Calamity Jane
Calamity Jane is a 1953 American Technicolor Western musical film starring Doris Day and Howard Keel, and directed by David Butler. The musical numbers were staged and directed by Jack Donohue, who a year later would direct the Day musical Lucky Me (1954). The film is loosely based on the life of Wild West heroine Calamity Jane (Doris Day) and explores an alleged romance between her and Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel).
Plot
In the American frontier Old West of the Dakota Territory in the Black Hills during the 1870s, tough-talking, hard-riding, straight-shooting Calamity Jane (Doris Day) rides into the gold mining boom-town on top of the Deadwood stagecoach, wielding a rifle, and boasts, not always honestly, of her Indian-fighting exploits at a saloon where she has a "sassparilly". She has a crush on U.S. Army Lieutenant Daniel Gilmartin (Philip Carey), and when survivors of an Indian attack stumble into the saloon and say he was wounded, she risks life and limb to single-handedly save him from an Indian war party.
More details
author | James O'Hanlon |
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contentLocation | South Dakota |
director | David Butler |
editor | Irene Morra |
genre | romance western |
keywords | 1870s american frontier best friend best of black hills calamity jane carry on ceiling chicago dakota dakota territory double date double wedding draw straws dressing room europe european hang id indian attack indian war joke mine music hall papoose rid saloon owner sarsaparilla sassparilly secret love shoot sing squaw stage fright stagecoach u.s. army wedding dress western film wild bill hickok wound |
musicBy | David Buttolph |
nomination | Academy Award for Best Original Musical Score Academy Award for Best Sound |
producer | William Jacobs |
publisher | Warner Bros. |
theme | feminist musical |