My wife asking me during this movie, “Did cowboys really swear so much?” I figured this movie was just following the lead of Deadwood, but I decided to do some research. According to Notes from the Frontier, they both did and didn’t. Jesse Sheidlower, the American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary and the book The F-Word says, “There were cursing contests when cowboys would get together and insult each other. Evidence that we have is that they were using more religious blasphemy than the sexual insults which are popular today.” That’s because using the f-word didn’t come into use in the U.S. until after World War I. That said, the same article says that Stagecoach Mary, Belle Starr — and this film’s star! — Calamity Jane all were historically known to use tons of profanity.

Directed by Terry Miles (Even Lambs Have Teeth) and written by Leon Langford and Collin Watts, this is the story of — you guessed it from the title — Calamity Jane (Emily Bett Rickards, Felicity from Arrow) getting revenge on the man who killed her soon-to-be husband, Wild Bill (Stephen Amell, who was Green Arrow on Arrow and the lead in Heels).

Most of what we know about Calamity Jane — born Martha Jane Canary — comes from an autobiographical pamphlet that she dictated and sold as part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. As you can imagine, a lot of the story in that pamphlet is exaggerated. She claims that her name came from a battle with Native Americans: “When fired upon, Capt. Egan was shot. I was riding in advance and on hearing the firing turned in my saddle and saw the Captain reeling in his saddle as though about to fall. I turned my horse and galloped back with all haste to his side and got there in time to catch him as he was falling. I lifted him onto my horse in front of me and succeeded in getting him safely to the Fort. Capt. Egan, on recovering, laughingly said: “I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains.” I have borne that name up to the present time.”

Then again, another story of her life — not written by her — said, “She never saw a lynching and never was in an Indian fight. She was simply a notorious character, dissolute and devilish, but possessed a generous streak which made her popular.”

How realistic is this film’s claim that Wild Bill was married to her?

On September 6, 1941, the U.S. Department of Public Welfare granted old age assistance to a Jean Hickok Burkhardt McCormick. Jean claimed to be the daughter of Martha Jane Canary and James Butler Hickok and had evidence that they were married at Benson’s Landing, Montana on September 25, 1873. She also had a letter from Jane that said that she had been married to Hickok and that he was het birth father. She was then placed for adoption with a Captain Jim O’Neil and his wife.

When she died — of alcoholism — according to Michael Griske’s The Diaries of John Hunton: Made to Last, Written to Last: Sagas of the Western Frontier, “Four of the men who planned her funeral later stated that Hickok had “absolutely no use” for Jane while he was alive, so they decided to play a posthumous joke on him by burying her by his side.”

The truth is always difficult to divine.

Let’s talk about the movie.

When Jane and Bill make it to Deadwood, they finally decide to walk the aisle. Except that he can’t leave behind the chance to play cards and that ends with Jack McCall (Primo Allon) killing him. As you can imagine, McCall gets out of town before Jane can catch him after she easily escapes from the jail of Sheriff Mason (Tim Rozen).

Mason starts a posse to hunt down both Jane and McCall, as well as a criminal that Jane was in jail with — and who started the riot that got her out — by the name of Abigail (Priscilla Faia) starts to stalk her.

If you’re an Arrow fan, this mini-reunion doesn’t last long. So you may be let down. This also feels like way more talking than action, but the fight between Jane and Abigail is pretty great. I also liked the undertaker character who gets Jane through the Badlands, even if he’s barely in this. But hey — I’m all for new Westerns getting made.

You can watch this on Tubi.