Calamity Jane (1953) User Reviews (107)

A musical and sympathetic portrayal of the known frontier wildcat stunningly played by Doris Day

[ma-cortes · 7/10 · 16 August 2018]

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.

Huge smile guaranteed!

[intelearts · 8/10 · 30 December 2007]

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.

The rare, elusive, original-to-film musical.

[movibuf1962 · 8/10 · 17 July 2006]

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 sure cure for the blues!

[SilentType · 10 June 2003]

`Calamity Jane' is a film I love to take from the shelves when I'm feeling blue. It's so exuberant, so joyous, and so colourful that it cannot help but cheer you up!

Doris Day plays the role of her career as the rambunctious `Calam', the wildcat tomboy of Deadwood City. The fun starts when Calamity is sent to the `windy city' of Chicago to find a vaudeville beauty who will perform at the local bar. Instead of the genuine article, Calamity ends up with the star's ambitious maid, Katie, who decides to make her stab at fame in the star's place. Together, the two find fun, love, and a whole lot of catchy tunes.

Sure, the fascinating real-life historical figure Calamity Jane didn't look much like Doris Day - let alone Howard Keel, who is the last person you'd describe as `wild' - and Jane's transformation from independent homesteader to blushing housewife isn't what you'd call P.C., but if you're looking for reality, head to the Martin Scorsese section. This is light-as-a-feather entertainment done very well, and I can't help but love it!

Doris Shines As Calamity Jane

[atlasmb · 7/10 · 1 February 2016]

Doris Day plays an unrefined tomboy who is handy with a gun and learns about refinement on the way to finding romance and singing some hit songs. If that sounds like a rehash of 1950's successful "Annie Get Your Gun", it's probably no coincidence. And both starred Howard Keel as the male lead.

Even if "Calamity Jane" can't match the array of notable, classic tunes that "Annie Get Your Gun" boasts, it can an stand on its own as a solid musical with songs by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster. In fact, the film relies mostly on its music and the wholesomely talented Miss Day to make its mark.

Ms. Day, besides displaying her usual enthusiasm while singing the film's musical numbers, including its best song "Secret Love", also plays the role of Calamity with a physicality that deserves special praise. Not only does she adapt a carriage that rings true for a woman who tries to be manlier than any man, but she also talks the talk and performs stunts that most actresses would hesitate to consider.

The other major female character, Katie Brown, is portrayed by Allyn Ann McLerie (in only her fourth screen credit). Ms. McLerie holds her own with Doris and has a presence that seems to portend more leading roles in her future.

Fans of fifties musicals should find what they're looking for in "Calamity Jane" unless they are seeking biographical truth.

If you see only one Doris Day movie -

[krisroboneil · 10/10 · 24 September 2008]

Make it this one ! With so many wonderful performances to pick from, I think of this as her best performance. She is so dynamic and alive in this role.It's a very cute story. The supporting cast members are all excellent. It's a beautiful movie to look at. The songs are wonderful. They're infectious. I love the Deadwood Stage - Whip crack away ! It's not just one of the best Doris Day musicals - it's one of the very best musicals on film. Doris Day is an amazing powerhouse. She looks incredible in her leather outfit and stunningly beautiful in her dress for the ball. There's a wonderful scene where she transforms a run-down cabin into a darling cottage while singing a merry song. Not very realistic, but that's why musicals are so fun. I now call Chicago "Chi-caw-gee" because of this movie. Really cute. Don't miss.

Not perhaps a classic but good fun - and Secret Love is sublime

[julian-er-allen · 7/10 · 23 October 2014]

A rollicking musical western, featuring Doris Day and Howard Keel both singing their hearts out. It's a simple story and none the worse for that. Above all it's a vehicle for Doris Day - showcasing that sparkling voice. The opening sequence is memorably vibrant and her exuberance also comes to the fore in "Windy City". Howard Keel has a fine solo but perhaps the most memorable moment is Doris's rendition of "Secret Love". This whole sequence has a serenity that is absent from the rest of the film and Doris wears a wonderfully elegant shirt and trouser combination - which shows that a more casual look - a very simple outfit- is what makes a lady look her best. I find it amusing that designer gowns about which so much fuss is made in the media and whose labels and creators are so over praised are here comprehensively put in the shade. These few minutes of film show how bogus the fashion industry is!

