Calamity Jane

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

Calamity Jane (Doris Day) rides into Deadwood, South Dakota on the stagecoach. The local saloon bar, the Golden Garter, sends for beautiful women to appear on the stage and entertain the residents of a town with few females. Unfortunately, the men are anything but pleased when the latest “woman” turns out to be a man named Francis Fryer (Dick Wesson), who does a stage act in drag (reluctantly) and goes under the name Frances Fryer. The saloon owner was misled by the girlish-sounding name when reading an advertisement in the newspaper. The men begin to storm out. Calamity, thinking quick in all the panic, vows to get them the one woman they are all drooling over: singer Adelaid Adams (Gale Robbins), who is in Chicago. The Golden Garter receives a letter from Adams that she wouldn’t be seen dead in that town but Calamity is still determined to bring her. Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel) laughs at the idea and tells Calamity that the night Adams steps on the stage, he will come to the opening dressed as a Sioux squaw lugging a papoose.

Calamity travels to Chicago, where Adams is giving a farewell performance {she was on her way to Europe directly after the performance} Adelaid, sick of the ‘primitive’ Chicago, gives her costumes to her maid, Katie Brown (Allyn McLerie), who dreams of becoming a stage singer. She tries on one of the dresses and starts to sing. When Calamity walks in, she mistakes Katie for Adelaid. Katie takes advantage of the error and poses as Adelaid Adams to make her dream come true.

The ride back to Deadwood is rocky, as they are chased by Indians. Later, when Katie gives her first performance, Calamity says she didn’t sound that way in Chicago. When Calamity tells Katie to sing out, she bursts into tears and admits that she is not Adelaid Adams. The Golden Garter falls silent. Everyone present is on the verge of rioting, but Calamity fires a shot into the air and defends Katie. They allow Katie to carry on, and her performance wins them over. On the balcony above, Bill Hickok, dressed as an Indian woman, ropes Calamity and hangs her high and dry.

Calamity and Katie become good friends, and Katie moves into Calamity’s cabin with her. At first the cabin is shabby and in disrepair but Katie suggests they fix it up with the help of a “Woman’s Touch”. In order to attract Lieutenant Danny Gilmartin (Philip Carey), the man she’s madly in love with, Calamity dresses, looks and acts more like a lady. One day, Danny and Wild Bill Hickok (who are both in love with Katie) pay a visit to Calamity’s cabin. Katie manages to lure Bill out of the cabin for a few minutes; while alone with Danny, she tells him straight out that Calamity loves him and that she, Katie is trying to stay away from him in return for her appreciation of Calamity’s friendliness. However, Danny tells Katie he is not interested in Calamity. Later, Katie tells the two men that Calamity has changed and had a makeover proving she will be accepted at a local ball the following weekend. They draw straws and Danny wins, meaning he’ll go with Katie. Now looking more like a lady, Calamity pretends to be fine with the arrangement but is stung when Danny gives her a soft kiss on the forehead. On the way to the ball, all the attendants riding in their wagons sing about the beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Calamity becomes increasingly jealous while watching Katie and Danny dance together. They adjourn to the garden where, as Danny holds her and moves in for a kiss, Katie can no longer resist him. Betrayed, Calamity fires a gunshot near Katie’s location in the ballroom and everybody looks at her in horror. Back at the cabin, Calamity throws out Katie’s things and threatens to shoot her if she ever sees her again, but the scene ends with Calamity in floods of tears.

Calamity later confronts Katie while she is performing, and warns her to get out of town. But Katie is not intimidated. She borrows a gun from one of the cowboys, and tells Calamity to hold up her glass. Taunting her about being too afraid, she boldly holds it up. A gunshot finally rings out, and the glass falls from Calamity’s hand, but it wasn’t Katie who fired; it was Bill, who lets Katie take all the credit. Humiliated, 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 Calamity, and reveals that he shot the glass out of her hand to teach her a lesson and that scaring Katie out of town would not stop Danny from loving her. Calamity is heartbroken, and reveals she was crazy about Danny (whom she had earlier saved from capture by Indians), while Bill admits that he was in love with Katie. Calamity tells Bill there won’t be another man like Danny, not for her, however she and Bill end up in a passionate embrace and kiss, and she realizes it was he she loved all along. And when Bill asks her what happened to that lieutenant she was telling him about, she answers “I’ve never heard of him.”

