Annie Get Your Gun (1950)

Better Late Then Never

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

This movie, based on fact and, simultaneously, Annie Oakley's biography, is outstanding and heart-warming. Though it was in the tradition of musicals from the king of motion pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, in addition to the musical numbers such as "Doin What Comes Nat'rally", and "The Girl That I Marry", and "There's No Business Like Show Business", the acting was superb. J. Carroll Naish was excellent as Sitting Bull, the tall and imposing Louis Calhern was convincing as Buffalo Bill, and the almost incomparable Howard Keel was his large self with his melodious voice, and thus was splendid as Frank Butler, whom Annie Oakley married in real life. Just as Annie Oakley "stole the show" in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, so Betty Hutton "stole the show" in this movie about the sharp-shooter herself. Hutton caused the populace to sense well what was Annie Oakley's character. Hutton had no trouble falling into the role, since in real life the actress herself was prone to temper tantrums. It was definitely her signature movie. She played two roles, the illiterate backwards country girl to someone who became sparkling all over the country and over much of Europe. On an unrelated note and yet also on a related note, the movie communicates the fact that anyone from anywhere and from any type of subculture can make of himself or herself anything he or she desires if the person puts the mind to it. The Technicolor was very beautiful and the scenes were beautiful. But again, Betty Hutton did for certain steal the show. Magnificent movie!

The play is surely a classic (from what I've heard) but this is a pretty troubled film.For one, the misogynistic attitude of the Frank Butler character makes Seven Brides for Seven Brothers look progressive by comparison and Annie Oakley is portrayed as so stereotypically backwater that the Beverly Hillbillies would probably have boycotted this film. While we have to accept that cultural values have shifted just a little bit, some of the blame rests with the way Howard Keel and Betty Hutton approached their parts.I hate to say that because they were two of MGM's most underrated treasures but Hutton's aw shucks hillbilly demeanor was over-the-top and her overeffusiveness of Keel's Butler in the opening scene bordered on cartoonish (I was half-expecting a heart to start visibly beating out of her chest like Pepe le Pew). Similarly, Keel's Butler seemed to have little more than a passing interest in Hutton's Annie Oakley and it never really felt like a love story in that respect. Without the chemistry, the film falls apart because it almost seems like Oakley has an unhealthy obsession with this Frank Butler who kissed her once but otherwise treated her like either dirt and Buffalo Bill is just an enabler.The number "Anything you can do I can do better" is still a showstopper and "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" still has some enthusiasm although Hutton's hillbilly diction takes away from it. The film has many of the trademarks of the MGM films of the era with the rich color palette, lavish period details, and orchestral backing to the songs.

World's greatest sharpshooter Howard Keel (as Frank Butler) arrives in Cincinnati, with his troupe, to put on a show for the locals. The late 1880s crowd is excited. Dressed in ragged clothing, local "hillbilly" Betty Hutton (as Annie Oakley) is smitten with the handsome playboy, but Mr. Keel likes women in satin and frills. Keel is seen with a coach full of them and ducks into a hotel with one pretty, well-dressed woman. Although she's also a sharpshooter, Ms. Hutton realizes "you can't get a man with a gun." Hutton must change her style to attract Keel. She enters a sharpshooting contest against Keel, but may lose him if she wins...A book could be written about the problems occurring during the production of "Annie Get Your Gun", with the most obvious being the dispensing of original star Judy Garland, who was taking too long to bounce back from her increasingly health-threatening ingestions. The show was a huge Broadway hit with Ethel Merman and most of the Irving Berlin songs were already popular. Casting Betty Hutton in the lead seemed like an excellent decision. However, it doesn't work. Hutton is energetic and appealing, but her "Annie" is strained and manic. And, producer Arthur Freed's film crew throws it up on the screen in huge close-ups...Editing is an occasional concern. Observe the change in Hutton's gaping mouth when she begins "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun". Her most physically impressive number should have been opened with more care. Later, she's thrown to the ground under a heavy necklace, dragged around, and seems annoyed (or angry) while performing the humorless "I'm an Indian Too". There is not enough humor in this version of the play. TV sitcom writers spent years making sexism, hillbillies and Indians funny, but there isn't much wit in the script or performances. This material needs to be more playful, and fun. The film simply doesn't add up.**** Annie Get Your Gun (5/17/50) George Sidney ~ Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern, J. Carrol Naish

Out of MGM, Annie Get Your Gun is primarily directed by George Sidney and adapted for the screen by Sidney Sheldon from the book written by Dorothy & Herbert Fields. It stars Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Benay Venuta, Louis Calhern & J. Carrol Naish. Music is by Irving Berlin and photography is by Charles Rosher. It is a Technicolor production. It's loosely based on the life of sharpshooting Annie Oakley and this film production comes after the immense success of the stage play that began its run in 1946. Plot sees Hutton as Annie Oakley, a simple backwoods kinda girl, who after beating famed sharpshooter Frank Butler (Keel) in a contest, goes on to be world famous. But with fame comes tribulations, not least is that she has a thing for Frank.Ebullient and colorful musical that asks you to leave history at the door and just enjoy the ride. The film famously had a troubled production, Judy Garland (Annie) had to leave due to ill health, Frank Morgan (Buffalo Bill) passed away and George Sidney was the third director to work on the film after Busby Berkeley and Charles Walters had left the lot. Even after the new cast and team reconvened there was bad feeling on set, with most of it aimed towards Hutton purely because she had replaced Garland. Post the film's major success, a dispute between MGM and Irving Berlin meant the film was pulled from circulation in 1973 and wasn't seen again till 2000. Thankfully since then a whole new era of musical fans can now enjoy, along with the older supporters, this marvellous piece of entertainment. With show stopping tunes like "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun", "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Anything you Can Do" bursting out from the screen like rays of sunshine, it's film to light up the darkest of days when you're feeling blue. Oh and for the record, Hutton is an absolute delight, attacking the lead role with a zest that belies the bad time she was getting off camera. Great comic timing, too. 8/10