First and foremost, CALAMITY JANE is a fun musical. The 29-year-old Doris Day thoroughly enjoys herself in the central role as a gun-totin' tomboy, the fastest draw in the city of Deadwood, South Dakota - apart from Wild Bill Hickok (Howard Keel). She demonstrates an apparently limitless capacity for telling tall stories, as well as a unique ability to ride a horse. She and Keel make a lovable double-act, especially in their song "I Can Do Without You" - which is of course completely ironic in tone. They clearly cannot do without one another, as proved at the end of the film when they celebrate their nuptials. Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster's score contains at least two classics, "The Deadwood Stage (Whip Crack-Away," which opens and closes the film, and "Secret Love," a typically schmaltzy Day song that topped the charts on its initial release. Yet perhaps the film's most interesting aspect today is the way in which it embodies early Fifties attitudes towards gender. Calamity Jane's decision to don male attire is perceived as something aberrant; she is tolerated by her fellow-citizens of Deadwood, but no one really takes her very seriously. It is only when she is 'educated' in feminine ways by visiting singer Katie Brown (Allyn McLerie) that she understands what her 'proper' role should be. She should accept that females (unlike males) are capricious in nature, apt to make spontaneous decisions without rhyme or reason. In a ball scene towards the end of the film, Calamity appears in a long gown, her blonde hair neatly tied at the back - the male guests stare at her in disbelief, as if they cannot believe they have a "true" woman within their midst. Calamity feels uncomfortable in the role, and returns briefly to her male attire; but when the citizens refuse to speak to her later on (punishing her for her decision to banish Katie from their town), she understands the "error" of her ways. At the film's end she wears a bridal gown and tosses her six-shooter away, in symbolic acknowledgment that she should no longer try to adopt masculine attitudes. Rather she should accept her designated role as wife and (probably) mother.

What a lovely film – I've seen it so often by now I paradoxically probably don't need to watch it anymore, it's all there in my head almost frame by frame. It's a simple musical Western, with bags of charm and wonderful songs, exuberant acting by all concerned and a cosy colour.Wild Calamity Day thinks she's in love with dashing Army Captain, Wild Bill Keel thinks he's in love with beautiful singer from Chicago, they're both wrong of course, the story and the songs eventually disclosing the truth even though the audience knows the plot before 10 minutes have elapsed. The music by Sammy Fain and the lyrics by Paul Francis Webster are almost unbelievably impeccable and witty, the delivery by the two main stars in their prime is perfect. In fact I can't fault anything in this film – I never let datedness or corn interfere with my enjoyment like lots of folk though. It's a comfort film maybe but even after all these years it sure is a tonic!

The opening of Calamity Jane suggests the movie is going to be a stinker, with a song consisting of the lyrics: Whip crack away, whip crack away, whip crack away, interspersed with whistling and singers going "dumb dumb de dumb, dumb de dumb, de dumb dumb dumb dumb," and then two actors repeating these exciting lines: The Deadwood stage!, the Deadwood stage!, (chorus) the Deadwood stage! as we watch a stagecoach going across a barren landscape. (I tried to write "DUM" but the IMDb spell checker kept changing it to "DUMB." I didn't think spell checkers were supposed to editorialize.)We then see a very butch Doris Day (or pretending to be butch) riding shotgun on a stagecoach making mechanical motions like a marionette. She starts singing the tune and the passengers inside the coach join in. Trouble is, the words are kinda goofy and the melody annoying. This is not looking like first-rate music. The further along this song goes, the worse it gets. Day's over the top acting is atrocious, and reminds me of a puppet from the Howdy Doody Show. When they get to town and she starts singing and talking some more, it just gets worse. OK, she's a tomboy, a woman trying to out macho the men, I get it, but she way overdoes it. And you are stuck watching this cloying performance for more than an hour before she finally mellows out a bit for a few minutes of the movie. If it weren't for her great looks and super singing, she wouldn't have gotten away with it.I've watched it at least twice now, but there are only two memorable songs, Whip Crack Away and Secret Love. I went back into it and was surprised by how much forgettable music there is. Secret Love is a classic, but the lyrics don't really fit with the story line, and the music is inconsistent with the rest of the faux cowboy tunes, so I assume it was written before the movie, and was looking for a home. The good part is there actually is a plot, (a formulaic mix and match romance plot) and the rest of the acting is good. But Day's performance is so bad and much of the music is so mediocre that there is little to recommend this musical. It could have been pretty good if Day's acting had been more nuanced and interesting, instead of a mechanical caricature. And how many times do we have to endure the same, "Give me a sarsaparilla!" joke? (Actually, in those days sarsaparilla was alcoholic, like beer.) I do love musicals, and don't expect them to be too realistic, but I don't like them to get too silly, either. I have seen Doris Day movies that I have enjoyed. Day demonstrated she could really act in Hitchcock's The Man Who Knew Too Much, not to mention sing. I have read that Calamity Jane, 1953, was a knock off of Annie Get Your Gun, 1950. In addition to better music, Annie had the fine director George Sidney, who had experience directing many solid musicals, including the first Western movie musical, The Harvey Girls. David Butler did not have this finesse, and the result, in my opinion, is an awkward film lacking style. Calamity Jane is not quite the stinker the opening scene suggests, and it is not awful. There are probably worse musicals out there, but I have never encountered one, and if I did, I wouldn't watch it. I find this corny movie so annoying that I think it's actually worth avoiding. There are much better musicals out there. If you want to see Doris Day in one, watch The Pajama Game. Music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross includes: Hey There, Hernando's Hideaway, Steam Heat, and plenty of other memorable numbers.

Not the most obvious subject for a movie musical, Calamity Jane is one of the best.Decked out with a variety of subplots (the drag artist, the dresser impersonating the star, the ensuing romantic triangle) the main thrust of the film - Calam's gradual progression from scruffy tomboy to feminine woman and proud of it, and her realisation that her heart has always belonged to Hickock - is hardly a story at all, yet informs everything else which happens.All the principals are delightful, but this is Doris Day's film. Her portrayal of Calamity Jane - a role which demands, and gets, overplaying - is a tour de force. Keel is also excellent playing a macho man who can deal with gentle self-deprecation.And above everything else are the songs. The majestic Secret Love dwarfs everything else, even the punchy and pithy Deadwood Stage and Windy City numbers, but my personal favourite is Higher Than A Hawk, one of the most underrated songs from Hollywood's musical heyday.