The Paleface

Old western movies are always fun, be that you watch them for the action of gunfights, the epic battle between civilised palefaces and savage Indians, or the fantastic ladies’ fashions. The Paleface, albeit a Western in many respects is one film that camps up the genre so much so as to turn it into something else. 

Calamity Jane (Jane Russell) is offered a pardon from her ten-year jail sentence by the government if she will catch a renegade gang that is smuggling firearms and dynamite to a tribe of Indians. When the original plan of posing as a married couple with a specified agent goes south, Jane dupes sweet and simple-minded dentist, ‘Painless’ Peter Potter (Bob Hope) into a quickie marriage and uses him as her cover. However, on the road to the rendezvous point, Peter’s sweetness and naivety start to grow on Jane. 

Whilst it seems like a silly and camp movie on the surface, there is actually a lot going on in this film: definitely in terms of genre. It’s got the vibe of a Golden Age musical set against a Western backdrop and this is further established by Hope’s little ditty ‘Buttons and Bows’ that he sings very sweetly to a sleeping Jane (the song saw Jay Livingston and Ray Evans receive an Academy Award). Then, story-wise we have this cute and comedic undercover theme blended with a sort of reluctant-partner/buddy element. Calamity Jane as, what can best be described as a burlesque femme fatale, teases us with themes of the thriller, but of course the technicolour and the camp-ness eradicates any further development on that front. 

Undoubtedly, this is a real comedy pumped full of straight-laced sexual gags, politically incorrect jokes at the expense of the Native American cast though admittedly too silly to cause any real offence, as well as memorable moments of miscommunication and schadenfreude. 

The casting is admirable with Hope being almost annoyingly stupid and sweet with his puns and slapstick sequences, you cannot help but laugh at him, and Russell with her smouldering eyes and lips in a constant pout is the visual definition of sexiness. The two play off each other fiercely and funnily with Hope being bumbling and always talking and Russell being cool and almost stoic. 

Whilst it’s not the greatest film in the world there is something fresh and fun about this movie and the themes and generic tropes that it explores and teases us with makes it memorable, at least memorable enough to spawn a sequel: Son of Paleface. 

Starring: Bob Hope, Jane Russell, Robert Armstrong, Iris Adrian, Bobby Watson, Jackie Searl, Joseph Vitale, Charles Trowbridge, Clem Bevans, Jeff York, Stanley Andrews, Wade Crosby, Chief Yowlachie, Iron Eyes Cody, and John Maxwell 

Rating: G