Although he wasn’t as revered in his time as his contemporariesJohn FordandHoward Hawks,Anthony Mannwas king of the metaphorical Western. After making a name for himself in low-budgetfilm noir, Mann moved to Westerns in the 1950s, using the genre as a means to explore the same psychologically complex and darkly cynical terrain as he had in his noirs. One of the best of these isThe Furies, his only western to center on a woman, whichcompletely upends the genre ofJohn WayneandGary Cooperwith Freudian symbolism and feminist ideology.
‘The Furies’ Is a Freudian Melodrama Masquerading as a Western
Set in the New Mexico Territory in the 1870s,The Furiescenters on aging cattle baron T.C. Jeffords (Walter Huston) and his daughter, Vance (Barbara Stanwyck). Although Vance is the rightful heir to T.C.’s throne, it’s unthinkable that a woman could run the ranch, so she searches for a husband to take over when her father dies. Despite her close relationship with Juan Herrara (Gilbert Roland), a Mexican whose family is squatting on the land, Vance decides to romance Rip Darrow (Wendell Corey), who already believes he has a rightful claim to part of it. Yet Vance’s power is threatened by the arrival of Flo Burnett (Judith Anderson), a widow who plans to marry T.C. for his money.A battle of wills ensues between the father and daughter, leading to a shattering climax.
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There’s a lot to unpack here, beginning with the allusions to Shakespeare’sKing LearandMacbeth, in its dramatization of an ailing king, his successor, and the conniving woman who seeks to wield power from behind the scenes.But the classic workThe Furiesdraws most heavily from isthe myth of Oedipus, the Greek king who killed his father and married his mother. There’sa hint of incestin the dynamic between Vance and T.C., as both grow insanely jealous of the love each one finds and act out in violent ways: when T.C. announces his engagement to Flo, he tells Vance that she’ll be shipped out to Europe while a stranger takes over the ranch. Vance hurls a pair of scissors at Flo’s face, permanently disfiguring her, and T.C. retaliates by leading a raid on the Herraras, hanging Juan as his daughter watches.
‘The Furies’ Flips the Traditional Western on Its Head
The Furiesis an example ofthe Freudian western, which also includes Hawks’Red Riverand Ford’sThe Searchers. These were films that sought to bring a deeper psychological complexity to the genre, drawing upon ancient myths and legends for inspiration. As Mann would do in his collaborations withJimmy Stewart(Winchester ‘73,Bend of the River, andThe Naked Spuramong them),The Furiesforegoes the usual good guys versus bad guys tropes for a more complicatedexamination of antiheroes. T.C. and Vance are far from noble: they’re power-hungry and ruthless, willing to do anything – including hurt each other – to get their way. Yet there’s also a mutual respect, as each recognizes that they are the only two people on Earth capable of outsmarting the other.
With its melodramatic plot twists and operatic emotions,The Furiesfeels almost more in line with “women’s films"likeMildred PierceorLeave Her to Heaven,not to mentionDouglas Sirktitles likeMagnificent ObsessionandAll That Heaven Allows. Like Stanwyck in Hollywood, Vance exists in a man’s world in which she must constantly prove her worth, and butts heads with another strong-willed woman who threatens her status. And like her character, Stanwyck can be said to be a trailblazer in the traditionally masculine genre, paving the way for other female-led westerns likeJohnny GuitarwithJoan Crawford,Rancho NotoriouswithMarlene Dietrich, and Stanwyck’s ownForty Guns.
That is not to say thatThe Furiesdoesn’t possess all the pleasures of a traditional Western. TheOscar-nominatedblack-and-white cinematographybyVictor Milnerpresents the narrative against the vastness of the New Mexican landscape, making the events of the film feel almost larger than life. And as T.C., Huston gives the kind of colorful, rootin’-tootin performance thatwon him an OscarforThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre(directed by his son,John Huston). Yet it’s all the ways in whichThe Furiesdefies genre expectationsthat makes it sucha great Western, one that Freud would’ve had a field day with.
The Furiesis available to stream on Prime Video in the U.S.