The best comedy western musical romance this side of Chicagee!

[BrandtSponseller · 10/10 · 15 February 2005]

Calamity Jane (Doris Day) is the tom-cowboy to end all tom-cowboys, known for her feisty attitude and tallish tales of fighting Indians. When saloon/theater owner Henry Miller (Paul Harvey) is faced with angry Deadwood residents because he tries to pass off a man in drag as the attractive New York actress he promised (he made the mistake based on the actor's name), "Calam" promises to go to "Chicagee" and bring back an actress all of the men are going gaga for because of her picture on cigarette cards.

Director David Butler's Calamity Jane delivers on many ends--it's a musical featuring catchy songs, many sung by one of the greatest songstresses of her era, Doris Day, and a few incredibly choreographed; it's a frequently hilarious comedy; it's suspenseful in quite a few scenes (usually through realistic dramatic tension); it's a beautifully shot western with fantastic sets; and in the end, it's a grand romance.

Day carries the film with her unusual, enjoyable, amusingly butch character. She plays Calamity Jane with boundless energy and physical aplomb--you wouldn't catch many modern film performers doing some of the stunts that Day does here. Butler usually keeps the camera close enough to Day that you can see it's her--she hasn't been supplanted with a stuntperson, and during one bit of choreography, Butler has Day jumping and flipping over bars and being taken up to a second story balcony and set back down with lots of uninterrupted takes. Most modern directors would break up the choreography into a series of relatively easy steps, creating physics defying agility through clever cutting. Day has to perform the steps as if she were doing the number on a Broadway stage.

Calamity and most of the rest of Deadwood, South Dakota are funny because of their backwoods naivety. That can be a difficult thing to sell to viewers, but when Francis Fryer (Dick Wesson) almost gets away with his necessary cross-dressing shtick, it's believable. Calamity's trip to Chicago has some particularly hilarious moments. The humor also works as well as it does because the two men who are the later romantic interests, Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel) and Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin (Philip Carey), are the primary ones who seem to have a more objective perspective on the town's gullibility and Calamity's tall tales (although there are hints that their skepticism is not so uncommon).

Many viewers are most attracted to the film because of its evolution into a romance in the last act. Day's transformation in this section is handled expertly--if you watch her closely, she never quite loses her Calamity tomboyishness, but she also makes more than just a physical transformation. But it's not just Day who is excellent--all of the performances in the film are good.

For me, Calamity Jane is one of the most successful combinations of comedy and a still serious western. It's everything that Cat Ballou (1965) should have been, but mostly fell flat with. Don't miss it if you're a fan of either musicals or good-natured westerns.

NOT a history lesson...more just a rootin' tootin' good time.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 10 April 2017]

If you are looking for a history lesson, DON'T watch "Calamity Jane". While Calamity and her buddy Wild Bill Hickock were real old west figures, this film is pretty much myth from start to finish. The real Calamity Jane was an extremely unattractive prostitute and alcoholic...hardly the stuff of a musical comedy! So, the studio uses the names and hardly anything else about their lives to creative this lively film.

The film finds Calamity (Doris Day) a very manly sort of lady who loved to shoot, spit and dress like a guy. But she also was in love with Wild Bill...but she did a terrible job showing it and you could easily see why they were just friends during most of the movie. Toss into this a handsome officer and a young actress and you've got a romantic comedy western...with a few memorable songs and LOTS of energy. In fact, the film often seems more energy than substance or quality. I found it enjoyable but very, very slight...nothing more.

Mighty Pretty

[henry-girling · 9/10 · 10 April 2003]

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.

A rollicking good time

[guswhovian · 7/10 · 27 April 2020]

Calamity Jane tells the story of the titular character's (Doris Day) romance with Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel).

Calamity Jane may not have much historical basis, but it's a fun, good-natured, entertaining film. Doris Day is great as Calamity Jane, giving a broad performance that fits the character. Howard Keel is good as Hickok, and Allyn McLerie is good as well.

The score is surprisingly good; there's songs like the Oscar-winning "Secret Love", and my personal favorite, "Windy City".

