Violence, Vixens, and Virgins: Noir-like Women in the Stewart/Mann Westerns

Abstract

James Stewart and Anthony Mann collaborated on five Westerns: Winchester ’73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952). The Naked Spur (1953). The Far Country (1954), and The Man from Laramie (1955). Although Stewart plays the prominent roles, the chapter examines the significance of seven actresses, Ruth Roman, Corrine Calvet, Shelly Winters, Janet Leigh, Julia Adams, Cathy O’Donnell, and Aline MacMahon, in plot development, and the different roles they play. As Pam Cook points out, women’s roles in films have long been overlooked not only because of their treatment in the male narrative but also because close studies have not really “come to terms with the dual, contradictory role of women. On the one hand, she is peripheral. On the other hand she is central” (Tasker 51). In the Mann Stewart Westerns, women, whether central or peripheral to each story, are often bifurcated in this way as well adhering to stereotyped Western roles while showing signs of being noir-like in character. This conflation of genres is not unusual. Westerns used noir themes because directors employed more serious and pessimistic themes; for instance, Pursued (1947) is considered to be the first noir Western, and Devil’s Doorway (1950) is Anthony Mann’s first noir Western. Furthermore, as Monaco has stated, “ … it would be fascinating to read the western and the science fiction films of the fifties in terms of female subjectivity (my italics)” (Wager 79). Indeed, women’s roles in Westerns have not been studied enough.