Calamity Jane (1984)

Martha Jane Canary (Jane Alexander), better known as Calamity Jane, falls in love with Wild Bill Hickok (Frederic Forrest). They marry in secret but he abandons her not knowing she is with child. While she gives the child up for adoption to an English sea captain (David Hemmings) and his wife (Gillian Eaton), she will never find the happiness she seeks. The life story of the real Calamity Jane is so rife with inaccuracies, exaggerations and mysteries that an honest to goodness film biography is probably impossible. On film, Calamity Jane has been played by Doris Day, Jane Russell and Yvonne De Carlo among others. Here, Jane Alexander (in an Emmy nominated performance) gives a more detailed performance in the title role. It's a story of a woman brimming with love but no one to give it to or at least no one who wants it. Alexander lets us see the lonely woman underneath the bravado veneer. The scene where she meets her daughter for the first time (though the child is unaware she is her mother) just about breaks your heart. It's Jane Alexander's performance that makes this worth checking out. Directed by James Goldstone (SWASHBUCKLER). With Ken Kercheval and Talia Balsam.