First time viewing. 3.5/5

Calamity Jane transforms into Doris Day

[weezeralfalfa · 10/10 · 3 November 2007]

This was Doris Day's answer to "Anne Get Your Gun", which she had hoped to star in, but was contracted to the wrong studio. Although both the real Calamity Jane and Annie Oakley are icons of womanly expertise with the supposedly manly skill of sharpshooting in the Wild West, their personalities and lives couldn't have been more different. Annie was actually an Ohioan Quaker. She married young and forever. Her only connection with the Wild West was her participation in touring Wild West shows. Calamity was a true independent frontier woman in the Wild West. When she began scouting for the US Army, she began wearing male attire. In addition, she exhibited the common manly traits of hard drinking, fearlessness, swearing and fabricating or embellishing some of her daring exploits. Her love life is shadowy and she sometimes served as a prostitute. It's clear she thought more of Bill Hickok than any other man, but he was newly remarried during the time she knew him.

In the first act of the film, Doris gives us a songful dramatization of the essential features of Calamity's personality. As in the film. most men seem to have accepted the real Calamity as an equal or better in her manly skills. Then, things get purely fanciful, as she becomes embroiled in two scandals involving a famous Broadway star Adelaid Adams. First, Adelaid's effeminate male agent(Dick Wesson) is forced by circumstances to dress in drag and assume Adelaid's identity on stage. Then, Adelaid's maid, Katie, who claims to be Adelaid, is brought by Calamity to Deadwood. Everyone is furious when her deceit is discovered on stage. But, miraculously, she quickly learns to put on a good performance, with Calamity's backing. Then, everyone loves her for her spunk. Calamity's relationship with Katie, as with Bill Hickok, continues to be a roller-coaster ride.

A few reviewers read lots of lesbian overtones into this performance, especially the relationship between Calamity and Katie. It was even suggested that Calamity's "Secret Love" refers to Katie. Yes, Calamity got a clear invitational signal from that passerby in Chicago, but Calamity seemed perplexed. I don't buy Calamity and Katie as a lesbian couple. Katie's moving in with Calamity in her rustic cabin served the function of teaching Calamity how to be feminine, so that Bill Hickok or whoever could think of her as marriage material. She even gets Calamity to don a beautiful dress some of the time. In the finale, Calamity is transformed into a traditional-looking bride. Thus, one gets the clear impression that the contemporary message of this film was for Rosie the Riveter, who had taken on traditional male jobs during the last world war, to return to her traditional feminine roles, if she wanted to land the man of their dreams.

I don't want to further compare this film with "Anne Get Your Gun", except to say that they were both great musicals, with a corny story line that bore only superficial resemblance to the reality of the icons they supposedly represented. I like Betty Hutton as well as Doris, and Howard Keel was a great singing companion for both, if his character bore no resemblance to the man he supposedly portrayed. In both films, it's not hard to tell that he had experience doing "Oklahoma" on Broadway.

Besides these 2 musicals, there were a number of basically non-musical films also released in the early '50s that featured feisty women of bygone eras in roles traditionally reserved for men. This includes Jane Russell as an outlaw leader in "Montana Belle", Maureen O'Hara as a pirate captain in "Against All Flags", and Maureen again , as the 'town boss' in "Comanche Territory". I found all of these entertaining.

Deliberate Miscasting for Comic Effect

[JamesHitchcock · 7/10 · 16 May 2007]

Unlike most cinematic musicals of the fifties, "Calamity Jane" did not start life as a stage production. It was written for the cinema and, reversing the normal order, transferred to the stage later. It was devised by Warner Brothers in response to the success of MGM's "Annie Get Your Gun", another comedy musical based (loosely) upon the life of a real Wild West heroine. The two films shared the same male lead, Howard Keel, who was later to star in another Western-themed musical, "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". Indeed, the two films nearly had the same female lead as well; MGM considered Doris Day for "Annie" but were unable to obtain her for contractual reasons.

