La blonde du Far-West

`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!

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."

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.

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.

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.