Day of the Outlaw BCG

The two most prominent issues in Day of the Outlaw which bring up the idea of women as the ‘other’ are notion of women being treated as objects and Helen Crane’s infidelity to her husband.

The 1950’s were a time when American society was returning to normalcy post WWII. The role of women was the home: to be good mothers, loving wives, to keep a clean house and have dinner ready when the husband returned home. Women were largely isolated in their newly built suburban homes. Without a means of expression or freedom, the 1960’s was a response to the 1950’s for women. The film was produced in 1959, on the tail end of the 1950’s stereotypical family, and the cusp of transitioning into the 1960’s women’s movement with debates on birth control, abortion and the unequal treatment of women all prevalent issues.

When Jack Bruhn’s outlaw gang rolls into town, women were treated as objects and the stereotypical wife of the 1950’s. The gang expected women, as if they could have them on command, no different than a bottle of whiskey from behind the bar. During the Saturday night social, the women were passed from man to like ragdolls. Even if it is at the expense of the women, it isn’t important that the women were being hurt, or there unwillingly, as long as the outlaws were enjoying themselves. The scenes involving these submissive women were shot almost entirely indoors, similar to where the ideal women belonged in the 1950’s.

The second of the prominent women’s issues present in the movie is Helen Crane’s sexuality and infidelity. Helen shows affection towards Blaise in private, but the town seems to know how they feel each other, and that Helen’s husband stands in the way of them being together. She even kisses Blaise when they are alone. When Helen goes up to Blaise’s room to thank him, she says “I asked if Hal wanted to join me, but he told me to go up alone. I think he understands.” Hal is almost insinuating that he knew of their relationship and was reluctantly acceptant of it. This level of sexual freedom and empowerment is part of what the women’s movement was all about.