Calamity Jane (1953 film)
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| Calamity Jane | |
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| Directed by | David Butler |
| Written by | James O'Hanlon |
| Starring | Doris Day, Howard Keel, Allyn Ann McLerie |
| Release date(s) | November 4, 1953 U.S. release |
| Running time | 101 mins |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
The 1953 film, Calamity Jane is a "Wild West"-themed film It is loosely based on the life of Wild West heroine Calamity Jane and explores a romance between Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok in the American Old West. The movie, released in 1953, has many characteristics of other musicals of the same era. It was devised by Warner Brothers in response to the success of Annie Get Your Gun. The film starred Doris Day as the title character and Howard Keel as Hickok. Unlike most musicals, it originated in Hollywood and only later transferred to the stage.
Though the film portrays Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok as lovers, it is unclear whether that was the case in real life. The pair were friends, but many historians have disputed Calamity Jane's claims that she and Hickok were romantically involved.
The score, with music by Sammy Fain and lyrics by Paul Francis Webster, includes such classic songs as:
- "The Black Hills of Dakota"
- "The Deadwood Stage"
- "I Can do Without You"
- "It's Harry I'm Planning to Marry"
- "My Heart is Higher than a Hawk"
- "Secret Love" (winner of Academy Award for best song in a movie, 1953), which topped the Billboard and Cash Box musical charts at number one.
- "Windy City"
The music was included in an album of the same name, though some of the songs from the album were re-recorded rather than taken from the soundtrack.
[edit] Plot
Calamity Jane (Doris Day) rides in on the Deadwood Stage, driven by Rattlesnake, and boasts that she's got more arrows in the back of the Deadwood Stage than a porcupines got stickers. Plus, when it comes to shooting, she's a sharpshooter, rivaled only by Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel). In a town like Deadwood, there's very few women. The local saloon bar, the Golden Garter provides entertainment for the men by sending for beautiful women from other states to appear on the stage and entertain the townsfolk.
Unfortunately, the men are anything but pleased when the latest woman turns out to be a man named Francis Fryer, who does a stage act in drag and goes under the name Frances Fryer. Calamity Jane vows to get them the one woman they are all drooling over a picture of: Adelaide Adams, who is in Chicago. Calam vows to go to "Chicagy", as she calls it, and bring Adelaide Adams back. Bill Hickok tells Calam that the night Adelaide Adams steps on the stage, he'll come to the opening dressed as a Sioux squaw lugging a papoose. Calam says she'll bring Adelaide, even if she has to do it with her teeth.
Calamity goes to Chicago, but while there, she gets her own little audience when she threatens a wooden cigar store Indian. She finds the theatre where Adelaide Adams is giving a farewell performance. Adelaide is all too grateful that it's her last night, and gives her costumes to her maid, Katie Brown. When Adelaide is gone, Katie tries on one of her dresses, and starts to sing. When Calamity walks in, Katie thinks at first that she's a man (in those days, if a woman dressed the way Calam does, they could be considered mad). Katie tricks Calam into thinking she is Adelaide Adams so she can fulfill her wish of being on stage.
The ride back to Deadwood is rocky, as they are chased by Indians and Katie faints. Later, when Katie is singing, Calam says she didn't sing that way in Chicago. When Calam tells Katie to sing out, she bursts into tears and admits that she's not Adelaide Adams. The Golden Garter falls silent. Calam climbs up onto the stage, and Katie admits who she really is, and why she pretended to be Adelaide Adams. Everyone present is on the verge of rioting, but Calam brings them all under control by firing a shot into the air, and defends Katie. They allow Katie to carry on, and her performance wows them. On the balcony above, Bill Hickok, who is dressed as an Indian woman, ropes Calam and hangs her high and dry.
Calam and Katie become friends, and Katie moves into Calam's cabin with her. The place is very dusty, but Calam and Katie clean it up, and make the cabin look nice. One night, Bill and Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin, who Calamity is in love with take Calam and Katie to a party at Fort Scully. Calam becomes jealous after she catches Danny kissing Katie, and storms home where she throws all of Katie's stuff into cases.
Calam later confronts Katie while she's performing, and warns her to get out of town. But, Katie's not scared. She takes a gun, and tells Calam to hold up her glass. She's reluctant at first, but after Katie asks her if she's afraid, Calam slowly lifts her glass, and everyone hits the floor to avoid being shot. A gunshot finally rings out, and the glass falls from Calam's hand, but it wasn't Katie who fired; it was Bill, who lets Katie take all the credit. Humilliated, Calamity storms out. But before she can mount her horse, Bill grabs her, throws her onto his horse-drawn cart and rides off.
In the woods, Bill tries to talk some sense into Calam, and reveals that he shot the glass out of her hand to teach her a lesson about telling people who to love, and tells her scaring Katie out of town wouldn't change the way Danny felt. Calamity is heartbroken, and reveals she was crazy about Danny, while Bill admitts that he was in love with Katie. Bill and Calam embrace and when Bill asks her what happened to that Lieutenant she was telling him about, she answers "I've never even heard of him".
The next day, Calam goes onto a hill where she sings Secret Love before she rides off to town on her horse, but, when she talks to people, they just ignore her; they haven't forgotten about the way she behaved the night before. Calam finds out that Katie is no longer in the hotel; she heading back to Chicago. Calam can't understand why Katie's gone; she wasn't scared of her. Danny tells Calamity that it's because Katie's a lady, and he reads out a note Katie left: "Dear Danny. Calamity loves you and you probably love her. I had no right to come between you. I love you both, but I want you to be happy. Pretend it was Adelaide Adams who came to Deadwood. Katie Brown never existed. She doesn't now. Goodbye Danny". To prevent further damage to her reputation, Calam mounts another horse, and heads off after the stage. She finally catches up with it, and after climbing in through the window, she tells Katie she's going to be Mrs. Hickok.
A double wedding follows. Bill finds Calam's gun under her wedding dress, and she says it's just in case any more actresses roll in from Chicago.
