want to sit around and wait to be made a widow if Will is killed. We also have Helen, who is strong-minded and is also very businesslike. She has a very strong presence when she is with other people, especially when she is with men. It is new to see a woman so independent and on her own, and she lives her life exactly how she chooses to.
In The Ballad of Little Jo, Josephine chooses to be a man when she has an illegitimate child and is shunned by her family. She moves to Ruby City, and although the men still treat women in a negative way, she portrays characteristics of an alpha male cowboy and fools almost all of the townspeople. There are two men who catch on to her secret. One of the men treats women very poorly and eventually leaves town, and the other man is from China and Jo falls in love with him. She acts like a female when she is with him, but when she isn’t she embodies characteristics of an alpha male cowboy. She is alone throughout a lot of the film, and she is also very quiet, which represents control. Tompkins says “not speaking demonstrates control not only over feelings but over one’s physical boundaries as well….The male, by remaining ‘hermetic,’ ‘closed up,’ maintains the integrity of the boundary that divides him from the world” (56). It is essential to Jo’s survival to stay quiet and keep that boundary up between her and the other men in the film or they would catch on and realize she wasn’t really a man. In addition to her isolation and her silence, she also learns how to shoot a gun well and demonstrates this when she is on her way into town one day with another townsman. She is the one to kill two of three men on horseback who are trying to shoot at her and Frank Badger. In both of these films, we start to see the new attitudes of women in the West and how the way they relate to men begins to change.

High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo present completely new ideas for women in Westerns. Rooster Cogburn was the first movie we saw this year where the role of women was greatly increased and these two films continue to expand on that idea. No longer are women characters “undercut” by begging, “Stop me, Matt, stop me” such as the case in Red River where Tess Millay begs for Matthew Garth but rather, these women are strong-minded and confident. (Tompkins 60-61)

In The Ballad of Little Jo, Josephine Monaghan is sexually abused as a child and kicked out of her house. Quickly learning how difficult it is to be a woman in the West, Josephine begins to go by Jo and pretends to be a man. Jo knew that she had everything it took to survive but could not do so if people knew she was a woman.

In High Noon, Katy Jurado, playing Helen Ramirez owns her own saloon. It was extremely uncommon for women to own their own business during these times. This showed just how strong and powerful of a woman Ramirez was. Amy Kane who is married to the marshal, Will Kane, is also portrayed as a powerful women in High Noon as she is involved in a gun fight and even kills a man.

This change in attitudes towards women in Western films is a nice change from the sexist views that we have seen for so long. No longer are women responsible for just putting food on the table but they now play a crucial role in these films.

Rooster Cogburn

2009-10-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

Rooster Cogburn is the first film we have watched this year to portray the alpha male cowboy in a new light. Typically, John Wayne’s character is never intimidated by females, never in trouble with the law, and is always in control of every situation however, things are different here.

What makes Rooster Cogburn such a different compared to the other Western’s we have seen this year is the fact that a woman plays such a major role. Katherine Hepburn, playing Eula Goodnight, breaks the stereotypical Western mold for females. Typically women were portrayed as inferior, weak, and emotional however, Hepburn on the other hand is strong-minded and can handle a gun with the best of the alpha-male characters.

Wayne’s character, Rooster Cogburn, is in trouble with the law just minutes into the film for seeking retaliation for the death of his friend, Cogburn is stripped of his badge as a U.S. Marshall. No longer does a man in the West “settle his own problems” as Tom Doniphon stated in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. (Liberty Valance)

For once, Wayne’s character has to share the screen with another dominant character however, in this case it is not even another male, it is a female. This is a far different cry than The Searchers where women were expected to put food on the table and were even put up for purchase.

