After years of being withheld because of legal complications, this delightful film has finally been rereleased in a gorgeously restored video and DVD. I bet it will make its longtime fans very happy, and it will make new converts, like me, very grateful to finally get to see what all the fuss is about. Remarkably, none of the infamous production woes this film suffered (If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the other comments) show in the exuberant, highly entertaning final product, which is a generally faithful recreation of the classic Broadway show and features that unbeatable Irving Berlin score in beautfiul and Oscar-winning orchestrations, gorgeous and Oscar-nominated cinemetography and design, and wonderful performances from the entire cast. Betty Hutton is perfectly cast as sharp-shootin' Annie Oakely, combining amazing physical energy, a powerhouse though somewhat odd singing voice, and genuine warmth and even vulnerability in what just might be her best film role. Howard Keel, in what I think is his film debut as her on and offstage partner, Frank Butler, is perfectly comfortable in front of the camera, genial as ever and possessing that robust baritone that would be shown to great advantage in other classic MGM musicals of the 1950s. The rest of the cast is all first-rate, and they all perform the wonderful score extremely well. Yes, the depictions of Native Americans and some of the demeaning things Annie has to go through are not polically correct, but this comes from another era, and as others have noted, the sheer joy in every frame of the film can easily make you forget all that. There truly is no buisiness like show buisiness, and there's no movie like this movie!
Review of Annie Get Your Gun
Annie Get Your Gun
(1950)
You can't get a man with a gun, but you can get this movie... finally!
26 December 2000