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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
James O'Hanlon (written by)
Release Date:
4 November 1953 (USA) more
Tagline:
Brand-new song hits by the stage load! more
Plot:
The story of Calamity Jane, her saloon, and her romance with Wild Bill Hickok. full summary | add synopsis
Awards:
Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Soap Actor Carey Dies
(From WENN. 10 February 2009, 4:00 AM, PST)
Musical Star Howard Keel Dies at 85
(From WENN. 8 November 2004)
User Comments:
Doris Day's shining hour more (57 total)
Cast
(Complete credited cast)| Doris Day | ... | Calamity Jane | |
| Howard Keel | ... | Wild Bill Hickok | |
| Allyn Ann McLerie | ... | Katie Brown (as Allyn McLerie) | |
| Philip Carey | ... | Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin | |
| Dick Wesson | ... | Francis Fryer | |
| Paul Harvey | ... | Henry Miller | |
| Chubby Johnson | ... | Rattlesnake | |
| Gale Robbins | ... | Adelaid Adams |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
101 min
Country:
Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (RCA Sound System)
Certification:
USA:Approved certificate #16445) | UK:U (tv rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1989) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | Australia:G | UK:U | Canada:G | West Germany:6
Filming Locations:
Company:
Fun Stuff
Goofs:
Continuity: When Calamity rides into the Indian camp to rescue Dan, she fires seven shots from her six-shooter in such rapid succession she would have had no time to reload. more
Quotes:
Calamity Jane: [singing] Hi Joe / say where'd you get them fancy clothes? / I know / off some fella's laundry line. / Hi Bow / aren't you the prairie rose / Smell like a watermelon vine. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008) (V) more
Soundtrack:
SECRET LOVE more
FAQ
Chapter Headings, an unofficial version:more
more (57 total)
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In the early fifties, Hollywood had to find a way to draw audiences who were staying home and watching television, and "Calamity Jane" was one of the best musical efforts to get them into the theaters. This movie's redeeming quality is its high spirits. They never let up. The Deadwood community that James O'Hanlon rustles up is a motley bunch of soldiers, scouts, prospectors and farmers, and they all have a good time giving one another a hard time--none more so than the title character played by Doris Day. Her performance probably owes something to Betty Hutton's Annie Oakley, and it looks an awful lot like what Billie Hayes and Irene Ryan had been doing years afterwards, but Day dons a buckskin suit and tears right into the role like it was a tailor's fit.
I don't think I have to go into the rumor about the real Calamity Jane to point out how daring Day's work is. Hollywood might have sanitized history (or maybe not), but Day is as close to being Martha Jane Canary as anyone is likely to be in a time when drag acts were something no one ever talked about. And she is lucky to have some of the best movie music of that year (or maybe any year when you consider what now passes for good). Sammy Fain and John Francis Webster took the Oscar for best song, yet the ones that weren't in the running are every bit as good.
How can you pass up a musical that delivers the deeply satisfying baritone of Howard Keel? When he bursts out with joy in "Higher than a Hawk," the light from the screen surges, and you feel like you're resting on a sunlit cloud right next to his. His smile matches Day's for brightness, and as they ride through the Black Hills singing harmony, even the birds seemed to have stopped to listen. It's a beautiful pairing that I don't think ever happened again.
"Calamity Jane" may not be everyone's cup of tea. If you're looking for history, this is not the place to go. But stop by, and Day and Keel and Dick Wesson and Allyn Ann McLerie and Paul Harvey and company will more than tickle your fancy. They'll keep you humming for days.
Directed by David Butler who has given us over the years a string of felicitous moments to remember from Will Rogers in "A Connecticut Yankee," to Jane Withers in "Bright Eyes," to the Ritz Brothers in "Kentucky Moonshine," to Bob Hope in "Road to Morocco," to S.Z. Sakall in "Lullaby of Broadway" and on and on and on.