Day of the Outlaw BD

The women’s movement was just starting to happen when the film Day of the Outlaw was made. Women are becoming more prominent in society during this time because their rights are expanding. The women in this film are shown as having a more important role in the west as well. In earlier films, women were over looked and given a very insignificant role where they had very few lines and little influence over the outcome of the film. However, with this increase in women’s rights, the women receive a role of greater importance. The women are a main topic of concern when Bruhn’s men come in and take over the town. The men of the town are consistently afraid for the women in their lives and lead to conflict with the villains.

However, the women are still not shown as being an equal to men. They are consistently being sheltered and taken care of by the men of the town. Instead of thinking they would be find to stay, the main leader of the townspeople, Blaise, comes up with the idea to sneak them out of the town to protect them. This shows that the women were not viewed as being able to take care of themselves, just like children. Also, just because their role has increased due to an increase in women’s rights does not mean that they are viewed as people yet. Throughout the movie, the women are still viewed as objects to the men of the film. The men in Bruhn’s gang were constantly looking to find women to “have fun with” as if they were toys. It is even lowered to the fact that all of the women are summoned to dance with Bruhn’s men, even without their consideration. They are just flung around from man to man as though they were a ball the men were playing with. In the western, this was a monumental step for women though since their limited roles did not even create this type concern over them in previous films.