The film is set in the Wild West town of Deadwood. The local theatre has difficulty attracting top-name actresses, so local heroine Calamity Jane travels to Chicago to try and persuade the famous Broadway star Adelaid (thus spelled) Adams to appear in Deadwood. Unfortunately, there is a mix-up with the plan. The real Adelaid has just left for a tour of Europe, and the girl Calamity brings back with her is her star-struck maid Katie (who is pretending to be Adelaid in order to kick-start her own stage career). After an uncertain start, in which her deception is exposed, Katie proves to be a big hit in Deadwood, and moves in to live with Calamity.

The plot is essentially an expansion of the familiar eternal triangle into a quadrilateral. Katie and the handsome young cavalry Lieutenant Dan Gilmartin fall in love, thus disappointing both Calamity (who has always been sweet on Dan) and her friend Wild Bill Hickok (who has fallen in love with Katie). After numerous complications everything ends happily when Calamity and Bill suddenly discover that they are both really in love with each other, thus paving the way for a happy ending with a big double wedding.

If one were casting a serious film about a rough, tough cowgirl who can ride, shoot, lasso and fight "Injuns" as well as any man, then Doris Day, the sweet-faced, sweet-voiced, All-American blonde girl-next-door, would not normally be one's first choice for the leading role. This, however, is not a serious film. Day is so obviously unsuited to the role that I can only assume this was an example of deliberate miscasting for comic effect. Normally seen dressed in a buckskin suit and Army cap, Day tries to show just how tough Calamity is by a series of hilariously unconvincing gestures- pouting, sticking her chin out defiantly and trying to lower her voice. No doubt the real Martha Jane Canary-Burke could not only ride and shoot, but also cuss and hold her liquor, as well as a man, but in the film she drinks nothing stronger than sarsaparilla. As for swearing, authentic cuss-words were taboo in 1953, so they had to be replaced by picturesque slang such as "hornswoggled" and "varmint". (As that po-faced website "Christian Spotlight on the Movies" puts it, "There's no profanity, but a lot of profanity substitutes").

Calamity's pronunciation also leaves a lot to be desired, the final syllables of words giving her particular difficulties. She always pronounces "Chicago" as "Chicargee", "sarsaparilla" becomes "sasparilly", "massacre" becomes "massacree", and "cigarette" is pronounced throughout as "cigareet" (including by some of the other characters). I am not sure if these pronunciations are meant to reflect her lack of education, or if they were genuine dialectal variants in 1870s South Dakota.

The casting of the obviously feminine Day as the tomboyish Calamity may have been done for reasons other than comic effect. It supports the film's rather un-feminist message that beneath the skin of even the most hard-bitten frontierswoman is a sweet young thing just dying to get out and exchange her buckskins for pretty, frilly dresses. (Sexism seemed to be endemic in Western musicals; compared to the rampantly sexist "Seven Brides...", "Calamity Jane" looks like something out of Andrea Dworkin). It also serves to soften the rather obvious lesbian overtones to the relationship between Calamity and Katie. (Obvious, that is, to everyone except "Christian Spotlight", who strangely missed this one out of their litany of complaints about the film, and to the film censors of the day who let the film through without objection). It is (or was at one time) a common misconception that every lesbian couple consists of "butch" and "femme" partners, and the cross-dressing Calamity and the more feminine Katie fit these particular stereotypes rather too neatly for comfort.

Like Calamity, Hickok was a real-life figure in the Old West. (Because of the similarity of our surnames I was at one stage in my school career nicknamed "Wild Bill"). He was undoubtedly a friend of Calamity Jane, and may have been her lover. In reality he had a reputation not only as a gambler but also as a dangerous gunslinger, but here Howard Keel plays him more as Tame Bill Hickok, suave, gentlemanly, well-groomed and clean-shaven, although the real Wild Bill was famous for his unkempt long hair and straggly moustache.

It would, however, be wrong to take this film too seriously. It is, of course, not meant to be a realistic portrayal of the American West in the 1870s, but rather a light-hearted musical comedy, and as such it succeeds very well. Day and Keel both had fine voices, and there are some very tuneful musical numbers such as "Deadwood Stage", "Windy City" and "Secret Love". If the contrived ending seems implausible, I should point out, in defence of the scriptwriters, that Shakespeare often made use of similar endings with multiple weddings in his comedies. 7/10

Annie get your gun and put Calamity Jane out of her misery

[dimplet · 4/10 · 26 October 2011]

The opening of Calamity Jane suggests the movie is going to be a stinker, with a song consisting of the lyrics: Whip crack away, whip crack away, whip crack away, interspersed with whistling and singers going "dumb dumb de dumb, dumb de dumb, de dumb dumb dumb dumb," and then two actors repeating these exciting lines: The Deadwood stage!, the Deadwood stage!, (chorus) the Deadwood stage! as we watch a stagecoach going across a barren landscape. (I tried to write "DUM" but the IMDb spell checker kept changing it to "DUMB." I didn't think spell checkers were supposed to editorialize.)

