La blonde du Far-West

For a film that is fifty years old 'Calamity Jane' still entertains. It is usually compared unfavorably to 'Annie Get Your Gun' but I always enjoy this more. Doris Day dominates the film; dressed in buckskin or in frills, toting a gun or wielding a broom, belting out a song or doing a pratfall. Certainly a high point of her varied career. Her sheer energy is breath taking and it is no wonder that the rest of the cast seem subdued in comparison. Even Howard Keel is a bit wooden.

The songs are great, scattered through the uncomplicated plot like jewels, from the bouncy 'Deadwood Stage' to the combative 'I Can Do Without You' to the under rated 'High As A Hawk' and climaxing with the anthemic 'Secret Love'. 'A Woman's Touch' is not proof to our modern cynicism (for good reason) but it is still jolly song.

Looking back we can give other readings of the film; the cross dressing, the gay resonances, the treatment of the native Americans, the ownership of land. Which may all be true but it is basically what it is, a colourful and tuneful film that can be enjoyed time after time. It is mighty pretty and on its own terms pretty mighty.