Calamity Jane (1953 film)
| Calamity Jane | |
|---|---|
Theatrical poster | |
| Directed by | David Butler |
| Written by | James O'Hanlon |
| Produced by | William Jacobs |
| Starring | Doris Day Howard Keel Allyn Ann McLerie |
| Cinematography | Wilfrid M. Cline |
| Edited by | Irene Morra |
| Music by | Ray Heindorf |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 101 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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).
Calamity Jane was devised by Warner Bros. in response to the success of the 1950 film Annie Get Your Gun, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Secret Love" (Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster), and was also Oscar-nominated for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture (Ray Heindorf) and Best Sound, Recording (William A. Mueller).
The songs and screenplay would form the basis of a 1961 stage musical of the same name that has had a number of productions.