We then see a very butch Doris Day (or pretending to be butch) riding shotgun on a stagecoach making mechanical motions like a marionette. She starts singing the tune and the passengers inside the coach join in. Trouble is, the words are kinda goofy and the melody annoying. This is not looking like first-rate music. The further along this song goes, the worse it gets.

Day's over the top acting is atrocious, and reminds me of a puppet from the Howdy Doody Show. When they get to town and she starts singing and talking some more, it just gets worse. OK, she's a tomboy, a woman trying to out macho the men, I get it, but she way overdoes it. And you are stuck watching this cloying performance for more than an hour before she finally mellows out a bit for a few minutes of the movie. If it weren't for her great looks and super singing, she wouldn't have gotten away with it.

I've watched it at least twice now, but there are only two memorable songs, Whip Crack Away and Secret Love. I went back into it and was surprised by how much forgettable music there is. Secret Love is a classic, but the lyrics don't really fit with the story line, and the music is inconsistent with the rest of the faux cowboy tunes, so I assume it was written before the movie, and was looking for a home.

The good part is there actually is a plot, (a formulaic mix and match romance plot) and the rest of the acting is good. But Day's performance is so bad and much of the music is so mediocre that there is little to recommend this musical. It could have been pretty good if Day's acting had been more nuanced and interesting, instead of a mechanical caricature. And how many times do we have to endure the same, "Give me a sarsaparilla!" joke? (Actually, in those days sarsaparilla was alcoholic, like beer.)

I do love musicals, and don't expect them to be too realistic, but I don't like them to get too silly, either. I have seen Doris Day movies that I have enjoyed. Day demonstrated she could really act in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, not to mention sing.

I have read that Calamity Jane, 1953, was a knock off of Annie Get Your Gun, 1950. In addition to better music, Annie had the fine director George Sidney, who had experience directing many solid musicals, including the first Western movie musical, The Harvey Girls. David Butler did not have this finesse, and the result, in my opinion, is an awkward film lacking style.

Calamity Jane is not quite the stinker the opening scene suggests, and it is not awful. There are probably worse musicals out there, but I have never encountered one, and if I did, I wouldn't watch it. I find this corny movie so annoying that I think it's actually worth avoiding.

There are much better musicals out there. If you want to see Doris Day in one, watch The Pajama Game. Music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross includes: Hey There, Hernando's Hideaway, Steam Heat, and plenty of other memorable numbers.

good old Doris ...

[didi-5 · 5 December 2003]

... who else could put across the Deadwoodstageis number like Doris Day in the opening sequences of this wonderful movie? Right through to her mushy ballad 'Secret Love' she is perfect for the role of the butch cowgirl who gets a feminine makeover and snares her shooting buddy (the excellent Howard Keel, in fine voice here). Doris was a true star, a great actress and singer, game for a laugh and a pretty blonde who transcended her rather trite public image through her talent. Calamity Jane is possibly her best work, and certainly one of the best musical movies of the 1950s (against some pretty stiff competition). They might be making musicals again, but they won't make them quite like this.

Doris, Get Your Gun!

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 25 August 2012]

It seems fitting that if Annie Oakley could get her own musical comedy, so could Calamity Jane! And if a brassy blonde like Betty Hutton could get MGM to cast her as Annie (replacing the brunette Judy Garland), why wouldn't Warner Brothers repeat the same formula by casting their biggest blonde star, Doris Day? Joining Jean Arthur (in "The Plainsman") and Yvonne DeCarlo (in "Calamity Jane and Sam Bass") as other actresses who played "Calam" (as Howard Keel constantly refers to her as), Day has become the most famous. Unlike Arthur and Russell, Ms. Day got songs, and an Oscar Winning one, too, "Secret Love", which was her most popular hit until a certain children's song in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Man Who Knew Too Much" came along and became her theme.

