Annie Get Your Gun
Directed by George Sidney
Written by Sidney Sheldon from the book of the musical “Annie Get Your Gun” by Herbert and Dorothy Fields
1950/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Repeat viewing/TCM DVD
If I went to battle with someone’s herd of cattle
You’d have steak when the job was done
But, if I shot the herder, they’d holler bloody murder
And you can’t shoot a male in the tail like a quail
Oh you can’t get a man with a gun — “You Can’t Get A Man With A Gun”,lyrics by Irving Berlin
Nice solid rendition of a classic stage musical. Betty Hutton is no Ethel Merman but you can’t have everything.
It is the second half of the 19th Century. Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show arrives in an Ohio town. PR man Charlie Davenport (Keenan Wynne) tries to set up a shooting contest on an innkeeper’s property in exchange for rooms. The innkeeper is having none of it. Then he is offered game birds by backwoods Annie Oakley (Hutton), who has downed them with a single shot to the head – no buckshot in his diners’ teeth. After more demonstrations of her shooting prowess, the innkeeper decides to take the show up on its bet – $100 if his “man” can beat sharpshooter Frank Butler (Howard Keel).
Annie takes one look at ladies man Butler and swoons. She has never seen anything so pretty. But she easily defeats him in the contest and his ego can’t handle it. Nevertheless, Wild Bill (Louis Calhern) needs a gimmick for his failing show and decides a female sharpshooter is just the thing.
Annie starts out more or less as Frank’s second banana and the two fall in love. Then Buffalo Bill and Charlie talk her into doing her special surprise trick to bring in a crowd. The spectacular feat of marksmanship sends Frank running for the hills. Chief Sitting Bull (J. Carol Naish) is so impressed, though, he adopts Annie as his daughter and invests in the show. Annie then makes a big splash with the crowned heads of Europe. She finds Frank waiting when she gets home. Who will blink first in the battle of the sexes?
This movie is faithful to the play and is more or less one hit song after another. It is opened up to show several wild west show acts but has little to no dancing. Howard Keel sure had a beautiful baritone. I like the musical play and enjoyed this.
Annie Get Your Gun won the Academy Award for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. It was nominated in the categories of Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration-Color; and Best Film Editing.
Clip – “There’s No Business Like Show Business”
Bonus Clip – Judy Garland sings “Doin’ What Comes Natur’lly” before she left the production for health reasons.
