1949: Hellfire

Hellfire (R.G. Springsteen, 1949) 3/10

With its rugged characters, perpetual gunplay and penchant for violence, the Western has rarely been seen as a “woman’s genre.” Traditionally viewed as a breeding ground for correct codes of masculinity and community, the genre’s brief flirtations with femininity have often been relegated to “B” pictures such as Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar, Samuel Fuller’s Forty Guns and Sam Raimi’s lamentable The Quick and The Dead. But arguably one of the genre’s earliest and strangest attempts at creating a strong female gunslinger is R.G. Springsteen’s 1949 film Hellfire.

Shot for Republic Pictures in their ill-favoured Trucolor technique, Springsteen’s eccentric western is the schizophrenic lovechild of Nicholas Ray and Cecil B. DeMille. This half-feminist/half-religious western centers on the attempts of reformed outlaw Zeb Smith (William Elliott) to build a church in memory of a deceased pastor (H.B. Warner) who literally took a bullet for Zeb after the latter cheated in a game of cards. Initially reluctant to accept the dying words of Brother Joseph, Zeb converts to Christianity and abandons his immoral life in order to play “according to the rules” laid down in Brother Joseph’s Bible.

Desperate to find donations to build his church, Zeb stumbles into the town of Dry Springs, but receives only ill-mannered responses for his troubles. As he departs town, Zeb runs into Doll Brown: a female outlaw who has just murdered her husband Lew Stoner in the local saloon. When her former brothers-in-law find out about Lew’s death they opt to seek revenge on Doll, rather than collect the $5000 reward offered by Marshall Bucky McLean (Forrest Tucker).

Zeb on the other hand sees an opportunity to not only obtain funds for his church through moral purposes, but but at the same time save the soul of Doll Brown. After tracking her down, Zeb informs Doll that through the Bible he can convince her to repent for her sins. Although she resists his preachings, Doll allows Zeb to ride with her on a quest to find her missing sister Jane: resulting in both characters attempting to find their own brand of truth

With its Bible-quoting former outlaw and a cunning femine anti-hero, Hellfire is certainly an anomaly in Republic Pictures’ Saturday matinee portfolio. In fact the film was such a curiousity piece that its executive producers and screenwriters unsuccessfully sued Republic for their failure to properly market the picture. But with its opposing moral points of view embodied in Zeb’s religious musings and Doll’s heavy-drinking and fast-shooting lifestyle, Republic had a film that while overtly Christian in its tone is equally racy in Doll’s willingness to use her sexuality as a bartering tool for information about her sister's location.

For many critics Springsteen’s film is an early feminist western due in large part to Marie Windsor’s aggressive performance as Doll Brown. Her character is as equally adroit on the saddle in men’s attire, as she is working as a saloon performer. She is able to reside in two gender-based worlds and flourish in both: allowing her to criticize societies treatment of women with verve. When searching for her sister Jane in a Cheyenne saloon, she informs Zeb that working at the saloon is the only respectable profession open to a woman who does not want to become a housewife. After following a lead to the saloon, Doll is grateful to find that the woman in question is not her sister, as she finds a prostitute-cum-singer turning tricks behind a curtain: the antithesis to the strong, indepdent woman Doll espouses to be.

In regard to her gender identity, Doll is an eternal state of flux. On the one hand, she chastizes prostitues for their disregard for decency, yet hypocritically she willingly uses her sexual allure and experience in attempt to rustle information from Marshall McLean. As well as resisting Zeb’s moralizing, Doll also chides at his attempts to make her more feminine via her clothing and his insistence that she settle down into domesticity. Thus, Doll is a woman who strives for complete independence from a patriarchal society. She wishes to play according to her roles, rather than the one’s outlined in Zeb’s Bible. Subsequently, the male-orientated society within Hellfire both fears and adores Doll. When dressed in sultry saloon attire, she receives accolades, money and sexual options; when clothed in her male cowboy gear she is viewed as a threat to masculinity due to her ability to excel with a six-shooter and assimilate into maleness

While Doll spends Hellfire’s ninety minutes searching for her sister, Zeb strives to bring the Lord’s word to a closed eared population. William’s Elliott’s limited range restricts his broad appeal in Hellfire: a picture he directly produced as an homage to his silent western hero William S. Hart’s film Hell’s Hinges. Despite his charm and good intentions, Zeb’s constant sermonizing and desires to bring Doll in to custody through her own will appear phony in accordance with his repeated illicit activities. While his initial intentions are noble, they quickly morph into parsimonious sentiments. Frequently, Zeb thwarts the attempts of local deputies to bring Doll back to Dry Springs in order to validate his claim that he can both convert her and encourage the anti-heroine to turn herself in. This mitigates his character’s Muscular Christianity: turning him from a humble preacher into an quietly lofty zealot.

Indisputiably the film’s most successful artistic flourish is the symbolism equated with fire. The film’s opening credits use fire to represent the eternal payment for sin and immorality. Yet, throughout the remainder of the film, fire is corresponded to salvation. Zeb’s burning of the guns used to assassinate Brother Joseph to prevent his certain death; the procurement of a heated stoker on the injured flesh of Brother Joseph to save his life; and the throwing of ash into the eyes of the Stoner brothers to prolong Doll’s life are just some of the many instances in which fire is used as a method of corporeal salvation.

Springsteen’s emphasis on both the film’s religious overtones and its feminist undertones produces a polarized product. Hellfire’s extraordinary female protagonist verifies its cataloguing as a feminist film, but its edifying lead character, preachy context, attempts at gender role restoration and closing credits emblazoned with “Amen” are highly reactionary in constrast: leading to a more suitable definition as a religious western. Through Springsteen's lack of a strong vision, the film becomes two competing stories, which fail to synthesize into a cohesive work.

As a result, notwithstanding Marie Windsor’s remarkable character, the film suffers an identity crisis which impedes the narrative. A director of countless B-grade action and western pictures for Republic, R.G. Springsteen’s mis-en-scene is at best average and at worst unremarkable. Collectively, Hellfire’s supporting cast of genre mainstays fall under this same banner. But its flaws aside, Hellfire is still a strikingly uncustomary oater. Showcasing two competing socio-political frameworks in a setting, which rarely accords either such a lengthy forum.

* Hellfire is currently unavailable on DVD

Copyright 2007 8½ Cinematheque