High Noon and Little Jo

2009-10-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

In “High Noon” and “The Ballad of Little Jo”, we are given a view of independent women that seem to go against the traditional notion of a woman’s role in the western. In “High Noon”, we are shown Amy, the new wife of marshal Kane. She at first seems the typical woman figure in a Western, getting married and settling down with a husband. However, we are first given a view of how strong she is when she gives Kane an ultimatum. She says that she will leave Kane if he doesn’t leave town with her to avoid the gunfight. The typical western woman would have followed the pattern of waiting at home, while the alpha male goes out to do business. However, Amy decides that she will instead leave Kane, and go on her own. This shows not only defiance towards the alpha male, but independence, that is not normally found in female characters. We are then given another reason why she isn’t a typical female character, when she goes to her husband’s side. While going to her man may seem normal of a western, the fact that she picks up a gun certainly isn’t. Killing a man is usually a job only accomplishable by a man. Also, even though she went to her husband’s side, she did it with courage. No man in the town, except for the one eyed guy, was willing to stand by Kane, but she decided to go. Another example of a strong woman in “High Noon” is Helen Ramirez. She is also independent, leaving town with no man. Not only that, but while in town, she proved to be a successful businesswoman. In “The Ballad of Little Jo”, we are given a woman that would rather live completely independent of men. Josephine, while being Jo, is described as one of the meanest people in the west. This is something that usually only describes the alpha male, which is what Jo becomes in a sense. The point of the movie seems to be the way that she does everything that men were meant to do. She survives in the harsh wilderness, she shoots murderous gunmen, and gains respect. The film seems to imply that women in the west were just as strong as men. This is completely opposite to what the normal western says about women. The normal western paints women as dependent on men, and only able to survive at home or church. Instead, we are given a completely independent woman, who completely defies conventional western gender roles.

High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

Both the film High Noon and the film The Ballad of Little Jo present revisionist ideas in relation to classic western ideas. In High Noon, while the alpha male cowboy, Marshall Will Kane, is the center of the main action of the film, the two main women, Amy Kane and Helen Ramirez, also play a major role. Amy Kane, Will’s wife, shows that she has valid opinions, and the film even has some scenes with only her and Helen, who is an independent saloon owner who must be strong in order to run her business. In her critique of the Western genre, author Jane Tompkins writes, “When the crunch comes, women shatter into words” (Tompkins 62). However, this is not true when it comes to Amy. She actually kills one of the men trying to kill Will. Amy uses action, not talk. This is similar to Jo in The Ballad of Little Jo. Josephine Monaghan loses everything and ends up masquerading as a man in order to live her life and to try to find some success. Tompkins writes that normal women in westerns, “may seem strong and resilient, fiery and resourceful at first, but when push comes to shove, as it always does, they crumble” (Tompkins 61). Jo changes the idea about this as well. Jo Monaghan works hard, learns how to use a gun, and learns how to live in the west. She survives and succeeds, not crumbles, when push comes to shove.

These changed views also have an effect on the alpha male cowboy. The alpha male cowboy in High Noon respects women, and all the other cowboys respect Jo in The Ballad of Little Jo. Even when the cowboys find out that Jo is really a woman, they still respect her for all that she has done. They are angry that she fooled them, but they nonetheless respect her. This is the main change in the world of the alpha male cowboy. While strong women may still use language to express themselves, something highly against the alpha male cowboy’s person, they also have the capacity to survive just as well as men do. Author Sue Matheson argues that the alpha male cowboy, “is an antisocial loner who functions in a world peopled with sociopaths, a Hobbesian wilderness where life is generally nasty, brutish, and short” (Matheson 891), but Jo also acts just as Matheson describes. In effect, she has become an alpha male cowboy, and this is frightening to other alpha male cowboys. If women can take on their role, then what else can women do? Amy in High Noon and Jo in The ballad of Little Jo show alpha male cowboys that women are to be respected as well.

2009-10-20T09:47:00.000-07:00

Throughout the history of the Western, the expectations and roles of women have been quite trivial. However, in both the High Noon and the Ballad of Little Jo, the women characters contradict Matheson and Tompkins assessments by posing as a protagonist. Matheson asserts that women even when are portrayed as a main character in the Western, possess a feminizing role subordinate to men. This is specifically seen in High Noon, where women are not just servants to their men, but business women who own saloons and stand side by side with their men in battle. These women serve as a secondary alpha cowboy where they prove their points with actions rather than words.

