Normally I take an anything goes attitude with comedy, but my enjoyment of this Bob Hope Western parody was severly undercut by the nasty racism on display. 1948 wasn’t that long ago — and the genocidal treatment towards American Indians was knowable to anyone who bothered to ask. If you were to watch this movie and in place of the word Indian put Jew or Black or Armenian or Tutsi or any other persecuted group, you won’t find yourself laughing. Compartmentalizing these feelings as best I can, Bob Hope’s brilliant comic timing is terrific here and Jane Russell as Calamity Jane packs two gi-normous, uh, pistols.
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Jordan Hoffman is a New York-based writer and film critic working for The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Thrillist, Times of Israel, NY Daily News and elsewhere.
He is the host of ENGAGE: The Official Star Trek Podcast, a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and challenges you to a game of backgammon.