Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Director: George Sidney
Starring: Betty Hutton, Howard Keel
Honors:
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The popular Oscar and Hammerstein Broadway hit that was a bit wild west, a bit of Americana, and completely about showmanship makes its way to the silver screen in the 1950 MGM Technicolor musical Annie Get Your Gun. With its fair share of production issues and casting flubs the musical comes together in a rather memorable piece of classic MGM style that captures the energy of the Broadway show while initiating a new, albeit short lived, star among movie musicals. With all the appeal of Broadway and Hollywood this picture easily became one of the top motion picture attractions of 1950.
Annie Get Your Gun is film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical comedy about a rise of a famed female sharpshooter and her romantic and professional relationship with her greatest rival. In this music filled story Annie Oakley (Betty Hutton) rises from a country simpleton to star. Her remarkable talent with a rifle gets her spotted by famous showman Buffalo Bill (Louis Calhern) who recruits Annie for his traveling show. At first a bit rough around the edges Annie is polished up with the help of new partner and fellow marksmen, Frank Butler (Howard Keel), with whom she is immediately romantically smitten with. However, Frank grows insecure in his standing within the show and breaks away from the partnership, partly out of jealousy of Annie’s growing favor in billing and partly out of business misunderstanding. Buffalo Bill’s idea to merge with a competing show that happens to now employ Frank reunites Annie with her former love. Their rivalry spills over into a skills completion, but ultimately results in Frank proposing to Annie to much celebration.
The film is a happy-go-lucky musical that harkens the vigor of Broadway and the flash of a Hollywood spectacle. Its relative new star delivers a mix of high energy similar to Debbie Reynolds and the entertainment passion of Judy Garland. If you are a lover of the classic Broadway musical you will be happy with most of what is delivered in the stage production showcased with the flash that could only be delivered with flamboyance of an MGM feature. Its lighthearted and full of spunk, but it can also be seen as pure Hollywood fluff. It depends of the taste one may have. The production can be seen as impressive, but at times annoyingly over the top. The film comes from a time when political incorrectness was still the normal so a bit of sexism and racial stereotypes, such as the character of Sitting Bull by J. Carrol Naish, can make many viewers cringe with outdate viewpoints, even though only in fun.
The Oscar and Hammerstein Broadway play featuring the music of Irving Berlin and star Ethel Merman beginning in 1946 was approached with the hefty proposition of $650,000 for film rights. Weary of a motion picture eating into box office numbers it was agreed that the film would not be made until after the Broadway show closed its run in 1949. Ethel Merman would hardly be considered to reprise the role of Annie Oakley having somewhat failed to find an audience in motion pictures during the 1930s even though still creating a draw on Broadway with her booming singing voice. For MGM Annie Get Your Gun was meant was being set up as a vehicle for in-house musical darling Judy Garland to be directed by Busby Berkley.
Waiting for the Broadway play to finish its run proved to allow many faults to fall upon the film production as Garland’s spiral into addictions grew during this period of time and her abrasive relationship with Berkley dating back to her early years proved to push her further into her vices. Berkley would be the first to go, replaced by Charles Waters, but Garland was too far gone and sick becoming apparat early in shooting that the studio had to remove her from the picture, putting the picture in trouble. Scrambling to find a replacement for Garland MGM agreed on Paramount talent Betty Hutton, who yearned for the role and hoping it was to be her big break. Furthermore, Waters was replaced by MGM for another director with experience in large musicals, George Sidney, creating more tension in the film’s restart. Sadly during this time the film’s original Buffalo Bill, Frank Morgan, best known as the Wizard of Oz, passed away and was replaced by Louis Calhern. It was a whirlwind of action to get the production back on track with a delayed release date, but MGM was determined to see the film made for potential financial success.
Hutton would give her all on set as Annie Oakley, but found most of her fellow cast members cold toward her, none more evident than co-star Howard Keel. Many cast and crew members felt Hutton was reason Garland was fired, when Hutton appeared to simply be happy to work on such a project. Under Sidney’s instruction Hutton was directed to act more as a character of Annie than anything else, focusing on her role than reacting to fellow cast member deliveries resulting in the over the top character we see on screen. She plays up Annie for laughs, hamming up her reactions, and delivering a performance that was far larger than the story makes it out to be, avoiding any comparison in style to Ethel Merman. Perhaps due to this her Keel believed Hutton to be more worried about herself than her castmates during shooting, often clashing in styles in their scenes together. It resulted in a contentious relationship between stars portraying a romantic couple on screen as both actors attempted to out act each other most of the time.
