Rating: NR
Genre:
Musical
Release Date: 11/14/2000
SubTitles: English/French
Dubbed: English/French
Sound: 1
Run Time: 107 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Warner Home Video
Judy Garland was originally slated to star in
MGM's film version of
Irving Berlin's
Annie Get Your Gun, but she was forced to pull out of the production due to illness (recently discovered out-takes reveal a gaunt, dazed
Garland, obviously incapable of completing her duties). She was replaced by
Betty Hutton who, once she overcame the resentment of her co-workers, turned in an excellent performance--perhaps the best of her career.
Hutton is of course cast as legendary sharpshooter
Annie Oakley, who ascends from dirty-faced backwoods gamin to the uppermost rungs of international stardom. Her mentor is
Buffalo Bill, played by
Louis Calhern (like
Hutton,
Calhern was a last-minute replacement: the original
Buffalo Bill,
Frank Morgan, died before production began). Annie's great rival is arrogant marksman
Frank Butler (
Howard Keel) with whom she eventually falls in love. She goes so far as to lose an important shooting match to prove her affection--a scene that hardly strikes a blow for feminism, but this is, after all, a 1950 film. Of the stellar supporting cast,
J. Carroll Naish stands out as
Sitting Bull, whose shrewd business acumen is good for several laughs. Virtually all the
Irving Berlin tunes were retained from the Broadway version, including
"Doin' What Comes Naturally",
"You Can't Get a Man with a Gun",
"Anything You Can Do",
"The Girl That I Marry",
"My Defenses are Down",
"They Say It's Wonderful" and the rousing
"There's No Business Like Show Business", which was later tantalizingly excerpted in
MGM's pastiche feature
That's Entertainment II. Alas, due to a complicated legal tangle involving the estates of
Irving Berlin and librettists
Herbert Fields and
Dorothy Fields,
Annie Get Your Gun hasn't been shown on television in years.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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