Classic Reaction — The Furies
The Furies is an outstanding piece of under appreciated western cinema. A film combining the essence of western, melodrama and noir, it’s an Oedipal story of family issues anchored by one of Barbara Stanwyck’s greatest performances. Upon seeing the Paramount logo and hearing a stirring piece of music by Franz Waxman, you initially believe you are about to watch a traditional western. Soon after, one learns this is not the case. The Furies is something that defies expectations as it’s much more a Freudian psychoanalysis than western.
Anthony Mann directs his western much differently than say John Ford. Ford’s westerns are visual representations of American ideology and ultimately mythology. Mann’s work in the genre is a bit more grounded. To kill a man in a black hat is not simply vanquishing evil, it is to give up part of your soul in the process.
The Furies makes it clear from the beginning that the roles traditionally in the genre and most films themselves are to be flipped. The focus on Stanwyck’s fierce Vance takes the place of the traditional son who clashes with his father. Her the daughter is the focus of the rivalry. And it’s not just for her role in the future of the family ranch, the eponymous Furies, but for her father’s attention. I mentioned this was an Oedipal film. Early during a scene with her brother, Vance enters her late mother’s room. The brother points out their father doesn’t want the room disturbed in any manner, yet Vance does so anyway. By changing her mother’s room around she is doing away with the spirit of her attaching itself to her still loving father. Vance has a competitor for her father’s attention in death. We also get a glimpse of a pair of scissors that Vance strokes. The scissors certainly come across as a phallic piece of symbolism. Later in the film, when her father has found love with Dame Judith Anderson’s Flo, a confrontation results in Vance throwing the scissors at Flo’s face, scarring her. Vance asserts her power over a woman with her phallus and reminding her of both of their statuses. Vance is not the lady, the damsel, no she is the one in control. To quote Walter White, she is “the one who knocks.”
The Furies is a film with definite layers and ideas to discuss. It is a shame this work of masterful direction and performances failed in 1950. However I hope it gets more eyes on it as it is a great piece of expectation defying western drama.
