Monday, October 3, 2011

1950 - ANNIE GET YOUR GUN, MGM musical is borderline offensive until it finally becomes offensive.


The life of sharpshooter Annie Oakley as she sings and shoots her way into America's hearts, with songs by Irving Berlin.



Betty Hutton replaced the pill popping Judy Garland after Garland had shot a couple of the musical numbers and recorded the score.  Hutton was always an aggravating actor in about any film she ever appeared in.  A woman possessed of a very obnoxious personality on screen.  Hutton was not one to underplay a song or a scene.



The dubious premise of Annie Get Your Gun is, in order for  sharpshooter Annie Oakley to get her man, sharpshooting rival Frank Butler.  Annie Oakley has to deliberately miss the target during a shooting contest between the two of them.  In real life, Frank Butler realized that Oakley was a better shot them him, so he he married her,  retired from performing and managed her career.  Apparently he didn't have a problem with his male ego getting in the way of her success.




The film has something to offend everyone, from stereotypical native Americans, pigging out on french pastries to MGM's lurid photography that wouldn't have been out of place in a Hammer horror film.

The whole thing is just an exercise in tastelessness.  This is the flip side of the "Golden Age of MGM Musicals."

107 minutes.

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