Goblin Market makes use of both indulgence in material things such as food as a metaphor for indulging in sex, and also arguably inserts implied sublimed sexuality into the allowable physicality between females. As someone said “the writer is either the most repressed or least repressed poet ever”.
On that note, Doctor Strangelove. Many have noted that the opening scene with a B-52 taking fuel from a KC-135 while tender love music plays was more than a bit suggestive, and of course the plot ultimately seems to hinge on an insane Air Force officer trying to come to terms with performance issues.
Tom Lehrer:
When correctly viewed,
Everything is lewd.
I could tell you things about Peter Pan
and the Wizard of Oz!
(There’s a dirty old man!)
Read Romeo & Juliet Act 3, Scene 1, but pronounce “minstrels” as “menstruals.” Not only is it a whole lot funnier, but it makes more sense.
The Maltese Falcon (at least, the Bogart movie) is filled with homosexual innuendo that no one noticed at the time.
I’m pretty sure that I’ve read that the director intended to instill fear of homosexual rape.
“The Outlaw” by Howard Hughes was full of gay subtext. And bondage. But mostly gay subtext.
My review of the movie pointing stuff out:
The Outlaw
A Furball Under The Radar
Warning: this review is full of spoilers for The Outlaw. If you haven’t seen it yet and want to be surprised by any of the plot developments, don’t read the rest of the review. If you saw the film and want to remember it as a pretty good rip-roaring yarn of the Old West, don’t read this review – it contains viewpoints and observations that may forever twist your memory of the film. However, if you’re not concerned about plot points and you want to get the viewpoint of someone who definitely thinks there was ALL sorts of stuff flying around under the radar in The Outlaw, read on MacDuff!
The Outlaw is a one heck of a totally under the radar film. There’s sexy subtext. There’s bondage subtext. And there’s gay subtext. It’s the sexual equivalent of a World War II furball flying under the radar of the censors of the time, which we will try to disentangle for you.
The Outlaw is the story of two middle-age queens, Pat Garrett and Doc Holliday, who relationship is broken up by a handsome young bisexual, Billy the Kid, who’s also interested in the outrageously endowed Jane Russell.
We’re not really interested in the gay subtext, except for its humor value, which there is plenty of. We’ll get back to it as things go along. But there is the sexy subtext. And the bondage subtext – plenty of both.
The plot gets cranking when Doc Holliday rides into town, where Pat Garrett is sheriff. Pat and Doc are “best friends” from way back, and Pat’s REAL glad to see Doc. Doc’s a little standoffish though. When Pat says he’s the town sheriff, Doc says, “I never thought you’d be so easily satisfied.”
Doc is ostensibly looking for a really great horse that he’s just crazy about that was stolen from him, which may be introducing another kind of subtext, but we’re just not gonna go there. The man whom Doc needs to see about his horse turns out to be Billy the Kid. Billy has Doc’s horse but claims he bought the horse fair and square in another city.
Despite the disputed ownership of the horse, which is quite the sexy beast, Doc and Billy quickly take a cotton to one another.
But Billy’s violent past is on his trail, and it catches up with him in a darkened stable in the form of Rio, a Wild West firebrand played by Jane Russell, who tries to kill him there. (Seems he killed her brother in a gunfight a while back.) Instead of using the obvious technique – death by breast smothering, Rio shoots at Billy, but Billy disarms her. Soon they’re rolling around on the straw-strewn floor of the stable as Billy tries to keep Rio from killing him by crawling on top of her and pinning her wrists to the floor with his hands.
The fact that this gives Billy plenty of opportunity to lie atop Rio’s heaving bosoms and writhing torso was, we’re sure, just a coincidence. Poor guy was just trying to protect himself. But it does create a nice maledom/femsub scene as Billy interrogates Rio as to why she’s trying to kill him with her pinned beneath him, her hands held helplessly above her by Billy. There’s a sort of half-turn for the bondage thread.
