Annie Get Your Gun (B or 3/4 stars)
Judy Garland was originally set to star in MGM's film version of Irving Berlin's 'Annie Get Your Gun', but she was forced to leave the production early in the process (she started filming but out-takes show how skinny, exhausted, dazed, & confused Garland seemed -- she had to depart the project for mental health reasons). Garland was replaced by energetic Betty Hutton who, once she overcame the unwarranted resentment of her co-workers, turned in what was probably the best performance of her career. Hutton plays legendary sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who starts out as a naive, dirty-faced backwoods hillbilly to enjoy success as an international gunshootin' star. Her mentor is Buffalo Bill (played by Louis Calhern, himself a last-minute replacement for Frank Morgan who died of a heart attack).
Annie's great rival in this story is arrogant, but handsome marksman Frank Butler (baritone-voiced Howard Keel) with whom she eventually falls in love {shocker, I know}. After upsetting Frank by becoming the show's main star attraction (thereby losing him), the cunning Chief Sitting Bull (J. Carrol Naish) convinces Annie that it's better to purposely lose an all-important clay-pigeon shooting match to too-proud Frank because that may make him to feel worthy/manly enough to ask her to marry him. She'd have to prove her love by losing to him -- I donnnnn't think feminists would approve, haha. But hey, this movie was made in conservative 1950.
Veteran musical director George Sidney - who replaced initial directors Busby Berkeley & Charlie Waters - does an okaaaay job holding this costume western/romance/comedy/musical together at the helm. Having said that, his direction is a bit too stodgy. He really doesn't have a vision for the material, so to speak. So while the colors captured by the camera are lush, the camerawork lacks versatility. His big production sets/designs are a plenty, but they're also fairly gaudy (which may have been intentional). The costumes & make-up are excellent. The sound mix is stellar. Alllll that's well & good. But I do wish that Sidney had smoothed out the rough edges, so to speak; I mentioned earlier that some of the editing choices were suspect.
As director, Sidney should have supervised all of his craftspeople to make sure that everything jelled smoothly. Of the supporting roles, I liked J. Carroll Naish as a humorous Sitting Bull. Keenan Wynn is solid as the manager of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. And Louis Calhern (1950 was a great year for him; so good in The Magnificent Yankee & also The Asphalt Jungle) gives a nice performance, too. Almost all of the Irving Berlin songs from the Broadway version are in the film, including "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly" (LOVE that), "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" (the editing choices during this number irked me to no end), "I'm an Indian Too" (with quite an elaborate set piece), "There's No Business Like Show Business" (thoroughly rousing), and the climactic "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)" ... and boy is that number a load of fun. The cheeky back-&-forth/call-&-response btwn. Betty Hutton & Howard Keel is great!
This movie was a critical & commercial success with film awards to boot (Hutton rightfully won a Golden Globe for her performance). It's funny, though it made great box office $$, I get the feeling that Middle America loved it more so than the snobby Easterns or hip West Coast; just an inkling. Annnd so, despite my artistic reservations with 'Annie Get Your Gun' (stodgy directing, iffy editing decisions, gaudiness), I DID enjoy an awful lot of it. Hutton's joyful, high-octane performance as the over-the-top Annie Oakley brought a smile to my face; as did those lively, iconic Irving Berlin tunes. Still ... the whole thing really is a tad too hokey.
Annie's great rival in this story is arrogant, but handsome marksman Frank Butler (baritone-voiced Howard Keel) with whom she eventually falls in love {shocker, I know}. After upsetting Frank by becoming the show's main star attraction (thereby losing him), the cunning Chief Sitting Bull (J. Carrol Naish) convinces Annie that it's better to purposely lose an all-important clay-pigeon shooting match to too-proud Frank because that may make him to feel worthy/manly enough to ask her to marry him. She'd have to prove her love by losing to him -- I donnnnn't think feminists would approve, haha. But hey, this movie was made in conservative 1950.
Veteran musical director George Sidney - who replaced initial directors Busby Berkeley & Charlie Waters - does an okaaaay job holding this costume western/romance/comedy/musical together at the helm. Having said that, his direction is a bit too stodgy. He really doesn't have a vision for the material, so to speak. So while the colors captured by the camera are lush, the camerawork lacks versatility. His big production sets/designs are a plenty, but they're also fairly gaudy (which may have been intentional). The costumes & make-up are excellent. The sound mix is stellar. Alllll that's well & good. But I do wish that Sidney had smoothed out the rough edges, so to speak; I mentioned earlier that some of the editing choices were suspect.
As director, Sidney should have supervised all of his craftspeople to make sure that everything jelled smoothly. Of the supporting roles, I liked J. Carroll Naish as a humorous Sitting Bull. Keenan Wynn is solid as the manager of the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show. And Louis Calhern (1950 was a great year for him; so good in The Magnificent Yankee & also The Asphalt Jungle) gives a nice performance, too. Almost all of the Irving Berlin songs from the Broadway version are in the film, including "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly" (LOVE that), "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" (the editing choices during this number irked me to no end), "I'm an Indian Too" (with quite an elaborate set piece), "There's No Business Like Show Business" (thoroughly rousing), and the climactic "Anything You Can Do (I Can Do Better)" ... and boy is that number a load of fun. The cheeky back-&-forth/call-&-response btwn. Betty Hutton & Howard Keel is great!
This movie was a critical & commercial success with film awards to boot (Hutton rightfully won a Golden Globe for her performance). It's funny, though it made great box office $$, I get the feeling that Middle America loved it more so than the snobby Easterns or hip West Coast; just an inkling. Annnd so, despite my artistic reservations with 'Annie Get Your Gun' (stodgy directing, iffy editing decisions, gaudiness), I DID enjoy an awful lot of it. Hutton's joyful, high-octane performance as the over-the-top Annie Oakley brought a smile to my face; as did those lively, iconic Irving Berlin tunes. Still ... the whole thing really is a tad too hokey.