In The Third Man, Graham Greene gives expression to his impatience with the Cold War politics of the time by refusing to take an ideological stance on either side. Instead, he offers a parody of the Cold War, as Rollo Martins turns Old Vienna into the American Old West in his search for the killers of his hero, Harry Lime. Heroes and hero worship are parodied in "The Third Man". The closest Greene comes to the portrayal of a hero is in the character, Anna. The depiction of "weak heroes", "sympathetic villains" and heroic women confronts the dominant, mainstream ideology of the era, which was represented in an extreme form in popular literature such as "westerns".
Rollo Martins is portrayed as a writer of "westerns" who appears to perceive others, and himself, in terms of the values of his 'novellettes'. Sentiments expressed by Martins lead Calloway to comment that Martin's expressions sound like "a cheap novellette" (Greene, 1988, p.25). When Martins fights for the honour of his dead friend, he positions Calloway as a "sheriff" instead of a policeman. "I have to call them (policemen) sheriffs" (p.26). Martins mentions his book the "Lone Rider of Santa Fe" twice (p.25 and p.32) and describes the plot of the story. A "lone rider" whose "best friend" was shot unlawfully by a sheriff, hunts the sheriff down. His perception of himself as one of the heroes in his westerns is confirmed when he states that he is "gunning just the same way for Colonel Callaghan" (misspelling the policeman's name) (p.32).
The emphasis on "westerns" in The Third Man provides an oblique reference to the Cold War. A dominant theme of "westerns" is "the conflict of East and West - or, more precisely, the conflict between the values symbolised by the East.. and the those symbolised by the West" (Meyer, 1974. P.668/26). In his comparison of the writing of two popular western writers, B.M. Bowers and Wister, Meyer comments on their opposing treatment of the theme of East-West conflict. "Wister never ceases to regard the East as the norm .. the West remains the last refuge of true American values, but Wister nevertheless prizes the cultivation (of the East)...With Bower, .. the West is the norm, to which Easterners adapt if they have the stuff; and if they don't, they go back East, acknowledged failures" (p.669/27). This theme of East versus West, or "civilisation versus the primitive", suggests a parody of the Cold War conflict of Western ideology and Communist ideology.
The suggested parody of the Cold War by the constant references to "westerns" in the film is accompanied by a parody of the stereotypical 1950 concept of a "hero". Rollo Martins' perception of his friend Harry Lime and himself as heroes in "The Third Man" parodies the 'hero' who, "guided by his own unerring sense of right and wrong, would lead the forces of good into battle against evil" (Jones, 1974, p.655/13). Harry Lime, as perceived by Rollo Martins, is the personification of the "outlaw hero" depicted in "dime novels". "As a good man victimised by the unsettling disparity between that which was morally good and that which was strictly legal, the outlaw hero won a kind of immunity from restraint. Thereafter, guided solely by his own infallible sense of right and wrong, he could resolve that disparity between moral and civil law by taking swift and decisive individual action which insured the execution of true justice" (p.655/13). However, as the plot unfolds, Rollo discovers that Harry is involved in a penicillin racket that causes the death of innocent adults and children. This knowledge creates a dilemna for Rollo, who is then forced to examine his conscience to decide between loyalty for his friend, Harry, who now represents injustice and immorality, and his concepts of right and wrong.
Anna's steadfast loyalty to her boyfriend, Harry Lime, contrasts with Rollo's vacillating loyalty as his heroic fantasies concerning his friend are destroyed. Anna makes her appearance as a European version of the Old Western showgirl, when she performs at the Josefstadt theatre. This representation conforms with the marginalisation of women in "westerns" as a "love" interest (Meyer, 1974, p.669/27). The concept of "hero" in these writings belongs to the male domain, because of the "patently patriarchal and phallocentric orientations traditionally endorsed by such tales" (Grixti, 1994. P.208). However, Anna fails to comply with the stereotypical Old Western representation of a showgirl. Martin's assumption that she would turn to a man, him, for support once her lover died was proven wrong, as she walked past him in the last scene (Greene, 1988, p.120). He remained alone, a rejected hero, looking slightly ridiculous.
The perception of Rollo's heroic fantasies as absurd is reinforced by both Calloway and Harry Lime in "The Third Man". Calloway's opinion of Rollo is made obvious when he patronisingly tells Rollo to "go back to bed, and keep out of trouble .. I can't be responsible for you on the streets" (p.79). Harry chides Rollo when he says "we aren't heroes, Rollo, you and I. The world doesn't make heroes outside your books" (p.79). He then accuses Rollo of being "melodramatic" when Rollo confronts him on the topic of the victims of his penicillin racket (p.97).
The extent of Harry's cynicism and ruthlessness is revealed in the speech he makes on the Great Wheel in the fairground, when he refers to the people below as 'dots'. "Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving for ever?" (p.97). Far from indulging in heroic fantasies, Harry Lime reveals his admiration for the Borgias and his belief that advances in civilisation were directly related to their reign of terror (p.100). Despite his villainy, however, Harry Lime has a following of devoted and loyal friends. His friends stage a fake accident to protect him from prosecution and go to great lengths to cover up the truth relating to his disappearance. His girlfriend, Anna, remains loyal to him even after she is informed of the sordid details of his 'racket'.
Anna appears to have the ingredients required for a true hero, "strength, initiative, independence and wisdom" (Grixti, 1994, p.209). Her strength and independence are in evidence when she refuses to accept a safe ticket away from the Russians as a price for Rollo's betrayal of Harry Lime (Green, 1988. P.107). Her wisdom is apparent in her "honest acknowledgements of flawed humanity" (Grixti,1994, p.117), when she delivers her summations of Lime's character: .."he never grew up. The world grew up around him - and buried him" (Greene, 1988, p.65).
And yet, there is a suggestion of duplicity in her character. The fact that she didn't throw earth on the coffin at the first fake funeral (p.22) but did at the second funeral, suggests that she knew from the beginning that Harry Lime was still alive. Yet, throughout the film, Anna seems to be surprised by the developments. When Martins tells her about the third man she replies "Then what he said was true. There was a third man" (p.68). She then advises Martins to "be sensible (and) tell Colonel Calloway" (p.68). Anna's possibly feigned surprise together with her suggestion that Rollo report the news of a third man to the police reinforce the suggestion of duplicity in her character.
In "The Third Man", Green puts forward the proposition that the ideological practice of perceiving individuals and nations in stereotypical terms should be questioned. He makes use of parody in the form of "westerns" as a tool for questioning the Cold War conflict. The hero, Rollo, is depicted as comic and disloyal. The villain, Harry, is shown to have a loyal, loving following, and a woman, Anna, is depicted with heroic qualities. Even the heroic Anna, however, is not all she seems to be. By presenting the unexpected in film, he introduces the audience to new possibilities and different ways of perceiving individuals and governments, thereby questioning the dominant paradigms of the time.
