Annie Get Your Gun (1950)

Intro.

Annie Get Your Gun is one of those musicals whose songs you've heard regardless of whether or not you've seen the movie.  "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Anything You Can Do" have become standards that everyone knows.  The first of those songs captures the spirit of the film - including the off-screen stories.  Judy Garland was set to play Annie Oakley, but her personal hardships kept her from being able to work.  She was replaced not with Ethel Merman, who had originated the role on Broadway, but with Betty Hutton.  Meanwhile, Frank Morgan, who was going to be playing Buffalo Bill, died of a heart attack and was replaced with Louis Calhern.  But the show went on and a classic was born.

Overview    

The film opens with Buffalo Bill's Wild West show coming into a small town in Ohio.  Charming, handsome (somewhat arrogant) Frank Butler (Howard Keel) is the show's star - a sharpshooter who has never been bested at any shooting contest.  That is until a barefoot, dirty-faced girl in a canvas dress steps onto the stage before the show and accepts the challenge to shoot with him.  Annie Oakley (Betty Hutton) beats Frank at his own shooting contest and is immediately signed to join the troop.  As she and her siblings go with the Show across the country, Annie gets cleaned up and starts to act and look more like a lady.  She and Frank also start a romance, but as Annie starts to do more impressive tricks in the act, the obvious strain on Frank's ego gets to be too much and he joins the rival Wild West show run by Pawnee Smith.  Annie, angered by Frank's resentment, vows to win every medal in every shooting contest around the world, and sets off with the Wild West show on a tour of Europe.  Upon their return, Buffalo Bill decides to propose a merger with Pawnee Bill's show - it takes a lot of doing as their two stars have a battle of both egos and rifles in a grand finale.

Highs & Lows

The duets with Hutton and Keel are truly what make this movie shine, especially "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better."  What I noticed the most about this film was the enthusiasm - there is boundless energy not only in Annie, but in almost everyone with whom she interacts.  Her energy's contagious and even the audience will catch it. 


Even with all its upbeat optimism, I did have a few problems with this film.  The most obvious is the depiction of Native Americans.  In addition to only introducing the ones that are part of the Wild West show (they're also the ones always causing trouble in town), but Sitting Bull is not respectfully portrayed.  He adopts Annie Oakley, which is great, but the resulting ceremony and awful song that accompanies it are too much.  The cringe factor is pretty high.


While I appreciate strong female leads, Annie Oakley isn't really sure of herself for much of the film.  She spends the entire film fawning over Frank when she is clearly a better shot, not to mention a better person.  I guess the problem with their relationship is that their egos get in the way (and the battling of egos gets old).  Normally I could see this leading to a lot of great character (and plot) development.  While the plot does develop and stay interesting, the characters don't - there's no change at all.  I think what really did it was the over-the-top style of Annie Oakley and how the idea of a woman being happy only depended on her getting a man.  Her early song in the film, "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" is both humorous and a little sad.  It's funny in that you can't hold a gun on a man to get him to marry you and a bit off putting in that a man will be too intimidated by an independent woman who can handle a gun.  It's a fine line between between being too masculine and too feminine, with Annie walking dangerously on the precipice.  We have seen this storyline elsewhere too - just look at any of the other musical Westerns out there (Calamity Jane and The Harvey Girls come to mind, as does Public Cowboy #1).  What I found annoying was that there wasn't much resolution.  In films like Calamity Jane, we can see the strong female lead change.  It's not just the physical changes either - she starts to empathize with others and understands relationships more.  Although the ending of that film is more in line with 50's values (the "unfeminine" girl puts on a dress and gets married), Annie Oakley doesn't follow suit.  Instead of marriage, she gets a business partnership and equal standing with Frank.  A much better arrangement and what I've come to realize is an atonement for the lack of more character development in the film. 

Review and Recommendation

Annie Get Your Gun will always be a classic - it has its basis roughly in American frontier history, unforgettable showtunes and a certain kind of charm.  It's not my favorite musical or musical Western for reasons like lack of character development, but does have its own merits, particularly the message behind the ending.  And Betty Hutton really does put her heart into her character, which makes her easy to admire and the picture worth watching.