I defy anyone not to like this musical and Doris Day's infectious portrayal of Calamity Jane. Even those who did not later like her later characterizations as the All American virgin have to give her musical talent it's due. When she opens up the movie with The Deadwood Stage number the viewer is immediately caught up in the whole lighthearted spirit of the movie.

It was interesting that Warner Brothers got Howard Keel from MGM to play opposite Doris. After all they did have Gordon MacRae at Warners and he and Doris had done a few successful films together.

Possibly the reason is to see what the public missed when Doris did not play opposite Keel in Annie Get Your Gun. She wanted the part of Annie Oakley very badly, but a deal with MGM couldn't be made. I think this might have been Jack Warner's mea culpa to her.

The duet that Howard and Doris sing I Can Do Without You is certainly inspired by Irving Berlin's Anything You Can Do. Imagine Keel singing it with Doris instead of Betty Hutton.

In fact Doris's whole character is ripped off from Annie Get Your Gun. But I really don't care because she does such a fabulous job.

Sammy Fain's and Paul Francis Webster's score for Calamity Jane isn't as top heavy with hits as Annie Get Your Gun, but it did provide Doris with one of her best songs and biggest movie hits up to that time. Secret Love won the Oscar for Best Song of 1953 and her singing of it is primo.

In the early sixties Doris Day did an album of the songs from Annie Get Your Gun with Robert Goulet playing Frank Butler and a whole ensemble for the other parts. Now that was a great album and it should have been a great flick.

They really unfortunately don't make them like this any more or even a fraction as good.

This film is one of my favourites. It is funny and touching, has great songs and superb performances. The opening song, is probably the most rousing opening song in a musical. The other songs "Windy City", "Secret Love" "Woman's touch" and "Take Me To The Black Hills" are all outstanding and beautifully staged. The costumes and sets were fabulous too. The performances are fantastic.The always lovely Howard Keel is excellent as Wild Bill Hicock; maybe I'm biased because I can never get enough of Keel's wonderful singing voice. The scene where he dressed up as an Indian, cracked me up. But the main strength of the movie is the wonderful Doris Day, and I seriously can't imagine anyone else who can do Calamity better. She put great energy into "Windy City", and "Secret Love" was beautiful. Her change of heart at the end was so believable, and for the songs and Day, watch this musical! 10/10 Bethany Cox

A fictitious biography of the notorious lady crackshot and set in Deadwood where really lived Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock . From the opening in which Doris Day singing a wonderful song on top of a stageoach , this movie is pure amusement , delight , and fun . Here Calamity Jane/Doris Day sets out to show that anything a man can do Calamity can do better , but only Wild Bill seems to be unimpressed . It takes a lot of sings and dances before Jane can convince Wild Bill/Howard Keel that under her two-fisted exterior there is a woman's heart . As the film happens in an on-again, off-again romance with Philip Carey and Howard Keel .

Doris Day gives a funny portrayal of the famous frontier wilcat and she certainly puts full of fire and mirth into the character . Doris Day shines in one of her best Warner Bros musicals , Day splendidly stars as the gun-toting , rip-snorting Calamity Jane of Western lore . It packs one of the best soundtracks ever written for the screen . As Doris Day stands out singing marvelous songs such as : Whipecrack a way , Just blew in from the windy city , The black Hills of Dakota and the hit song from which , ¨Secret love¨ won an Academy Award . She is accompanied by a cast plenty of Hollywood stalwarts includes Allyn Ann McLerie as Katie Brown , Philip Carey , Dick Wesson , Paul Harvey and Chubby Johnson.

This breeze-fresh movie filled with get-up-and-go was well directed by David Butler . He was a good craftsman who directed all kinds of genres with special penchant for comedy , musical and drama . As he directed : April in Paris , Tea for two , Playmates , Doubting Thomas , Caught in the draft , The story of Seabiscuit , Lullaby in Broadway , The princess and the pirate , Captain January , The road to Morocco , and Westerns as : San Antonio and this Calamity Jane .

Other films about Calamity are : ¨Calamity Jane and Sam Bass¨ 1949 by George Sherman with Yvonne De Carlo , Howard Duff ; ¨Calamity Jane¨1982 by James Goldstone with Jane Alexander , Frederic Forrest ; ¨Wild Bill¨1995 by Walter Hill with Jeff Bridges , Ellen Barkin ; ¨Seven hours of gunfire¨ by Joaquin Romero with Gloria Milland , Rik Van Nutter , Adrian Hoven .

Although the events are fictious , the picture is partially based on Calamity Jane and his relationship to Wild Bill . The real happenings are the following ones : Martha Jane Canary or Cannary (May 1, 1852 - August 1, 1903), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman and professional scout known for being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok and fighting against Indians. Late in her life, she appeared in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. She is said to have exhibited compassion to others, especially to the sick and needy. This facet of her character contrasted with her daredevil ways and helped to make her a noted frontier figure .She was also known for her habit of wearing men's attire.Much of what she claimed to have witnessed and participated in cannot be proven. It is known that she had no formal education and was an itinerant alcoholic.. In 1876, Calamity Jane settled in the area of Deadwood, South Dakota in the Black Hills . There she became friends with Dora DuFran, the Black Hills' leading madam, and she was occasionally employed by her. She also became friendly with Wild Bill Hickok and Charlie Utter, having traveled with them to Deadwood in Utter's wagon train.Calamity Jane does seem to have had two daughters, although the father's identity is unknown. In the late 1880s, she returned to Deadwood with a child whom she claimed to be her daughter.Jane also claimed that, following Hickok's death, she went after his murderer Jack McCall with a meat cleaver, since she had left her guns at her residence in the excitement of the moment.