While "Annie Get Your Gun" is still a fable of Ms. Oakley's life, there are more more truths in that story than this one, but that doesn't matter, because as entertainment, "CJ" is fantastically fun. The fictionalizes story has Calamity as the sharp-shooting guard of the Deadwood Stage, in love with Philip Carey, scrapping with Keel (who played a similar role in "AGYG"), and upset when a stage star's maid (Allyn Ann McLearie) shows up pretending to be her employer and wins the affections of both men.

A few of the songs are parallels to other Broadway hits. "The Windy City" was obviously influenced by "Oklahoma's" "Kansas City", while the absolutely disappointing "I Can Do Without You" is an obvious rip- off of "Anything You Can Do" from "AGYG". But "Deadwood Stage" is a fun opening, mixing into "I'm Glad to Say He's a Very Good Friend of Mine", which introduces the townspeople in Calamity's community. ("Guaranteed to put hair on a billiard ball!" is my favorite lyric.)

Keel's presence (on loan from MGM) made me wonder the circumstances surrounding his casting, whether or not Day's regular partner Gordon MacRae turned the role down or was unavailable. (MGM & Warner Brothers swapped a lot of stars that year.) Keel brings a masculine presence to the role and his deep base voice was one of the finest on screen. Future soap star Philip Carey ("One Life to Live"), already a rising western star, makes a fine friendly rival for Keel. McLearie, fresh from her own Broadway stardom in "Where's Charley?" and "Miss Liberty", gets to be both lovely and humorous, and her duet of "A Woman's Touch" with Ms. Day (turning Calamity from masculine but pretty plain Jane into a clothes horse with mud on her train) is fresh and charming. The usually annoying Dick Wesson offers some genuine laughs in a campy drag number, and fortunately is not on screen long enough to be irritating.

As for Day, this is probably her most popular Warners musical (although I find "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" and "The Pajama Game" to be the best ones) and definitely her feistiest performance. She goes from rough and tough to sweet when she sings the beautiful "Secret Love" which is a lovely sequence. "The Black Hills of Dakota" for me was another major highlight. While this has not (yet) made it to Broadway, there was a brief touring production in the 60's with Carol Burnett (who would star in the TV version and later spoof Doris and Rock Hudson on her TV show) and a fun concept stage recording with Debbie Shapiro Gravitte. The 1984 TV movie on Calamity Jane's "real" life with Jane Alexander is one that will never be confused with this musical. Que Sera Sera!

There is still reason to applaud the movie's colorful production and irrepressible high spirits

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 8/10 · 22 March 2005]

From her first appearance aboard the stagecoach, singing "Deadwood Stage," Doris Day dominates the movie in exuberant—possibly too exuberant—fashion, with strong assistance from Howard Keel and his virile voice…

Returning home from a visit to Chicago, Day gives her account of the "Windy City" in a song that suggests Oklahoma!'s "Kansas City" in more ways than the title… Her quarrelsome duet with Wild Bill—"I Can Do Without You"—echoes Annie Oakley's competitive duet with Frank Butler in "Annie Get Your Gun."

But one song is all Doris Day's—and the film's—very own: walking through the countryside on a beautiful morning, Calamity realizes that she loves Bill, and in a voice exuding warmth and tender feeling, she sings the Academy Award-winning song "Secret Love."

Camp classic marred by casual racism

[Radu_A · 7/10 · 22 January 2024]

While this is not just Doris Day's personal favorite among her films, it was also a lesbian cult film and is still regarded as a milestone in queer film history. The number of allusions, apart from the famous reference in the Oscar-winning song "Secret Love" (which used to be sung by drag queens in underground bars as a gay anthem), are far too many to be coincidental:

• The mistakenly invited drag performer Francis sings "I'm over 21 and free" while a trombone tears off his wig, a reference to the legal age of consent at the time;
• He and the theater manager end up being covered by a pink shroud in the subsequent riot;
• When Calam arrives in Chicago in her cowboy suit, she ogles a passing woman who smiles back at her;
• Upon meeting Abigail / Katie in the dressing room, Calamity says "'I've never known a woman could look like that";
• Arriving in Deadwood, the theater manager shows Katie the drag performer Francis with the words "permit me introduce a fellow thespian" as he wears a lilac suit matching her dress;
• When Calam shows Katie her cabin, she says "You and me will batch it here as cozy as two bugs in a blanket";
• While renovating the cabin, Katie paints "Calam and Katie" on the door together with a few pansies;
• When Calam and Katie ultimately reconcile and embrace, the coach driver says "Females. Pure females".

