Johnny Guitar demonstrates another example of women owning their own businesses. The main character Vienna is the owner of a saloon in the town. The major challenge that she faces is the affect the railroad has on the town. She is happy to have the railroad come through the town because of all the potential business she can receive. However, others are not as pleased. Emma, a local rancher 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 v. law, town v. desert – but they are just a compulsively driven to destroying these opposites and making them contain each other”(Tomkins 48). Emma and Vienna are an example of contrasting forces.
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 that she is a nun and Hogan agrees to essentially be her personal escort/guard back to the French camp, which he is trying to spy on. It becomes obvious that it is difficult for Sara to act the part of a nun. She has a particularly difficult time staying away from cigars and a bottle of whiskey, 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 and deceptions.
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