A Salute to Doris Day - Calamity Jane

Warner Bros, 1953
Starring Doris Day, Howard Keel, Allyn Ann McLerie, and Phillip Carey
Directed by David Butler
Music by Sammy Fain; Lyrics by Paul Francis Webster

In honor of Doris Day, who passed away today at age 97, my last reviews before my vacation hiatus will be devoted to two of her most popular musical vehicles. She appeared in movie musicals for Warners years before she starred in her famous series of romantic comedies in the late 50's and 60's. Today, this movie is probably best known for the Oscar-winning ballad "Secret Love," but there's a lot more to this girl-power western than a sweet tune. How much more? Let's take a stagecoach to Deadwood City in Dakota Territory to find out...

The Story: Calamity Jane (Day) is the toughest-talking, hardest-drinking "shotgun" messenger (stagecoach guard) in the Dakota Territory. She's got a ton of tall tales to tell about  her exploits fighting outlaws and Indians off the coach, and she's always as good as her word. When she tells the boys she'll go to Chicago to get a famous actress to play at the Golden Garter Saloon, she does it. Turns out that the actress is on her way to Europe. What Calamity finds is Katie Brown (McLerie), her maid, who wants to be a performer. Calamity can't tell one bustle-wearin' female from another and brings Katie back to Deadwood.

The boys aren't happy about the switch at first, but Katie wins them over with her girlish charm and sweet voice. She even gains two suitors in the handsome cavalry officer Lieutenant Daniel Gilmartin (Carey) and Calamity's guy friend Wild Bill Hickock (Keel). She and Calamity move in together; she helps her fix up her tumbledown cabin and gives her a dress to wear. They attend a ball with the menfolk to show off Calamity's new, daintier style. That lasts for barely ten minutes before she catches Gilmartin and Katie kissing. Calamity has had her eye on Gilmartin, and she's angry enough to threaten Katie there and at the Saloon. After Bill tells her that he defended Katie during her act, she realizes that he's really her "secret love," and she has to keep Katie from leaving town.

The Song and Dance: It's rare to see a strong female hero in a western even nowadays, never mind in the 50's. Day's Calamity may be willing to submit to Katie's "Woman's Touch," but in a refreshing turn, she never quite loses her tomboyish spirit. Indeed, she wears simple western trousers and a lacy blouse during her "Secret Love" number, showing that while she have embraced her feminine side, she's going to do it her way. She and Keel make a nifty couple; she's even better with the tougher-than-she-looks McLerie. Dick Wesson has some funny moments as a tenderfoot actor whom the owner of the Golden Garter mistakes for an actress due to his feminine name, Francis.

Favorite Number: The opening "Whip-Crack Away/Very Good Friend of Mine" smoothly takes us from Calamity on the stagecoach to Deadwood City to the discovery of the mistake with Francis in an extended musical sequence that's a smooth and robust way to kick things off. Calamity and Bill express their antagonistic friendship in "I Can Do Without You." Wesson's drag number, "A Hive Full of Honey," when he's trying to convince the audience in the saloon that he's a woman, is hilarious.

The standard here is "Secret Love," the simple and lovely ballad Day sings towards the end of the movie, after she's realized that she really cares about Bill. The number that goes along with it is equally simple and sweet, just Day beautifully performing the song in a glowing Technicolor valley.

Trivia: The real Calamity Jane did have many adventures, and she was inclined to tell tall tales...but it's not really known what her actual relationship with Wild Bill Hickcock was. Historians say they were likely just acquaintances and Calamity exaggerated their relationship, the way she did many of her stories.

There's a stage version of this one around. It hasn't made Broadway at press time, but it did turn up on TV in 1963 with Carol Burnett as Calamity and in London's West End.

What I Don't Like: At times, this feels like it was cobbled together from other, better-known musical westerns. "I Can Do Without You" sounds like "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun, which also provides the general idea of a musical about a famous female sharpshooter. "Just Blew from the Windy City" bears more than a passing resemblance to "Everything's Up to Date In Kansas City" from Oklahoma. Carey's Gilmartin is so dull, he barely registers, making you wonder exactly what the ladies see in him.

The Big Finale: If you're a fan of Day or musical westerns, this is a whip-cracking good tale that Calamity herself might have approved of.

Home Media: As one of Day's most popular musical vehicles, this is easy to find in all formats, including Blu-Ray and on several streaming services.

DVD 
Blu-Ray
Amazon Prime