Annie Get Your Gun (1950)

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   Siskoid

   If Annie Get Your Gun is at all cringy today, it's because of the way it treats Native Americans - nothing new in old Hollywood flicks, but it could be argued we're seeing the kind of Native that was portrayed in Wild West shows like Buffalo Bill's, i.e. a period caricature. And Betty Hutton as Annie Oakley certainly plays it like a cartoon. She's right out of Tex Avery at times. So in the end, this musical comes off as amusing even when it's wrong-headed. If it doesn't do well by its Native characters, it manages a certain feminism in Annie herself. Lovelorn yes, and the ending is right out of The Taming of the Shrew, but she was raised without gender norms and would never think of being less than she is to satisfy a man's fragile ego. That fragile ego is supplied by Howard Keel, who's made a career of playing misogynists who've found their match (Seven Brides, Kiss Me Kate) and apparently, he wasn't all that different in real life. Here, he's a loud-singing dandy who doesn't deserve Annie, except that it's a biopic, so she sort of has to end up with this peacock. Heck, I don't think his horse appreciated him much either. And of course, none of this would play if it wasn't filled with memorable songs, many of them classics in fact, supported by strong choreography, lots of humor, and the odd rodeo action. Some of it is dated, yes, but some of it is eternal. 5 years 8 months ago

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