THE OUTLAW (Howard Hughes, 1943)

There are a number of different levels on which we can read The Outlaw as a subversion of heterosexuality that takes the form of a quadrangle. Yet, the question remains, does the structural similarity between both Bride of Frankenstein and The Outlaw extend to what Young describes as "the film's gender triangles [interrogating] even as they illuminate explanatory frames of feminist theory, emerging as highly unstable structures in terms of both gender and sexuality" (310)? Most obviously there is the character of Rio, who exists in "a system of male exchange, [her identity] most fully marked by [her] value as commodities, [her] status as property--marital, scientific, creative, authorial--passing between men" (314). The sense of Rio as property is heightened by Doc and Billy's constant bickering over the interchangeability of Rio and Red.

There is also in the film a tension between homosociality, "the constant affirmation of shared interests between men," and homosexuality, "the overt, erotic expression of sexual desire between men […] which must be brutally suppressed" (315). We can see this tension played out in the tension between Pat and Doc: Pat, via his relationship with Billy, representing the homosexual, and Doc, in his authoritarian hostility toward that relationship, representing the homosocial. This element becomes most pronounce toward the end of the film when Pat encourages Billy (under false pretenses: his motivation is personal/erotic, rather that authoritarian and official) to start over with Rio, who then becomes, in her complicity to serve as a "cover-up" of Billy's transgressive (read homoerotic/violent) past, "a means of channeling suspicion of homosexuality into heterosexual appearances" (315).

In The Outlaw there is also a sense that "each successive gender triangle is even less stable and suggests a progressive falling away from an 'acceptable' homosociality into an overt homosexuality," most evident in the gradually rising tension between the four characters: the bonds that unite the four characters in the beginning of the film are mostly social: ownership of property and land, residences, and the law (315). These bonds are destabilized, however, and give way to the forces of erotic attraction, jealousy, exploitation, and manipulation.

Finally, there is the "recognition that at least two of the male identities in the film cannot be reconstituted for normative heterosexuality" (316). While Doc and Billy cannot ride off into the sunset, the exchange of pistols and Rio's and Pat's complicity allow Billy and Rio to perpetrate the illusion of a "happy coupling," but only after "the violence with which such [homosexual] eruptions must be suppressed has been exposed" (316). Rio's complicity in the cover-up is a "behavioral cover for what her very presence suggests: that she stands as an index of male anxiety about, rather than indifference to, women and their bodies" (317). This analysis would seem to indicate, then, that The Outlaw "interrogates […] explanatory frames of feminist theory," exposing them "as highly unstable structures in terms of both gender and sexuality" (310).

In Bodies that Matter, Judith Butler argues that homosexuality "is subversive … [when it] reflects on the imitative structure by which hegemonic gender is itself produced and [when it] disrupts heterosexuality's claim on naturalness and originality" (125). Furthermore, she posits that homosexuality exposes heterosexuality as a "panicked imitation of its own naturalized idealization" ("Imitation and Gender Insubordination" 1521). In Howard Hughes' The Outlaw, the homosexual couples use women as a cover-up, "a means of channeling suspicion of homosexuality into heterosexual appearances" (Young 315). More than that, the homosexual triangle (Billy-Doc-Pat) imitates, parodies, and ultimately subverts the heterosexual triangle (Billy-Rio-Doc) to the extent to which heterosexuality becomes a panicked copy of homosexuality.

The final scene of the film alludes to the death of heterosexuality because the unwritten accord between Pat and Billy proposes the latter's fictive death instead of his escape with Rio. At the same time, the pun in the inscription on the stone: "Here lies Billy the Kid killed by Pat Garrett" explains Billy's most recent lie about his sexual orientation and infatuation with Rio. Doc's death and Pat's jealous outbursts contribute to Billy's acceptance of Rio--a lie that would have never occurred if Doc were still alive. Billy's final look at Rio, which invites her to join him, is ironic in the context of the other looks among the homosexual lovers. For instance, the languorous, sexy, and appealing look that a half-turned Billy with raised eyebrows gives Doc Holliday when he says: "Coming Doc?" subverts Billy's final look at Rio. While Billy and Doc establish in the stable their first amorous visual contact that suggests their mutual attraction, Billy seems to accept Rio because of Doc's death, Rio's docility (she no longer puts sand in the canteens), and her cooking abilities ("I [Billy] cannot stand ranch cooking"). Similarly, Rio's excess of happiness--imprinted on her face when Billy allows her to ride with him--is deconstructed by her relieved look at Billy and Doc at the showdown. Rio does not intuit the homoerotic undertones of the relationship between Billy and Doc after the phallic showdown and looks at them with a happy and smiling face. Since she does not question their heterosexuality, her expression of happiness results from her assumption that Billy is alive and available to her. Not only does homosexuality subvert heterosexuality in this scene, but heterosexuality also parodies itself and exposes its panicked nature.

The jealousy scenes that involve two triangles (one homosexual and one heterosexual) also suggest the problematic nature of heterosexuality as original. When Doc returns to Guadalupe and Rio's house, his farcical jealousy of Billy eventually ridicules Rio. Doc and Billy's angry and rivalrous looks become detached and playful after they decide that instead of shooting at each other, they could trade Rio and Red between themselves. Their preference for the horse over Rio minimizes heterosexual relationships and ironically increases their homoerotic desires since the horse is the object of their desire throughout the film. Pat Garrett experiences an authentic jealousy at the showdown scene when he realizes his old lover chose a younger male partner. The expression on his face when he kills Doc displays strong emotions such as anger, sadness, and jealousy--nonexistent emotions in the homologous heterosexual scene. Thus, the success of heterosexual relations is questioned and ridiculed.

