Day of the Outlaw - HMB

in 1959, when the film Day of the Outlaw was released, women were returning back to the home after World War II. The men returned and took their jobs back from the women. This idea that women are below men and subservient can be seen in the film. This film takes the strong female women and puts her back into her place as the weak one who needs protection. The outlaws in the movie treat the women as play things. This can be seen when the outlaws take all the women to "dance" with them. Although some of the women are married and they do not want to dance it is expected of them. The strongest female lead that can be seen in the film would be Helen Crane, but she doesn't have a very strong voice. Throughout the movie she has some occasions to speak her mind but when it comes down to it, she is just as ordered around as the other women, and she follows the orders. In the end to save the women, the alpha-male Blaise Starrett, whisks the women away from the town in order to keep them away from the men. Although this was the women's home first it seems socially acceptable that they are the ones who need to leave in order to feel protected, while the outlaws are around to continue to roam around a town that isn't even theirs. In this movie the men's dominance over women is reestablished, which is different than many other western films of the time such as Johnny Guitar (released in 1954) which gives the two dominant main roles to women.