The sun rises on a new day where a much happier Calamity sings “Secret Love” before she rides into town, but when she talks to the people, they just ignore her. She finds that Katie decided alone to leave for Chicago, feeling guilty about betraying her best friend. Danny is furious with Calamity for driving Katie out of town and demands she listen to him read a note Katie left. Calamity leaps back onto her horse and chases after the stagecoach, eventually catching up with it. She tells Katie she isn’t in love with Danny and is marrying Bill, and the two women become friends again.

A double wedding follows. When Bill finds Calamity’s gun under her wedding dress, she jokes it’s just in case any more actresses roll in from Chicago. The movie ends with the two happy couples riding out of town on the stage

REVIEW:

A few of my fellow movie bloggers have said that I’ve been neglecting my western and musical roots. Well, here is a film that combines the two…sort of.

Calamity Jane is a film I added to my Netflix queue some time ago, intending to watch it as a filler when nothing else was available, or move it up when everything I really wanted to see was on wait. Just for kicks, though, last week I moved it up. Ironically, it went on wait until this week.

So, this week it came in and I must say that I enjoyed it much more than I expected. As well versed in the old west as I am (or claim to be), I am not that familiar with the legend of Calamity Jane. If you’re in the same boat, then this is not the film you should be watching for historical accuracy.

In a matter similar to Amadeus, they took many liberties with her history in order to forge a better, more entertaining story. Once you get past those inaccuracies, though, and just view this as a film, you’ll be caught up in this pretty great film.

This is a musical, so let’s start by talking about the music. The songs are good, but not exactly Gershwin, Porter, or Lloyd Weber. With that said, a couple of these songs really stand out. The first is our intro to Jane, “Whip Crack Away”. You can hear the leitmotif of this tune throughout the entirety of the film, and why not, it is quite catchy.

The other song that catches one’s attention is the haunting melody of “Secret Love”. If I’m not mistaken, Doris Day went on to make this a big hit on the pop charts. As I sat here listening to this song, I was reminded of the opening scene of The Sound of Music. No, it isn’t on the same level, but the melody, for some reason put me in that mindset. I can’t tell you why, though.

Moving on to the plot, it is basically Calamity and her love/hate relationship with the men in town, especially Wild Bill Hickock. Running her mouth, she makes a promise that she may not be able to keep, which leads to her having to go up to Chicago to bring back a singer, but she gets the wrong one. When this is found out, all hell is about to break loose, but the two end up becoming best friends, until they start vying for the same man!

A bit cheesy? Yes, but hey, it’s a musical, what do you expect?

I really don’t have any issue with the story, except for how long it took to unravel, if you will. Once things got going, it was great, but there was some dead time before where it seemed like they just used a montage or some ludicrous situation as filler. I’m not a fan of using such techniques. Most of the time, this filler is put in while better scenes end up on the cutting room floor.

The scenery isn’t that great, which is a rarity for a western, but unlike most westerns, this was apparently shot in a studio, because it is obvious that they are in front of a painted background when they step outside. There may be one or two scenes where they actually shot on a location somewhere, though.

Doris Day has a great voice, but as an actress, I’m not so sure I care for her. Granted, Calamity Jane isn’t the most likable character around, but for some reason I didn’t really take a shine to Day in this role. However, I applaud her chemistry with Howard Keel and Allyn McLerie, Wild Bill and Katie, respectively.

Speaking of those two, Howard Keel’s Wild Bill is the male lead here, but for a good chunk of the film he is nowhere to be seen. However, when he does appear, he has some nice scenes with Jane, especially in the later parts of the film.

Allyn McLerie brings all that youthful naiveté that maid who wants to be a singer and is masquerading as her boss should. My problem with her, though, is in her first time on stage. She seemed so nervous, as can be expected, but then after a few words from Calamity, she suddenly starts singing with the power and poise of a seasoned stage veteran. WTF?!?

If you’re in the mood for a fun film, then you really should check out Calamity Jane. I think this is one of the underrated gems in the musical genre, as it has a little something for everyone. Watch and enjoy!

4 3/4 out of 5 stars