The Outlaw acts as a subversion of heterosexuality, but I will assert that it is not through a love quadrangle, as suggested. It seems that there are instead three distinct love triangles. The first is an aesthetic one, a facade between Doc Holliday, Rio, and Billy the Kid; Rio is the “odd man out” in this conflicted Western, nearly excluded from the proceedings, and as the sole woman who interacts with all the men, only appears as an occasional foil to the overwhelmingly homosexual atmosphere. The second triangle acts on a pretext of friendly rivalry with a gay subtext--Doc and Billy argue over the possession of Red the horse. This is the most obvious and seemingly compelling conflict of the film. In a way, Red is the MacGuffin of The Outlaw, and Rio is merely a character tossed in for the censors and Howard Hughes’ libido. The final triangle is pure gay subtext that does not successfully act as subtext; the “friendship” of Doc Holliday is the major point of contention between Pat Garrett and Billy.

Firstly, Red is early-on established as a desirable male through Doc Holliday’s search for him, and proof of his worthiness comes in his first scene; a full shot of his profile reveals both his lovely coloring and form, but also Red’s status as a stud. The advertising for the movie and the traditions of the era would suggest Rio as the source of conflict and desire in this film, but that role is instead filled by Red. Billy and Doc constantly bicker over ownership of the equine. At one point, Billy offers Doc the choice between Rio and the horse, and Doc chooses Red. Rio, obviously feeling betrayed by both men, says to Billy, “What, aren’t you satisfied?”; he is not, as his expression clearly shows that he was expecting to get Red, and is disappointed with “getting the girl.” His desire can only be fulfilled by that (male) horse. This is especially clear in both men’s treatment of Rio, which is best described as contemptuous.

The anthropomorphic nature of Red also seems to play into the homosociality of the film. Red has “left” Doc Holliday for Billy in the opening scenes of the film, equating subconsciously to the spurning of an old lover for the new (this is a motif illustrated in the exact same manner in Cannibal: The Musical). Also, like a human lover would, Red continually rescues Billy; first, he pulls the Kid’s unconscious body from the creek, and later blocks the blows of the semi-wild horse whom Doc has attempted to placate Billy with, as a replacement for Red. Billy voices lines that are indistinguishable from a stereotypical human love triangle’s: “I haven’t given up on getting Red back”, and “Maybe I don’t want to wave goodbye [to Red].” No such effort is made for Rio’s love, but then again, the female has only brought strife and violence, whereas Red is nothing but the perfect gentleman. In the last scene, Billy and Red are finally permitted to be together permanently… and for appearances, Rio is allowed to tag along. She is no threat to Billy and Red’s relationship, and is therefore acceptable. But only so long as she does not attempt to interfere, presumably.

Jane Russell's overtly sexualized body takes a preeminent position in the posters advertising The Outlaw. However, her sensual presence, offered as an object of heterosexual male desire in advertising, paradoxically enacts and magnifies the undertone of homoerotic interaction between the male characters in the film narrative.

Doc Holliday (Walter Huston) and Billy the Kid (Jack Beutel) have a lot in common: a shared criminal lifestyle, a shared interest in Doc's horse, and a shared desire for Rio (Russell). This commonality, rendered homosocial by the presence of Rio as shared heterosexual object, becomes queer when both male characters ultimately dismiss their desire for Rio. Although Doc is initially angered at Billy for marrying "his girl"--the legality of their marriage doubtful, its consummation unquestionable--through the course of their argument, all desire, for both men, is re-directed to Doc's horse. Whereas earlier scenes presented the horse simply as a shared interest in a prized animal, by dismissing the female presence and returning to their perpetual bartering, Doc and Billy do not choose the horse over Rio so much as they choose to continue the homoerotic play centered on each other.

If the presence of the female within the initial triangle of characters allows the homoerotic quality to materialize, the reintroduction of Pat Garrett (Thomas Mitchell) further enhances the subversive sexual content in a quadrangle. Garrett's presence is coded as female: he acts as Rio's agent when she puts him on Doc and Billy's trail; and in the film's climax Garrett embodies stereotypical female traits of extreme emotion, irrationality, and jealousy. With Doc as the central focal point of desire for Billy and Garrett, Rio's marginalized presence, rather than constituting the scene in hetero terms, only magnifies the fact that none of the men have any interest in her. With the female visual presence negated and the male sheriff embodying the feminine, the film turns literally "cuckoo." The only available answer to this queer arrangement, then, is that Doc be killed. While the film finally reverts to "normalcy" in the heterosexual reuniting of Billy with Rio, Billy tellingly first chooses the horse (a symbol of his connection to Doc), and only on second thought turns to the films iconic, if often forgotten, female character.

   >  >  >   g e n d e r  h o m e 


Page layout and design ©2003 by Hugh S. Manon for the Oklahoma State University Film Program. Some images on this page are the property of a third party and are used with permission. The marks of Oklahoma State University are controlled under a licensing program administered by The Collegiate Licensing Company.

Last update: 9/27/2004