In addition to High Noon, The Ballad of Little Jo proves women are no longer inferior to men. In one scene, Jo is seen undressing, exchanging her dress and corset for a more comfortable set of clothes-trousers and a shirt. In response to her actions, the clerk scolds her noting that "it's against the law to dress improper to your sex." When Jo transforms her clothing and defies the law, she steps into the role of the alpha cowboy in Ruby City. Not only this, but she possesses other alpha cowboy qualities such as the ability to shoot a gun, working on a farm-sheep herding, and the confidence to take the gun from Percy's hands.

Although several men, like Percy, in these two movies believe that women still cannot defend themselves, their role as the alpha male has become overshadowed by the new female character Jo and Amy. They are fooled by the women characters and the express their feelings and emotions to others. this use of emotion lessens their position as the alpha male, thus allowing room for women to step in and take their place.

High Noon/The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-20T09:20:00.001-07:00

In both of the films High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo, there are multiple revisionist ideas that exist and show the changed attitudes toward women in the west. For High Noon, we see the ideas in the characters of Amy Kane and Helen Ramirez. Amy Kane in the film is able to display a power or control over her husband. He didn’t get married in his town’s church because she is a Quaker and he is putting down the gun because of her Quaker values. This represents a significant change from the past classics that show women being solely obedient to the male’s orders. It indicates too that the male is more open with his female counterpart. To let the words of a women affect Kane enough to walk away from his job indicate that he is open in his emotions and will talk with his wife and let her know he real feeling about a situation. Kane must have had an open discussion with her about their future where her words had an effect on him that the past alpha males would not have allowed.

We also see from Helen Ramirez a different type of women who exists amongst the men. She s a women who owns property and will not be told what to do why any man as she clearly states. That type of independence was in no way seen from the classic westerns. Property was an issue that men controlled. And what is even more puzzling about Helen owning the property is that she is also Mexican. She isn’t even of the same race of the white Angelo Saxon males that held all the power in the west at the time of many of the films. Helen is able to make he own business demand and even negotiate the sale with a man who takes her seriously. It was fairly surprising to see a woman in that type of position of power.

In the Ballad of Little Jo, we see Josephine transform herself actually into a man during the film. Instead of becoming a wife or prostitute, Josephine chooses to become a man known as Jo. She wears the clothes of the men and tries to scuff herself up to look like she’s been roughed up amongst the boys. Every time she is discovered to be a woman by the boys they are always surprised and show great respect for her. It’s a tough undertaking to be one with the boys in the American West but Jo is able to blend in well with her set of skills that is as good as most males in the West at the time.

High Noon & The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-20T08:16:00.000-07:00

According to Tompkins, the only two places where women belong “in the social structure [are] the church and the home” (Tompkins 44). In High Noon, however, we see a different situation when Helen is introduced as a business owner of a local saloon. She’s a woman with character who knows what she wants, and she seems to be significantly respected by the men around her. Her lover happens to be the deputy, who shows less personality than her by surrendering his position in fear of the bad guys. The other main female character, Amy, sticks more to the cliché characteristics of a woman in the Western – but she doesn’t fit the “pattern of talk cancelled by action” (Tompkins 51) when she comes to the rescue for the Marshall in peril. Nobody stands up for the Marshall, not even the deputy, but a woman does – and she does a fairly decent job at it, too. What is mostly represented in High Noon in accordance to woman is how much more in control they seem to be about their lives. Helen and Amy had decided for themselves that they were leaving the town, regardless of what their men thought. Amy ultimately stays to save the day, not because any man told her to.
In the beginning of The Ballad of Little Jo we see a more accurate Western representation of women. Josephine, as a woman, is not taken seriously; she is pushed aside, sexually assaulted, and ignored. Nonetheless, she revolutionizes her female persona, by dropping all standards and camouflaging herself as a man – which goes against all law or religion which women are supposed to adhere to. When she is seen as a man, people take her seriously; she gains support and friendship. Every time she is unmasked, however, people are bewildered and treat her like scum. Nevertheless, it’s good to see women finally step up in these Western films; it gives the alpha cowboy a wakeup call.
The role of the alpha cowboy seems to be losing spotlight, too. Without John Wayne, it's difficult to see if there's any alpha male anymore. It seems like there's more characters with equal or higher status than the supposed alpha male. In High Noon we see the Marshall, who definitely proves his courage by taking up on a fight against four - but all these cowboys seem to have become softer than the alpha Wayne ideal. The women aren't as subdued by them anymore, and the only person who seems to be feared and respected are the actual bad guys. It's as if the genre had been slightly redefined.

