Film star
Doris Day has died aged 97. Doris Day was my first love. I think Calamity Jane
was the second film I saw, aged maybe six or seven. I was still getting over
the trauma of Disney's Old Yeller, so Calamity Jane was a welcome cheer-me-up movie.
I
absolutely loved it. I can still remember the joy of slapstick Indian pursuits
of the stagecoach, the singing and dancing, the amazing change from dirty
stagehand to beautiful woman. The songs – Deadwood Stage, I’ve Just Blown In From
The Windy City and Take Me Back to The Black Hills – were indelibly planted in
my head.
Of course,
I saw it at the cinema, so there was just one shot at it. Years later, we got
it on video to show to the children and they loved it too. They could also
watch it again and again. My nephew Alex was addicted to it for months.
Times
change, however, and when I got the DVD out (a DVD had replaced the video) with
the idea of showing the grandchildren, I found myself watching it with 21st
century eyes.
It’s full
of guns, threats and casual violence (not a great message), Calamity says
things like “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” and the native Americans
are shot indiscriminately. It's not the sort of message you should be giving children. You couldn’t make it nowadays, there’d be an outcry.
Times
change and attitudes change (quite rightly), so I won’t be showing Calamity
Jane to my grandchildren.
