davidallen-84122 Now,I'm the first one to abhor overacting (there is one particular leading lady that I can't watch anymore) but I think Betty Hutton is the perfect Annie Oakley. I'm not interested in comparing her to anyone else;Betty is in the finished product and that's it.Most of the other reviews indicate that "Annie Get Your Gun" is remembered,and newly appreciated,with joy and affection.That's what entertainment is all about.Every song bounces off the screen and I love all of them.'There's No Business Like Show Business' is thrilling and Betty responds to the men with both vulnerability and unbridled enthusiasm.By the time 'They Say It's Wonderful' comes along we are ready for romance and I relish the way Betty positively purrs in response to Howard Keel's masculine charm (the whisper in her voice is exactly right for this lovely duet).Betty Hutton may have been a force to be reckoned with,on and off screen but she deserves recognition as a truly unique talent,never more so than with her ebullient interpretation of Annie Oakley.

mark.waltz Why do people quibble over the alleged sexism, racism and the censorship ripping political correctness of a 70 year old Broadway show and the slightly younger movie version? This is not the history channel presenting the "true" story of the sharpshooting Annie Oakley, but a tall tale based on someone's vision of what would make good entertainment and its investors some money in 1946, greatly increased when MGM bought the film rights. It serves its purpose, just like stories of Calamity Jane and Molly Brown did when they were adapted into musicals. Betty Hutton scored a triumph in 1950, just like Ethel Merman did four years before.Feisty, frenetic and funny, Hutton was an excellent choice to replace the ailing Judy Garland who honestly needed to be replaced because of her personal issues at the time. Hutton, wearing a ton of fake tanning cream, sings the heck out of Irving Berlin and Dorothy Fields' score, perhaps not ideal to her detractors, but celebrated by the public at large who made this her biggest screen success. Howard Keel's Frank Butler may not be an accurate account of the real long time partner and husband of Annie, but serves the role perfectly, appropriately macho when need be, and definitely romantic in his songs.There really is no business like show business, and when it's done right, it can be sensational even when far from perfect. A rousing ensemble opens the film with Keel, Keenan Wynn and Benay Venuta singing of Louis Calhern's colonel Buffalo Bill. Edward Arnold, Clinton Sundberg and J. Carroll Naish also add character to the supporting performances. At times, Hutton seems to be trying to out loud Merman in her singing (having been given the Merm treatment when she played a featured role opposite her in "Panama Battle" on Broadway), but does tone it down in the proper places, particularly "They Say It's Wonderful"). My favorite moment comes with "I Got the Sun in the Morning" which has a very energetic dance. I'm off of my p.c. bandwagon when I watch these old films with long gone ideals that present women as subservient and natives of American soil as savages or full of "ug" and grunts or half sentences. The supporting cast is very funny, the sings and dances rigorous and energetic, and the soft romantic scenes sweet. So I don't take this as definitive, but I'll take what I can get because even with ideals of an era long gone, they have more artistic merit and fun than the agenda driven manipulating dreck of the modern era.

cricket crockett . . . broke Americans need gun stamps. Ms. Oakley enters this picture on the verge of her first major payday--a whopping $4! With four younger siblings in her charge, Ms. Oakley's only means of support is a popgun-sized inherited rifle. Even though she is "the world's greatest shot," it takes a ton of lucky breaks to move Annie toward "Easy Street." Annie hails from Ohio, the "Buckeye" state. Inflation no doubt has raised the cost of buckshot there ten-fold since Ms. Oakley's "Gay Nineties" heyday (that is, the 1890's, as they were known). Plus, not everyone inherits a fine fire arm in perfect working order. (Even Annie cannot hit the broad side of a barn when Chief Sitting Bull alters her sights so that anything she can't do will be Worser than her true love, the former "world's greatest shot," Frank Butler, in their final shoot-off.) When Annie gets her gun, she moves from a struggling subsistence level life-style to an opulent one, complete with the means for hired child care and much fancier clothes. But where would Annie have gotten WITHOUT HER GUN?? Our Second Amendment rights are totally useless, unless we have at least one gun! What's the value of having food stamps if the first jerk who comes along with a gun can steal them from you? (Plus, when you read the Constitution, you will NOT run across any mention of "food rights"!) ANNIE GET YOUR GUN sounds a clarion call: Broke Americans Need Gun Stamps--please support your local chapter of B.A.N.G.S. today!

movie-viking A fun movie partly based on Real Life Annie Oakley, girl sharpshooter. Yes, Oakley really did shoot a cigarette out of the mouth of the German Kaiser. Imagine if she had missed...would we still have had WW1 later on???Native Americans are the leaders in some of this film (they have to finance some of the shows--some counsel naiive Annie). This is slightly advanced for 1950, in giving Native Americans the positions of the better counselors for this young naiive girl. Lots of fun songs, fun moments, and Betty Hutton as the Naiive but Talented Annie Oakley.Betty Hutton seemed to BECOME her roles (or...perhaps directors cast her in roles that resembled the real life exuberant Betty Hutton). The only awkward moment for me was the "I'm an Indian Too" song...where she dances with Native Americans (who actually appear to be true native Americans, not white people with dark makeup). They dance beautifully, but Hutton's naiive mugging doesn't work for me...in this scene.