Calamity Jane

The film is marvelous, but it's been dissected to death; consequently, I can't add any comment you haven't already heard. Lovely Technicolor cinematography of the outdoor frontier and rich period costuming enhances this top-notch cornucopia of story, score, and songs- including 'The Deadwood Stage,' 'I Can Do Without You,' 'Windy City,' 'The Subject of Harry,' and 'Secret Love.' Two special moments for me are Howard Keel singing 'Higher Than A Hawk' to the portrait of Allyn McLerie, and 'A Woman's Touch,' which shows McLerie and Doris Day become sisters in solidarity. They clean the house (in fact, renovate it) while discovering Calamity's femininity at the same time. They joke, they bond, and at the end of the scene our heroine is in a dress and quite the looker. There's no shocking sexist message here; it's a musical showing how a woman gets her man. I don't think in 1953 you could've asked for more. On the other hand, most of Day's scenes with Keel are a locked-horns battle of the sexes- absolutely no question. They compliment each other beautifully- from 'I Can Do Without You', right up to their nearly romantic duet of 'The Black Hills of Dakota.' Enjoy the film again, and look between the lines- some of it is quite timeless.

A fictitious biography of the notorious lady crackshot and set in Deadwood where really lived Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock . From the opening in which Doris Day singing a wonderful song on top of a stageoach , this movie is pure amusement , delight , and fun . Here Calamity Jane/Doris Day sets out to show that anything a man can do Calamity can do better , but only Wild Bill seems to be unimpressed . It takes a lot of sings and dances before Jane can convince Wild Bill/Howard Keel that under her two-fisted exterior there is a woman's heart . As the film happens in an on-again, off-again romance with Philip Carey and Howard Keel .

Doris Day gives a funny portrayal of the famous frontier wilcat and she certainly puts full of fire and mirth into the character . Doris Day shines in one of her best Warner Bros musicals , Day splendidly stars as the gun-toting , rip-snorting Calamity Jane of Western lore . It packs one of the best soundtracks ever written for the screen . As Doris Day stands out singing marvelous songs such as : Whipecrack a way , Just blew in from the windy city , The black Hills of Dakota and the hit song from which , ¨Secret love¨ won an Academy Award . She is accompanied by a cast plenty of Hollywood stalwarts includes Allyn Ann McLerie as Katie Brown , Philip Carey , Dick Wesson , Paul Harvey and Chubby Johnson.

This breeze-fresh movie filled with get-up-and-go was well directed by David Butler . He was a good craftsman who directed all kinds of genres with special penchant for comedy , musical and drama . As he directed : April in Paris , Tea for two , Playmates , Doubting Thomas , Caught in the draft , The story of Seabiscuit , Lullaby in Broadway , The princess and the pirate , Captain January , The road to Morocco , and Westerns as : San Antonio and this Calamity Jane .

Other films about Calamity are : ¨Calamity Jane and Sam Bass¨ 1949 by George Sherman with Yvonne De Carlo , Howard Duff ; ¨Calamity Jane¨1982 by James Goldstone with Jane Alexander , Frederic Forrest ; ¨Wild Bill¨1995 by Walter Hill with Jeff Bridges , Ellen Barkin ; ¨Seven hours of gunfire¨ by Joaquin Romero with Gloria Milland , Rik Van Nutter , Adrian Hoven .

Although the events are fictious , the picture is partially based on Calamity Jane and his relationship to Wild Bill . The real happenings are the following ones : Martha Jane Canary or Cannary (May 1, 1852 - August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman and professional scout known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok and fighting against Indians. Late in her life, she appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. She is said to have exhibited compassion to others, especially to the sick and needy. This facet of her character contrasted with her daredevil ways and helped to make her a noted frontier figure .She was also known for her habit of wearing men's attire.Much of what she claimed to have witnessed and participated in cannot be proven. It is known that she had no formal education and was an itinerant alcoholic.. In 1876, Calamity Jane settled in the area of Deadwood, South Dakota in the Black Hills . There she became friends with Dora DuFran, the Black Hills' leading madam, and she was occasionally employed by her. She also became friendly with Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter, having traveled with them to Deadwood in Utter's wagon train.Calamity Jane does seem to have had two daughters, although the father's identity is unknown. In the late 1880s, she returned to Deadwood with a child whom she claimed to be her daughter.Jane also claimed that, following Hickok's death, she went after his murderer Jack McCall with a meat cleaver, since she had left her guns at her residence in the excitement of the moment.

First and foremost, CALAMITY JANE is a fun musical. The 29-year-old Doris Day thoroughly enjoys herself in the central role as a gun-totin' tomboy, the fastest draw in the city of Deadwood, South Dakota - apart from Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel). She demonstrates an apparently limitless capacity for telling tall stories, as well as a unique ability to ride a horse. She and Keel make a lovable double-act, especially in their song "I Can Do Without You" - which is of course completely ironic in tone. They clearly cannot do without one another, as proved at the end of the film when they celebrate their nuptials. Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster's score contains at least two classics, "The Deadwood Stage (Whip Crack-Away," which opens and closes the film, and "Secret Love," a typically schmaltzy Day song that topped the charts on its initial release. Yet perhaps the film's most interesting aspect today is the way in which it embodies early Fifties attitudes towards gender. Calamity Jane's decision to don male attire is perceived as something aberrant; she is tolerated by her fellow-citizens of Deadwood, but no one really takes her very seriously. It is only when she is 'educated' in feminine ways by visiting singer Katie Brown (Allyn McLerie) that she understands what her 'proper' role should be. She should accept that females (unlike males) are capricious in nature, apt to make spontaneous decisions without rhyme or reason. In a ball scene towards the end of the film, Calamity appears in a long gown, her blonde hair neatly tied at the back - the male guests stare at her in disbelief, as if they cannot believe they have a "true" woman within their midst. Calamity feels uncomfortable in the role, and returns briefly to her male attire; but when the citizens refuse to speak to her later on (punishing her for her decision to banish Katie from their town), she understands the "error" of her ways. At the film's end she wears a bridal gown and tosses her six-shooter away, in symbolic acknowledgment that she should no longer try to adopt masculine attitudes. Rather she should accept her designated role as wife and (probably) mother.

Calamity Jane is a wonderful way to lose yourself. We have three daughters who love this a lot.

Great, great fun all so professionally packaged that you just lose yourself in the moment.

Great tunes, a great looking cast, and sets, and above all an enormous sense that everyone was really enjoying themselves while making this, make Calamity Jane one of the best musicals for escapist entertainment.

Very easy to watch, and nothing that would shock a six year old it is impossible not to be carried away by Doris Day's and Howard Keel's performances.

While it won't change the world, it will make it a brighter place instantly.

Recommended to bring a genuine smile to anyone's face.

Calamity Jane with Doris Day was my first experience with musicals. i was so entranced I talked my mother into letting me stay to watch it again. I was left with an unknown women who had come to watch the next showing. (Something unheard of in this day!) The sheer joy of the singing, dancing and innocence of a time past is something that is sorely missed today.

Doris Day's Calamity Jane is a story of love between men and women and women and women during a time when this love was innocent and people did not worry that someone might look at it in a sexual way. Women could hold hands and hug to support each other in happiness as well as grief.

Songs like 'Secret Love' and 'Take Me Back to the Black Hills' are beautiful even to the audiences today. this type of music will never die.