Later in the same scene, Rio takes a stab or two at Billy with a pitchfork. He eludes this, too, and there’s more rolling around on the floor, and the scene closes on them rolling on the floor in the darkness, and Billy saying, “Now hold still if you want to have anything left of that dress.”
Chalk one a loop for our first under-the-radar sex scenes. Remember, this film dates from the 1940s, radar had only just recently been invented, and EVERYTHING was under it. You don’t have to believe they’re having sex, you don’t have to believe they didn’t. That’s subtext.
Later, Billy has to go and get goaded into a gunfight by a gun-proddy hombre whom he kills, and this pisses off the sheriff, Pat Garrett, for some reason. Billy has to high-tail it out of town pronto while people fire guns at him. One of the slugs wounds him, and after riding for a time, he falls from his horse as he’s crossing a stream.
(Now you see why Doc and Billy are so fond of the horse, because it grabs Billy, who’s floating face-down in the stream, and pulls him to shore, where he’ll have something besides water to inhale.)
Shortly thereafter, Doc finds Billy and takes him to his place to be nursed back to health by Doc’s beard, er, girlfriend, who turns out to be none other than … wait for it … Rio! Doc tells Rio that Billy is feverish and that “He may thrash around, tie him up if he does.”
Another loop for the furball.
Rio’s first thought is to kill Billy while he’s at her mercy, but with him lying there looking so handsome and all, especially compared to middle-aged ol’ Doc, she just can’t bring herself to.
We get to see a lot of Billy’s angelic face while he recuperates, and he’s one of these guys who have features that are just a little TOO regular, if you know what I mean. Male model regular. In fact, the camera spends about as much time on Billy’s face as it does on Jane Russell’s. Yet another gay loop for the furball.
Unfortunately, Billy doesn’t do a lot of thrashing, so that’s one potential bondage loop gone.
Billy’s condition worsens, and Jane remembers the other medical advice issued by Doc – to keep him warm at all costs – if he catches a chill, it’ll be the death of him. This brings on a kinda strange scene in which Rio stares at Billy’s handsome, sleeping face and declares feverishly that she WILL keep Billy warm.
Then she shuts the door on her faithful Mexican servant (who functions as the completely ignored voice of traditional morality crying out in the midst of the furball) who doesn’t feel Rio should be alone with Billy without a chaperone.
(OK, I had kinda figured Rio for a prostitute, a beautiful woman living with an outlaw, mostly by herself, in a house outside of town. Guess I was wrong … or maybe even the prostitutes had chaperones in those days – someone to make sure the proprieties were observed while they fucked their clients for money.)
Anyway, we don’t see what goes on between Billy and Rio behind the door, but I feel safe in chalking up another straight sex loop for the furball. Because later, when Doc shows up at the house, Rio reveals to Doc that she “married” Billy and begs him not to tell Billy that she did so.
Obviously, Rio is equating “fucked” with “married” and the reason Billy wouldn’t know about it is that he was unconscious with a fever at the time. Sort of a common-law marriage thing.
(Me, I’d wake up from the dead for a fuck with a young Jane Russell, but hey, this is the movies, not real life.)
Doc is just a leetle bit peeved that Billy now has possession of his horse AND his girl, so Billy diplomatically offers to return either the horse OR the girl. Well, it woulda been diplomatic if Rio hadn’t been standing right there listening to the whole thing. What’s more, Doc picks the HORSE (of course, WE know why – a half turn with a twist for the gay thread). What’s even more, Billy acts kinda disappointed at Doc’s choice – clearly, he was hoping that Doc would pick Rio.
The whole scene has a distinctly Gorean flavor, with the woman standing there helplessly as she’s bartered like livestock – and not particularly valuable livestock – by two mighty men. A definite double loop for the bondage thread.
Billy and Doc high-tail it outta town now that he’s recovered, leaving the recently bartered Rio to keep house while the guys are off adventuring.
