Calamity Jane (1953)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

David Butler

Writer:

James O'Hanlon (written by)

Release Date:

4 November 1953 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Comedy | Musical | Romance | Western

Tagline:

Brand-new song hits by the stage load!

Plot:

The story of Calamity Jane, her saloon, and her romance with Wild Bill Hickok.

Plot Keywords:

Calamity Jane | Wild Bill Hickok | Saloon | Gay Slur | Love Triangle

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 2 nominations

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

Also Known As:

Calamity Jane (Denmark) [da]
Calamity Jane (Finland) [fi]
Doris Day en el Oeste (Spain) [es]
I gynaika me to mastigio (Greece) [el]
La blonde du Far-West (France) [fr]
La terreur blonde (Belgium: French title) [fr]
Non sparare baciami! (Italy) [it]
Schwere Colts in zarter Hand (West Germany) [de]
Tarkk'ampujatyttö (Finland) [fi]
Västerns vilda dotter (Sweden) [sv]

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved certificate #16445) | UK:U (video rating) (1989) | UK:U (tv rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl | Australia:G | UK:U | Canada:G | West Germany:6

Filming Locations:

Warner Ranch, Calabasas, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

A Columbia Records album of selections from the Sammy Fain-Paul Francis Webster film score was comprised of four songs directly from the soundtrack (supervised by Ray Heindorf), and four tunes commercially rerecorded by Doris Day alone (arranged and conducted by Paul Weston). The original 10-inch LP has been transferred to CD in Britain by Prism Platinum. In 1995, another English label, Jay Records, re-created the complete film score, adding five numbers from the 1979 British stage production.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Francis Fryer is really getting into his number ("I've Got A Hive Full of Honey"), he drops his handkerchief while backing up to the trombonist. A quick cut and the chiffon hankie is back in his hand. He didn't stop to pick it up off the floor.

Quotes:

Calamity Jane: [singing] At last my heart's an open door / And my secret love's no secret any more.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Before Stonewall (1984)

Soundtrack:

A WOMAN'S TOUCH

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

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."