High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-20T07:34:00.000-07:00

High Noon has two female roles, Helen and Amy, which is unlike the Westerns we have viewed before. Rarely have we seen a single woman in a Western with a strong role (other than Rooster Cogburn) but both Helen and Amy are important characters. Helen Ramirez, is a Mexican business woman, and is also confident and independent. A woman owning a business is an extreme revisionist aspect of the movie because it shows her independence and capabilities. Amy, Will Kane’s wife, shows a strong, stubborn personality when she refuses to stay in town as her husband had asked. Kane wants Amy to stay with him, because he does not want to be a coward and leave town but she is reluctant to do so. She stands her ground and waits in the train station to leave her husband until the very end of the film. Tomkins explains that guns solve problems and “out here a man settles his own problems” (Tompkins, 896). Amy explains in the movie that she hates guns but, at the end of the movie, Amy shoots one of the gunmen which differentiates this movie from previous Westerns. Amy sees the trouble, and conforms to the way men work to save Will Kane. Amy becomes somewhat of a savior to the alpha cowboy because he could not win the fight without her help which is completely different than previous Westerns. The independence of the woman, and her necessity to the alpha male cowboy, completely change the look and personality of the alpha male cowboy.

From the start of The Ballad of Little Jo, when Josephine Monaghan is about to be captured by the two soldiers on horses, she immediately defends herself by hitting and pushing down the man who she was traveling with. She then continues to put up a fight by out running and escaping the two soldiers on horses, which was shocking because she was a woman. Previously we have only seen the hardships of the alpha male cowboy traveling alone through the West, but The Ballad of Little Jo shows the hardship of a women traveling through the West, which had previously seemed impossible. Regularly the woman is portrayed as a servant type for the alpha male cowboy, cooking and cleaning for him, but there is a complete role reversal in this movie. Not only is Josephine acting as the male, but she hires a Chinese male to be her servant and he cooks her meals, and she even scolds him for not putting pepper on her meal. This shows that the alpha cowboy does not necessarily have to be a male but the female gender can fulfill the same duties as though she were a man. The only aspect of the woman that she maintains through the movie is her emotions, and yet she can still successfully accomplish the same situations as previous alpha male cowboys. Josephine/Little Jo is just as masculine as most alpha males we have come across, but when by herself or acting as a women, she uses language as though she were a feminine woman. “For the men who are the Western’s heroes don’t have the large vocabularies an expensive education can buy” (Tompkins, 51). This quote talks about men as the hero, and explains a main difference between Little Jo and a typical Western hero, because she maintains her level of language.

