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#737 - Calamity Jane
David Butler, 1953
Based on the true story of the notorious cowgirl as she navigates a number of problems involving an aspiring stage performer.
My fundamental pop-cultural understanding of the legendary individual known as "Calamity Jane" mainly being informed by Robin Weigert's drunken, foul-mouthed iteration of the character that was seen in the HBO historical drama Deadwood. As a result, the prospect of watching photogenic triple-threat Doris Day play the exact same role in a musical adaptation based very loosely on Jane's adventures admittedly seemed more than a little daunting even without the promise of musical numbers. Despite these reservations, I still found myself registering some amusement at the first couple of musical numbers where Jane rides into town, but things gradually become less and less interesting as the film progresses, especially when the plot develops around the citizens of Deadwood wanting to see a famous singer (Gale Robbins), who intends to tour Europe instead of America and thus sets off a chain of events that leads to a case of mistaken identity involving her maid (Allyn McLerie) and Jane. That's without bringing into account Jane's complicated relationship with fellow Wild West legend Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel), which is about as heated and belligerent as you'd expect even without the teasing of a romantic element.
I'll give Calamity Jane some credit for not stretching things out too long or being genuinely irritating despite its campy musical take on the historical Western. It starts off like it might have some promise behind its rather humble intention of entertaining but it gets incredibly numbing over the course of its relatively brief running time. The numbers are par for the course as far as your average classic Hollywood musical goes, but despite the film's status as a musical these don't always feel strong enough to make the film work as a whole. They're consistently peppy and humourous, which only makes the film's attempts to build drama within its plot feel especially dour. Performers like Day or Keel are about what you'd expect, with the former nailing the accent while still projecting some serious femininity underneath her tomboyish attire. Calamity Jane is hardly the worst musical I've ever seen, but even as far as light-hearted fluff goes it still leaves a lot to be desired.
David Butler, 1953
Based on the true story of the notorious cowgirl as she navigates a number of problems involving an aspiring stage performer.
My fundamental pop-cultural understanding of the legendary individual known as "Calamity Jane" mainly being informed by Robin Weigert's drunken, foul-mouthed iteration of the character that was seen in the HBO historical drama Deadwood. As a result, the prospect of watching photogenic triple-threat Doris Day play the exact same role in a musical adaptation based very loosely on Jane's adventures admittedly seemed more than a little daunting even without the promise of musical numbers. Despite these reservations, I still found myself registering some amusement at the first couple of musical numbers where Jane rides into town, but things gradually become less and less interesting as the film progresses, especially when the plot develops around the citizens of Deadwood wanting to see a famous singer (Gale Robbins), who intends to tour Europe instead of America and thus sets off a chain of events that leads to a case of mistaken identity involving her maid (Allyn McLerie) and Jane. That's without bringing into account Jane's complicated relationship with fellow Wild West legend Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel), which is about as heated and belligerent as you'd expect even without the teasing of a romantic element.
I'll give Calamity Jane some credit for not stretching things out too long or being genuinely irritating despite its campy musical take on the historical Western. It starts off like it might have some promise behind its rather humble intention of entertaining but it gets incredibly numbing over the course of its relatively brief running time. The numbers are par for the course as far as your average classic Hollywood musical goes, but despite the film's status as a musical these don't always feel strong enough to make the film work as a whole. They're consistently peppy and humourous, which only makes the film's attempts to build drama within its plot feel especially dour. Performers like Day or Keel are about what you'd expect, with the former nailing the accent while still projecting some serious femininity underneath her tomboyish attire. Calamity Jane is hardly the worst musical I've ever seen, but even as far as light-hearted fluff goes it still leaves a lot to be desired.