The 1953 musical Calamity Jane is one of the most explicitly lesbian movies from 1950s Hollywood. But it’s still not explicit explicit and it’s also filled with the kind of casual racism to be found in just about every mainstream western from the era.
To love classic cinema is to expect both its limits and its vast possibilities. Those limits are why I’ve never been flat-out opposed to the Hollywood remake machine. My frustration has just been how rarely remakes of classic films actually do something exciting and different. Even when we get gender-swapped, overtly queer, or more racially inclusive reboots and remakes, this progress is often hollow — a surface level makeover without the depth.
A new Max series Reframed: Next Gen Narratives feels ready-made for eye rolls. Rather than supporting a diverse group of filmmakers in creating proper remakes of classic titles, Warner Bros. has squeezed them all into a brief series with a collection of shorts — a collection they haven’t marketed and have completely hidden from the homepage.
But if there’s one short from the series that’s definitely worth a watch it’s Robin Cloud’s take on Calamity Jane. Instead of a subtextual musical, Cloud has created a tender lesbian romance between two cowgirls at the rodeo. Talk about a woman’s touch!
Andia Winslow (Esther from A League of Their Own!) stars as Janie, an experienced rider struggling to get back into competition after a nasty fall. She meets Nayali (Itziar Martinez) who asks for help training and the two bond over their shared love of horses.
Cloud gives lesbian horse girls everything they could ever want. The two women riding on a single horse with their bodies touching, the cowboy hat tipped up for a gay kiss. Despite its short runtime, the film feels unrushed and full.
So check it out, enjoy the lesbians and the horses, and dream of a future where a filmmaker like Robin Cloud would get the go-ahead from Warner Bros. to give us the feature-length Calamity Jane remake we truly deserve.