High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-20T06:39:00.001-07:00

In this film we get to see many revisions to the depictions of women in a classic western. Tompkins states, “The camera and the audience identify with the hero, while the heroine dissolves into a caricature of herself. Sex joins here with blood and death and a cold wind blowing as the only true reality, extinguishing the authority of women and their words” (Tompkins 61). In “High Noon”, and “The ballad of little Jo” this quote is not the case. We see women starting to stand up on their own. Their characters are sharing the spotlight with the alpha male and do not rely on his decisions. The first example is in “The Ballad of Little Jo”; Mrs. Addie is a saloon owner. Here is the first time we see a woman actually running her own business. She is self sufficient and opens up the concept of a women being the “moneymaker” of a household. Mrs. Addie depicts life in where women no longer need to rely on the alpha male as a provider for their family. They can take matters into their own hands and actually run and operate a business. Another example of a change is in, “High Noon”. Amy is willing to throw everything away for her husband Kane. She sells her business so she can leave at a moment’s notice if her and her husband are run out of town. Amy is willing to stand by Kane no matter the consequences and truly shows how men and women have a much stronger relationship now
The new role of women in western films has had an impact on the actions of the alpha male. We see in “Rooster Cogburn” and both of these movies that men are not the only ones who are talented with a gun. The phallic symbol of the gun is starting to diminish. The fact that women can now shoot just as well as men really defeats the symbolic meaning behind the steel weapon. The alpha male’s masculinity is a main part of that symbol, and it really takes a toll when women became so talented with a gun. In “Rooster Cogburn” we find Eula to be an excellent shot. Also, in “High Noon”, Amy guns down one of the trainmen for her husband. Also, when the two of them were in a bind come the end of the film, she attacks one of the gunmen so her husband can shoot him. It really starts to show that the alpha male has to accept the fact that women can do just about everything a man can do. The alpha male needs to recognize this partnership as in “High Noon”, where Amy and Kane essentially use teamwork to get out of the situation at hand. At the end of this movie we see another change to the alpha male’s actions. Normally, the alpha male rides out into the distance alone, but here he takes his wife. It really brings together the fact that women are now considered just as important as the men.

High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-20T01:23:00.001-07:00

It is clear that there is a huge change in character qualities concerning women in these two movies. Just like in Rooster Cogburn, women take a stronger role. Their attitude of being equal and independent towards men and the rest of the community is clearly displayed in several scenes. Throughout High Noon; several actions from the two main alpha-girls, Amy and Ramirez, prove the point of taking s stronger stand in life. Ramirez runs her own saloon, she is independent, self-sufficient, hard-working, and does not need a man providing and taking care of her. This independence and confidence of being able t live a life by yourself and with no manly or cowboy sustained has never been seen before in westerns. Amy proves us that married women can also be strong. As opposed to older westerns, Amy took matters into her own hands and just like Doniphon in “The Man who Shot Liberty Valance” held the gun and supported her husband, in this case, by shooting and eventually killing one of her husband’s adversaries.
In “The Ballad of Little Jo” the sense of superiority in women is portrayed a bit differently since in this case the woman pretends to be a man. Cutting her hair, acting like a man and doing things normally men would do, Josephine makes everybody believe she is really a man and judging by her attitude, confidence and aggressiveness she is eventually feared, respected and eventually became the “alpha-male” cowboy of the movie.

High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-19T21:59:00.001-07:00

In these two movies present revisionist ideas that are opposite to the westerns that we have previously watched. In High Noon the women take on manly roles. Ramirez owns the saloon, after hearing of the pending arrival of Miller and his men, she decides to leave town. She leaves her lover, the former deputy. Her character is equal to all of the characters that interact with her. Her presence demands power, and respect. She does not allow men to, “dominate or simply ignore” (72 Tompkins) her. This is unlike women in previous westerns we have watched. In these westerns there is also another woman, Amy Kane that plays a manly role in the film. Her religion makes her opposed to the thought of her husband killing another man, so she decides to leave her husband to save her soul. Hearing the sound of gunfire, she runs to the side of her alpha male cowboy. She ends up killing one of Miller’s men. This is total opposite to what we have previously seen in other westerns. She doesn’t use words, usually “women must use words as their chief weapon.”(66 Tompkins) In The Ballad of Little Jo the man character Josephine cuts her hair and becomes a man because of the troubles she encounters on her way westward. In this film Jo a women literally plays a manly role. She becomes an alpha cowboy. Everyone in the film gives her respect and listens to what she says. Though they think that she is a man, she still dominates the characters in the film. She doesn’t back down from any conflict. When men come to her and threaten her with death, She rejects there offer and battles with them for her land. She not only, “use[s] words as their [her] chief weapon,” but also uses the gun. (66 Tompkins) These two movies present different attitudes of and toward women and a cut the alpha male role.

