John Chard

Annie get your gun, your man and lift the ceiling off of those rafters. Out of MGM, Annie Get Your Gun is primarily directed by George Sidney and adapted for the screen by Sidney Sheldon from the book written by Dorothy & Herbert Fields. It stars Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Benay Venuta, Louis Calhern & J. Carrol Naish. Music is by Irving Berlin and photography is by Charles Rosher. It is a Technicolor production. It's loosely based on the life of sharpshooting Annie Oakley and this film production comes after the immense success of the stage play that began its run in 1946. Plot sees Hutton as Annie Oakley, a simple backwoods kinda girl, who after beating famed sharpshooter Frank Butler (Keel) in a contest, goes on to be world famous. But with fame comes tribulations, not least is that she has a thing for Frank. Ebullient and colorful musical that asks you to leave history at the door and just enjoy the ride. The film famously had a troubled production, Judy Garland (Annie) had to leave due to ill health, Frank Morgan (Buffalo Bill) passed away and George Sidney was the third director to work on the film after Busby Berkeley and Charles Walters had left the lot. Even after the new cast and team reconvened there was bad feeling on set, with most of it aimed towards Hutton purely because she had replaced Garland. Post the film's major success, a dispute between MGM and Irving Berlin meant the film was pulled from circulation in 1973 and wasn't seen again till 2000. Thankfully since then a whole new era of musical fans can now enjoy, along with the older supporters, this marvellous piece of entertainment. With show stopping tunes like "Doin' What Comes Natur'lly", "You Can't Get a Man With a Gun", "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Anything you Can Do" bursting out from the screen like rays of sunshine, it's film to light up the darkest of days when you're feeling blue. Oh and for the record, Hutton is an absolute delight, attacking the lead role with a zest that belies the bad time she was getting off camera. Great comic timing, too. 8/10