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 Deadwoodstagecoach, 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.
Meanwhile, Deadwood's saloon owner, who sends for beautiful women entertainers from back East or other notable music halls to sing on his stage, mistakenly hires a male professional actor, Francis (not "Frances") Fryer (Dick Wesson) to sing. Fearing a riot, the owner persuades the reluctant actor to perform in drag. Though Fryer is initially convincing, his wig accidentally falls off, and the angry audience of rough-and-tough miners / cowboys threatens to tear the saloon down. Calamity calms the situation, vowing to bring the renowned singer Adelaid Adams of Chicago back to Deadwood to give a concert. However, her friend "Wild Bill" Hickok (Howard Keel) expresses doubt, scoffing at the idea just as he scoffs at "Calam"'s relatively masculine appearance and frontier dressings / outfits.
After a long stagecoach and train journey, Calamity arrives in Chicago, where Miss Adams is giving her farewell performance before launching an overseas European tour. After the show ends, Adelaid gives her old costumes to her maid and understudy, Katie Brown (Allyn Ann McLerie), who dreams of becoming a singer herself. When Calamity walks into Adams's backstage dressing room, she mistakes Katie for Adelaid. Katie, without disagreeing with Calamity, poses as the famous singer. She agrees to go to Dakota Territory, seeing it as a chance to perform.
After their arrival in Deadwood, however, stage fright and a shaky singing voice get the best of Katie during her premiere performance. She bursts into tears, admitting in embarrassment that she is not really Adelaid Adams. With the stunned crowd on the verge of rioting, Calamity fires a gunshot in the air and defends Katie. Calamity's encouragement gives Katie a boost of confidence. She is allowed to carry on, and ultimately wins the hostile crowd over with a good comeback performance. Meanwhile, Wild Bill is in the audience, dressed as a "squaw" with a papoose, having lost a side bet if Calamity couldn't bring Adelaid to Deadwood. When Katie reveals she is not Adelaid, Bill gets his revenge by roping Calamity and hanging her by the waist from the saloon ceiling.
After some initial hesitation, Katie moves into Calamity's ramshackle cabin outside of town. She and Calam use "A Woman's Touch" to transform the shack into a home. To attract Lt. Gilmartin, Calamity, with Katie's help, dresses and behaves more "ladylike" with proper manners. But Gilmartin and Hickok both admire Katie. At one point, they draw straws to see who will take her to the upcoming ball. Gilmartin wins, and Bill gallantly agrees to complement the double date by escorting Calamity - though he's not sure what to expect.
Calamity arrives at the dance with Bill, elegantly dressed and coiffed. Everyone is awed by Calamity's transformation. She's beautiful. But she becomes increasingly jealous watching Katie and Gilmartin together, especially when Danny escorts Katie into the adjoining garden, declares his love and kisses her. The ball ends when Calamity angrily confronts Katie, shooting a punch glass from her hand. She threatens Katie and tells her to leave town.
A day later, Katie returns the favor at the saloon with apparent dead-on aim and is cheered by the crowd. Unbeknownst to all, however, it was Bill who shot Calamity's glass (Katie missed by a mile). Calamity, humiliated, begins to leave but Bill catches up with her and they drive off in his wagon. Once they arrive at a quiet place to talk, a heartbroken Calamity reveals her crush on Danny, while Wild Bill admits his love for Katie (which Calamity was not aware of). Unexpectedly, as they gaze into each other's eyes, Bill and Calamity act on their feelings for each other as they passionately embrace and kiss. Calamity realizes she loved Bill all along ("My Secret Love").
The next day, a newly happy and more neatly dressed Calamity rides into town only to be snubbed for her actions towards Katie. Francis tells her that Katie, feeling guilty over betraying her best friend, took the stagecoach to Chicago per Calamity's threat. After the stage leaves, a furious Lt. Gilmartin confronts Calamity with a note from Katie, rightfully blaming her for Katie's sudden departure. A distressed Calam responds by mounting her horse and riding out to overtake the stagecoach. She tells Katie she really loves Bill and not Danny, and the two friends are reunited as Katie exclaims she wants to go back home to Deadwood.
The story ends with a double wedding; as the stagecoach is about to leave town with Danny, Katie, Bill and Calamity, Bill spots a gun under Calam's wedding dress and asks why she has it. Jokingly, Calam says it's "just in case any more actresses come in from Chicagy!" All laugh, and Bill hands the gun to Fryer before the foursome ride off, a "JUST HITCHED" sign on the back of the stagecoach.[3]
The film has been popular with some lesbian audiences for its depiction of a character which can be read as lesbian, and was screened at the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival in 2006, 53 years after its original production and release.[10] Film critic Jamie Stuart points to the film's lesbian overtones in Jane being played as a strong, independent woman who shares a house with a woman, the two of them painting "Calam and Katie" on its door.[10]Armond White sees the film as approaching sexuality in a way that Hollywood was not openly able to do, describing the empathy and envy (despite this resulting from conflict over a man) between Jane and Katie's characters as "a landmark display of girl-on-girl attraction."[11]Out magazine described the film's award-winning song, "Secret Love," as "the first gay anthem."[11] When asked about her award winning song being embraced by the gay community during a 2011 interview with The Advocate (magazine), 58 years after the movie's release, star actress Doris Day (1922-2019), in long retirement when told about the unique significance that the film enjoyed in its subsequent decades of showings and popularity, (at her age 89, and eight years before her own passing), replied, "I was not aware of that, but that's wonderful."[12]
Accuracy
Though the musicaleWestern film portrays the famous Calamity Jane (born Martha Jane Canary, 1852-1903), and "Wild Bill" Hickok (born James Butler Hickok, 1837-1876), as lovers, historians have found no proof that they were more than acquaintances. There was a 15-year age difference between them. Jane claimed years after Hickok's 1876 shooting death that she had not only been his lover but also his wife and the mother of his child, but she offered no substantiation of her claims. Many of her contemporaries considered her a teller of tall tales (as portrayed in the film to humorous effect) who exaggerated her links to more famous frontier figures, and some insisted Hickok did not even particularly like her. But when she died 27 years later at the relatively young age of 51 in 1903, decades after Hickok, who was shot at age 39 in 1876, friends buried her beside him at her request; four of the men on the self-appointed committee who planned Calamity's funeral in 1903 (Albert Malter, Frank Ankeney, Jim Carson, and Anson Higby) later stated that, since Hickok had "absolutely no use" for Jane in this life, they decided to play a posthumous joke on him by laying her, as she requested, to rest by his side.[13]
References
^'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1954', Variety Weekly, January 5, 1955
^For music, lyrics and libretto of subsequent stage play and musical adapted after the Warner Bros Film, also see: Vocal score- "Calamity Jane (Operetta in Two Acts)" Amateur Operatic Version Warner Chappell Music Ltd copyright 2006 by Faber Music Ltd (ISBN0-57152792-2). Libretto- "Calamity Jane A Musical Western" adapted by Ronald Hanmer & Phil Park from the stage play by Charles K. Freeman after the Warner Bros Film written by James O'Hanlon. Licensed to Josef Weinberger Ltd, London by arrangement with Tams-Witmark Music Library NYC. (Copyright 1962 by Tams-Witmark Music Library, New York. ISMN979-0-57005-498-5)