Despite the all the tension on set and Hutton’s feeling of being the focus of cast and crew ire in production Annie Get Your Gun plowed through, coming in ahead of schedule and looked to keep the budget manageable considering most of the money was spent before Garland was let go. The film was released to a New York premiere in the summer of 1950 to generally favorable reviews. The success helped propel Howard Keel as a star while Hutton was looking to do the same. Neither the adaption would not be as widely regarded as the Ethel Merman production, nor would the tunes made famous by Merman, including “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” would ever outshine the unique sound on the original Broadway star. The feature proved to be a financial success for MGM and one of the top grossing films of the year. Critically the film was honored enough to receive an Academy Award for Best Score while being nominated for Art Direction, Cinematography, and Editing.
Paramount looked to quickly capitalize on Hutton’s new appeal and cast her alongside of Fred Astaire in Let’s Dance, fast-tracked for a November release in 1950. For Hutton things looked to point her way to stardom. However, Hutton never received great praise for Annie Get Your Gun, paling in comparison to Merman and never receiving the appeal of Garland, whom she replaced. Soon afterwards Hutton shared a dispute with Paramount, leaving the studio to pursue Broadway and later on radio and television, eventually to fall into troubles of her own and never to come close to reaching the heights of feature that made her famous.
For a period of time Annie Get Your Gun would disappear from distribution. A legal battle between the estate of Irving Berlin and MGM kept the film from audiences for an entire generation, hiding away Hutton’s performance for many years. It was for the film’s 50th anniversary in 2000 that audiences would be reintroduced to Annie Get Your Gun as the picture received freedom for distribution once again.
As a motion picture Annie Get Your Gun is on par with the any Hollywood adaptation of a Broadway piece seen from this era. Its slightly silly skewed subject matter lightly based on the real historical figure delivered enough entertainment to make it enjoyable for a single watch, but not constitute enough appeal for repeat viewings for many. The film and Hutton’s performance have their charm, but both can be pretty exasperating depending on a viewer’s taste. Its lighthearted with memorable music and its share of faults to match, leaving behind one of many Broadway classics to have been seen on the silver screen.
Director: George Sidney
Starring: Betty Hutton, Howard Keel
Honors:
Academy Award for Best Original Score
The popular Oscar and Hammerstein Broadway hit that was a bit wild west, a bit of Americana, and completely about showmanship makes its way to the silver screen in the 1950 MGM Technicolor musical Annie Get Your Gun. With its fair share of production issues and casting flubs the musical comes together in a rather memorable piece of classic MGM style that captures the energy of the Broadway show while initiating a new, albeit short lived, star among movie musicals. With all the appeal of Broadway and Hollywood this picture easily became one of the top motion picture attractions of 1950.
Annie Get Your Gun is film adaptation of the popular Broadway musical comedy about a rise of a famed female sharpshooter and her romantic and professional relationship with her greatest rival. In this music filled story Annie Oakley (Betty Hutton) rises from a country simpleton to star. Her remarkable talent with a rifle gets her spotted by famous showman Buffalo Bill (Louis Calhern) who recruits Annie for his traveling show. At first a bit rough around the edges Annie is polished up with the help of new partner and fellow marksmen, Frank Butler (Howard Keel), with whom she is immediately romantically smitten with. However, Frank grows insecure in his standing within the show and breaks away from the partnership, partly out of jealousy of Annie’s growing favor in billing and partly out of business misunderstanding. Buffalo Bill’s idea to merge with a competing show that happens to now employ Frank reunites Annie with her former love. Their rivalry spills over into a skills completion, but ultimately results in Frank proposing to Annie to much celebration.
The film is a happy-go-lucky musical that harkens the vigor of Broadway and the flash of a Hollywood spectacle. Its relative new star delivers a mix of high energy similar to Debbie Reynolds and the entertainment passion of Judy Garland. If you are a lover of the classic Broadway musical you will be happy with most of what is delivered in the stage production showcased with the flash that could only be delivered with flamboyance of an MGM feature. Its lighthearted and full of spunk, but it can also be seen as pure Hollywood fluff. It depends of the taste one may have. The production can be seen as impressive, but at times annoyingly over the top. The film comes from a time when political incorrectness was still the normal so a bit of sexism and racial stereotypes, such as the character of Sitting Bull by J. Carrol Naish, can make many viewers cringe with outdate viewpoints, even though only in fun.