Rio, however, has a surprise in store for the guys – pissed at being bartered and then abandoned, she’s loaded their canteens with sand instead of water, as we discover shortly thereafter as a very parched and very angry Billy somehow makes it back to the shack before thirst claims him.
Doc has been captured by Pat Garrett meanwhile, and Garrett’s on Billy’s trail. Billy decides to get his revenge on Rio – he takes her out to a nearby watering hole and ties her up and gags her. To be more specific, he ties her up in clear sight of the water in the hot sun (reminiscent of a very similar scene in the later film “Apache”).
This would definitely constitute a coupla loops and an Immelman turn for the bondage thread.
Doc and Pat find Rio sweating with the bondage, and rescue her. Well, sorta, as we’ll see.
After Rio is freed, Doc observes, “Billy’s in love with you! The crazier a man is about a woman, the crazier he thinks, and the crazier he does.”
Crazy. Yes. Well, it was 1946. Anyway, Doc’s immediate recognition of bondage as a sign of romantic feelings definitely adds a couple of loops to the bondage thread.
But wait, the bondage ain’t over yet. Pat’s a pretty sharp apple and, armed with Doc’s insight that Billy loves Rio, Pat decides to tie Rio up AGAIN and leave her there as a trap for Billy.
'Nother coupla loops for the bondage thread as Rio once again finds herself bound and gagged.
Billy does return, of course. He walks up to Rio’s bound figure and says, “How do you like it?” which could refer to how she likes being tied up, or how she likes going without water in the hot sun. 'Nother loop for the bondage thread. Then he looks at Rio’s gag and says, “I thought I tied it tighter than that.”
“Ix-nay on the ondagebay ontinuitycay oblemspray!” Rio cries through her gag. (OK, I made that line up.)
Rio is overjoyed to find that Bily has inadvertently revealed his love for her by following Doc’s prediction. “You came back!” Rio cries joyfully.
“You don’t think I came back for you, did ya?” Billy asks, a little miffed that Rio has so clearly divined his true feelings about her (another loop for the bondage thread) even though it was actually Doc who was tuned in to Billy’s sexual feelings (another loop for the gay thread).
Well, that’s about it for the female bondage and straight sex threads, but I’m gonna finish the rest out just to be thorough, but if you don’t care for the rest, feel free to skip on ahead to the conclusion. This will also prevent you from reading a few spoilers about the way the movie ends.
Billy is captured and put in irons along with Doc (guys in bondage, that oughtta make for a gay loop) and they head back to the hacienda before Pat hauls them back to town for a proper wedding … er, trial. Back at the house, Billy and Pat promise to be good or escape their bonds or something, anyway, they’re free and have the use of their guns again.
They do a little bit of the Western version of Iron John ceremonies, holding the speaking stick (or “shooting iron” as they called it out West) and giving little speeches. Finally, Doc gets the shooting iron and calls Billy out to a gunfight. Billy seems agreeable to killing Doc at first, real agreeable, but he loses interest pretty quickly.
Doc will have none of it, though. He tries to provoke Billy into a shootout, with Pat on the side egging them both on. Pat’s pretty sure that Doc will win any shootout between Doc and Billy. He clearly wants Billy out of the way.
Doc goes so far in egging Billy on that he shoot’s Billy’s earlobes off. When Billy refuses to succumb to this provocation, standing there with bleeding earlobes and looking determined, Doc holsters his guns and declares that he was testing Billy’s love, er, restraint.
“I knew that someday you might draw on me, and I wanted to see if you’d do it, so I pushed it as hard as I could,” says Doc. “Now that I know you won’t draw on me, we can be friends for all time.”
Billy explains his refusal to draw this way: “You’re the only partner I ever had.”
“Do ya really feel that way?” Doc says, all gooey inside. He embraces Billy and they hold hands briefly.
The next thing would be for them to kiss, but that would have showed up on every radar set, so they don’t. Still, it’s one strangely intense gunfight scene, in that the tension isn’t “Who dies?” kinda stuff. It’s more “Will the very handsome young man handle the sadistic “test” of the more experienced older man and win his love?”
