Why I won't show Calamity Jane to my grandchildren

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 21^st 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.