These movies have no examples of the alpha male we have seen played by John Wayne. The roles of the men in these movies do not show the qualities of an alpha male cowboy. Neither characters in High Noon, or The Ballad of Little Jo demonstrated the qualities that an alpha male cowboy express: a silent, hardboiled loner, who’s resourcefulness in his use of the terrain, he’s as ruthless as the terrain, it’s His-way or it’s the highway, never following even if that means facing abysmal odds. By not meeting these qualifications the role of the male in the two films doesn’t represent the alpha male cowboy.

High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo

2009-10-19T21:33:00.000-07:00

The role of women in the two movies we watched, High Noon and The Ballad of Little Jo, shows a changed attitude towards females. Women no longer represent the quiet, inferior sex. Instead, they stand up for themselves. In High Noon, the two women play very significant roles. Amy Kane is a big part of the marshal’s life. She marries him and convinces him to move away with her. When the marshal has to stand up and fight the criminals, Amy comes back and helps her husband survive by killing one of the men trying to kill him. Ramirez also plays a revisionist role because she owns a saloon. She is a business woman. Ramirez in particular has a personality that we have not yet seen in a woman. She talks back to men. She puts them in their place. Ramirez does not need a husband because she takes care of herself.

In the second movie, The Ballad of Little Jo, the idea of the alpha male cowboy is overshadowed by the character of Josephine. Her character is one of a woman who pretends to be a man. This is a newly introduced concept for the role of a woman in a Western. Josephine plays the role of a man so well that she is not suspected by most people. She rides a horse like a man. She handles a gun like a man. She “talks the talk” like a man. Josephine is the first woman who slips into a man’s way of life and pulls it off. This shows that the role of the alpha cowboy is disappearing, and, in a movie like The Ballad of Little Jo, he is just not present because his place has been taken by a woman. The idea that “women must use words as their chief weapon” no longer applies to the more modern roles that we have seen women take on (Tompkins 66). They know use their mind, words, knowledge, and body to build a stronger persona. Women are no longer the same as they used to be presented in the older movies. They have a strong presence and represent very important and main roles in the newer westerns.

High Noon, The Ballad of Little Jo, and Their Women

2009-10-19T21:02:00.000-07:00

2009-10-14T19:43:00.001-07:00

The film Rooster Cogburn is the first showing of a new alpha male cowboy. John Wayne plays a much different role in this film than in his previous work. Here, Wayne was an ex-sheriff who lost his badge for shooting too many criminals. John Wayne has never been a promoter of the law, or working for it. The past alpha male cowboy has always pushed the limits of the law. In “The Searchers”, Wayne and Martin were both wanted for murder. They disregarded any aspect of the law and as Matheson puts it, prefer, “to settle their problems on their own”. Another example of our alpha male’s disrespect for the law is in “The Man Who Shot Liberty valance. Wayne has to tell Stoddard, “You’d better star packing a handgun..i know those law books mean a lot to you but not out here. Out here a man settles his own problems” (Matheson 896). Rooster Cogburn as a sheriff really brings a new role to the John Wayne name.
Another interesting aspect of this movie is the fact that the secondary character is a woman. The alpha male cowboy is never seen sharing the spot light with a character of the opposite sex. Women are not considered equals to males at this point in time, and Eula’s role in this film is very unique for the era. Normally, the women are only in the movie for a short bit but Eula goes on the trail with Rooster. Eula has brought the soft charisma of a woman to the trail with her and Rooster. She actually breaks the alpha male cowboy in this movie. This is the first time we really see the male make a decision dependent on what a woman said. We see in Red River, Wayne’s one love begged to come on the trail with him and he said no. In “The Searchers”, Debbie gets her father to offer Martin a job, and a home to stay in. He turns it down as well for the opportunity to continue his journey. Matheson states it perfectly when she says, “In Rooster Cogburn, he agrees to trade the wagon full of nitroglycerin for Wolf’s safety – after Eula Goodnight insists that he do so. Rooster’s shell may be hardboiled, but his heart has a soft spot at its core”(Matheson 899). Eula’s character really brought the opposite sex into the light for Westerners and opened up the roles for women in future films.