Call this a coupla barrel roles for the gay thread.
Well, Billy and Doc are all happy with one another and they’re all set to ride off into the sunset to have many gay adventures together, but Pat Garrett, the spurned queen, is eaten up with jealousy and pulls a gun on the two of them, refusing to let Doc go.
“You’re gonna stand there with that little slip of a boy?” Garrett cries. “It was ME! ME! I was always your best friend!”
The intensity with which Garrett confronts Doc is WAAY over the top. It is not outraged lawman. It is not disappointed friend. It is spurned lover, pure and simple, as Garrett refuses to let Doc leave. Doc refuses to shoot Garrett, but Garrett, overwhelmed with jealousy and very nervous at facing a gunfighter who is a lot faster than he is, guns Doc down even though Doc never makes a move to draw.
The whole scene is gay, nothing hidden about it. As another reviewer said, “I’ve seen gay porn that was more subtle.” This is definitely a whole slew of barrel rolls for the gay thread.
Billy gets the drop on Pat and uses his own cuffs to secure him to a post. (Guy in bondage, another loop for the gay thread.) Billy saddles up with Rio after burying Doc. But the grave marker says the person buried is Billy the Kid. Garrett is bound to keep the secret as he wouldn’t want to admit to having been so completely taken over by the young Billy the Kid. This allows Billy and Rio to ride off into the sunset to a life of happiness.
OK, remember that line I quoted at the beginning of the review in which Doc says to Garrett, “I never thought you’d be so easily satisfied.”? Well, IMHO it’s the key to the whole movie. The Outlaw is actually about a couple of former wild boys who are in the process of settling down together into a comfortable middle age. But when one of them (Doc) tries to return to his wild ways with a handsome young stranger (Billy) the other is unable to handle his jealousy and disappointment and kills his, er, trail buddy.
The bondage theme for Rio can be viewed as a continuation of the gay theme, if you think of Doc and Rio as the same character, with Rio serving as the living embodiment of Doc’s “feminine” side. As often happens in movies with a gay theme, the woman representing the intrusive, heterosexual world must be restrained or even killed (as in B.U.S.T.E.D.) for the sake of the gay dynamics.
There are rumors in Hollywood that Howard Hughes had a gay streak, i.e., he was bisexual. I tend not to give credence to such rumors, since Hughes’ biographers have said there’s not any evidence that he was and lots that he was heterosexual. Frankly, there’s a cadre of gay rumor-mongers in Hollywood who have over the years accused every guy who’s so much as stopped in Hollywood to fill up his tank with gas of being on their team. Whenever you hear that unnamed “Hollywood insiders” think so-and-so is really gay, take it with a grain of salt. Better yet, a whole pound of salt. Sure, there’s lots of gay actors in Hollywood – lots of straight actors, too.
In any event, the script was written by Jules Furthman, an accomplished screenwriter who wrote To Have and Have Not and the screenplay for The Big Sleep as part of a long and distinguished scriptwriting career. You can probably ascribe most of the under the radar stuff to Furthman, though Ben Hecht and Howard Hawks also shared screenwriting credits. Furthman was clearly capable of writing under, over, around and through the censors’ radar, and this script may have been his masterpiece in this respect.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled maledom/femsub bondage musings.
Conclusion
You can if you wish take The Outlaw completely at face value as being a straightforward Western which reinvents the legend of Pat Garrett, Doc Holliday and Billy the Kid in an entertaining way.
I personally am not going to buy this notion, because the movie creeped me out before I’d even analyzed it. I’d just expected a pretty much standard Western with maybe extra attention paid to Jane Russell (who was discovered by Hughes after a heavily advertised nationwide talent search) and of course a couple of standard Western DiD scenes for Russell.
Didn’t turn out that way. I found it to be a strange, twisted, deeply abnormal film. I highly recommend it. You can take it any way you want, but I think you’ll be missing out on a lot of fun if you take it at face value.