All that being said, the film is set in the Black Hills which were well known to be sacred to the Sioux even then. On the way to the ball Calam tells Bill "Don't it thrill you just to look at them hills? No wonder the Injuns fight so fierce to hang on to this country", and then Bill sings "Take me back to the Black Hills, to the beautiful Indian country that I love". So while I love the banter, this scene is insulting for the Sioux and was featured in the documentary "Lakota Nation vs. United States" (2022).

fantastic

[sexyfairysarah-1 · 10/10 · 7 August 2006]

I absolutely LOOOOVE calamity jane and i always have since i first got hold of it,its oh so cheerful! doris day is so beautiful and legendary and howard keel is handsome and talented.the songs are all great and/or beautiful.i saw this movie as a young kid and i think i know it word for word including the songs.i really do!i wore out the video cassette! my favourite part of the whole movie is when they are on the way to the dance and calamity is wearing that old coat that custors gave her.i love that song take me back to the blackhills....but it is the best scene of all when calamity takes off her jacket and she is so so stunning, and when bill looks at her he doesn't realise at first thats its her.his face is priceless when he does realise.she really steals the show at the dance...i love it.it is the ultimate makeover movie without question.i will watch this movie one day with my kids and they most likely will love it as much as i do

I enjoyed this more than I expected!

[garethcrook · 6/10 · 2 March 2024]

I was talking with a friend about how I've come to accept that I love musicals, after denying it for years, and wondered if it stems from my mother having a VHS tape of Calamity Jane that got a real hammering in the 80s. I'm sure I hated it at the time, probably because I wanted to watch cartoons, but I don't think I've ever sat down with it and given it a proper watch. So here goes... In case you're not aware, we're in the Wild West. It's not that wild, but there is a lot of singing. In fact it doesn't hold back, with 'The Deadwood Stage' "whip crack(ing) away" bringing Calamity Jane (Doris Day) into town to the local saloon, the Golden Garter. Now there's some questionable gender politics at play here. Calamity is accepted by the yeehaw cowboys of Deadwood because she dresses and acts like them. It struggles with the role of Native Americans too, who according to 50s American Hollywood politics were "painted vermin". Different times I guess, but still it's dated badly. Calamity is only interested in fending off Indians on the trail, telling tall tales about it and delivering goods to the great unwashed. Oh and Danny (Philip Carey), she's "kinda soft" on him, although it's clear that's not gonna work out. Everything is a bit upside down actually and I guess that's the fun, no one is quite what they seem to be. Particularly Francis Fryer (Dick Wesson) an entertainer mistakenly booked as a woman, then forced to dress up as one or get lynched. Not really. There's no serious violence here, just plenty of farce and a cast of caricatures. Honestly if it weren't for the songs, I'm not sure this would've got very far. Calamity has a good heart and sets out to help the Golden Garter that's in need of a proper starlet actress to entertain the braindead masses. Setting out to find Adelaid Adams (Gale Robbins) who's rather pompous, she insteads mistakes her for Katie Brown (Allyn Ann McLerie) a wannabe actress who spots her chance at making it to the stage, only to find it's in the backwater. Deadwater fawns over her and after moving in with Calamity, soon everyone, including Wild Bill Hicock (Howard Keel) sees a different side to Calamity, as the inevitable change from cowboy clobber to pretty frocks takes place. Schmaltz right? This is all safe and saccharine, but it's entertaining too. Utterly ridiculous, but entertaining... and I'll have "whip crack away" stuck in my head for weeks!

6/10.

Onto the Deadwood Stage!