The Oscar and Hammerstein Broadway play featuring the music of Irving Berlin and star Ethel Merman beginning in 1946 was approached with the hefty proposition of $650,000 for film rights. Weary of a motion picture eating into box office numbers it was agreed that the film would not be made until after the Broadway show closed its run in 1949. Ethel Merman would hardly be considered to reprise the role of Annie Oakley having somewhat failed to find an audience in motion pictures during the 1930s even though still creating a draw on Broadway with her booming singing voice. For MGM Annie Get Your Gun was meant was being set up as a vehicle for in-house musical darling Judy Garland to be directed by Busby Berkley.
Waiting for the Broadway play to finish its run proved to allow many faults to fall upon the film production as Garland’s spiral into addictions grew during this period of time and her abrasive relationship with Berkley dating back to her early years proved to push her further into her vices. Berkley would be the first to go, replaced by Charles Waters, but Garland was too far gone and sick becoming apparat early in shooting that the studio had to remove her from the picture, putting the picture in trouble. Scrambling to find a replacement for Garland MGM agreed on Paramount talent Betty Hutton, who yearned for the role and hoping it was to be her big break. Furthermore, Waters was replaced by MGM for another director with experience in large musicals, George Sidney, creating more tension in the film’s restart. Sadly during this time the film’s original Buffalo Bill, Frank Morgan, best known as the Wizard of Oz, passed away and was replaced by Louis Calhern. It was a whirlwind of action to get the production back on track with a delayed release date, but MGM was determined to see the film made for potential financial success.
Hutton would give her all on set as Annie Oakley, but found most of her fellow cast members cold toward her, none more evident than co-star Howard Keel. Many cast and crew members felt Hutton was reason Garland was fired, when Hutton appeared to simply be happy to work on such a project. Under Sidney’s instruction Hutton was directed to act more as a character of Annie than anything else, focusing on her role than reacting to fellow cast member deliveries resulting in the over the top character we see on screen. She plays up Annie for laughs, hamming up her reactions, and delivering a performance that was far larger than the story makes it out to be, avoiding any comparison in style to Ethel Merman. Perhaps due to this her Keel believed Hutton to be more worried about herself than her castmates during shooting, often clashing in styles in their scenes together. It resulted in a contentious relationship between stars portraying a romantic couple on screen as both actors attempted to out act each other most of the time.
Despite the all the tension on set and Hutton’s feeling of being the focus of cast and crew ire in production Annie Get Your Gun plowed through, coming in ahead of schedule and looked to keep the budget manageable considering most of the money was spent before Garland was let go. The film was released to a New York premiere in the summer of 1950 to generally favorable reviews. The success helped propel Howard Keel as a star while Hutton was looking to do the same. Neither the adaption would not be as widely regarded as the Ethel Merman production, nor would the tunes made famous by Merman, including “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” would ever outshine the unique sound on the original Broadway star. The feature proved to be a financial success for MGM and one of the top grossing films of the year. Critically the film was honored enough to receive an Academy Award for Best Score while being nominated for Art Direction, Cinematography, and Editing.
Paramount looked to quickly capitalize on Hutton’s new appeal and cast her alongside of Fred Astaire in Let’s Dance, fast-tracked for a November release in 1950. For Hutton things looked to point her way to stardom. However, Hutton never received great praise for Annie Get Your Gun, paling in comparison to Merman and never receiving the appeal of Garland, whom she replaced. Soon afterwards Hutton shared a dispute with Paramount, leaving the studio to pursue Broadway and later on radio and television, eventually to fall into troubles of her own and never to come close to reaching the heights of feature that made her famous.
For a period of time Annie Get Your Gun would disappear from distribution. A legal battle between the estate of Irving Berlin and MGM kept the film from audiences for an entire generation, hiding away Hutton’s performance for many years. It was for the film’s 50th anniversary in 2000 that audiences would be reintroduced to Annie Get Your Gun as the picture received freedom for distribution once again.
As a motion picture Annie Get Your Gun is on par with the any Hollywood adaptation of a Broadway piece seen from this era. Its slightly silly skewed subject matter lightly based on the real historical figure delivered enough entertainment to make it enjoyable for a single watch, but not constitute enough appeal for repeat viewings for many. The film and Hutton’s performance have their charm, but both can be pretty exasperating depending on a viewer’s taste. Its lighthearted with memorable music and its share of faults to match, leaving behind one of many Broadway classics to have been seen on the silver screen.
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