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 4 March 2009]

This film is one of my favourites. It is funny and touching, has great songs and superb performances. The opening song, is probably the most rousing opening song in a musical. The other songs "Windy City", "Secret Love" "Woman's touch" and "Take Me To The Black Hills" are all outstanding and beautifully staged. The costumes and sets were fabulous too. The performances are fantastic.The always lovely Howard Keel is excellent as Wild Bill Hicock; maybe I'm biased because I can never get enough of Keel's wonderful singing voice. The scene where he dressed up as an Indian, cracked me up. But the main strength of the movie is the wonderful Doris Day, and I seriously can't imagine anyone else who can do Calamity better. She put great energy into "Windy City", and "Secret Love" was beautiful. Her change of heart at the end was so believable, and for the songs and Day, watch this musical! 10/10 Bethany Cox

Doris Day at her most watchable

[funkyfry · 6/10 · 4 October 2002]

Good songs and fast action punctuate a basic melodrama about a love quadrangle on the frontier. Day in one of her best roles as the fiery, masculine Calamity who, of course, has to put on a very nice dress and do her hair before she can win her man, Keel (although she's trying for another one). Keel's songs seem forced, and he doesn't give his best performance (he's in fact a very good singer and actor often cast in inferior films like this one).

Fun Musical That Provides a Fascinating Snapshot of Fifties Attitudes Towards Gender

[l_rawjalaurence · 8/10 · 6 March 2014]

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.

Keep It Gay

[evanston_dad · 6/10 · 7 January 2020]

It was pretty hilarious watching the creators of "Calamity Jane" work overtime trying to convince themselves and their audience that this story is about anything other than a lesbian and her unrequited love.

Doris Day is charming and funny in a role that you would expect would have gone to someone like Betty Hutton, who would have made a disaster of it. Day butches it up and a running gag in the movie is that no one realizes her Calamity is actually a woman. This was 1953, so her principal dramatic conflict has to be that she's in love with one man who doesn't love her until she realizes she actually loves a different man, in this case Wild Bill Hickcock, played by Howard Keel. But what this movie is really about is her attraction to a fetching stage actress who she brings to her podunk Western town to entertain its citizens. The movie's Oscar winning song "Secret Love," in context of the story, is about her realizing who she truly loves. But come on, I think we all know what her "secret love" really is.

In addition to its song win, "Calamity Jane" was nominated for two other Oscars, Best Musical Scoring and Best Sound Recording.

Grade: B

Not my 'Secret Love', but not too calamitous either!

[adamjohns-42575 · 5/10 · 18 January 2021]

To start with Doris just wasn't winning me over. It was all a bit too forced, but as the film progressed she definitely grew on me.

I think it's a sign of the times that a film like this couldn't be made and set in today's world. At least most of it. Can you imagine a guy telling a girl that she'd be attractive if she only dressed like a woman for a change. We've all seen people and said things like that or made the inappropriate jokes about it, but that sort of talk just wouldn't wash in our politically correct and modern world any more. I was going to say that this film just goes to show how fickle men are, but actually Jane manages to change her allegiance pretty quickly too. I feel the same way about 'The Birdcage', I really hope that attitudes have changed sufficiently that the only place that premise would work nowadays is Russia.

It would definitely be interesting to see a newer version of this film, perhaps a more serious one without the musical numbers. She sure seems to have been a lady that had a story. I wonder how accurate this version really is compared to the true one? It is charming enough, but very typical of its era. I think I'm coming to it too late to fully appreciate it as one of the greats, but I did like it. I've been spoiled by the likes of 'Grease' and 'Chicago' and 'The Greatest Showman' with their more polished performances, sets and special effects. This one is very stage show and less life like maybe.

Doris and Howard are both spectacular in their roles, their singing is just so effortless and his voice in general just gives me thrills. Both are fairly pretty folk to look at too (Once she's covered herself in flowers and ribbons of course). There are lots of songs to recognise, but I didn't know that the song 'Secret Love' came from this film and I think that Doris' rendition was just lovely. I have added it to my list of songs to get on iTunes.

I would have liked to have seen a big group number or two, where the streets are filled with dancing cowboys all singing along. I think that's what some of the earlier musicals lack.

I'm going to get slated by my friends for the score, but it's hard to watch it so many years after its release and give it the same review I would have done then having seen the films I've seen.