Annie Get Your Gun (1950)

The Buffalo Bill Cody show stops in Cincinnati and world-famous marksman Frank Butler (Howard Keel) offers to square off against the best shot around as a promotional ploy.

Out of the woods comes Annie Oakley (Betty Hutton) and her younger siblings, offering to sell buckshot-free pigeons to a hotel owner because she can drill a bird in the head every time.

Irritated by the show people who want to take over his property, the hotel owner comes up with the idea of pitting Annie against Frank Butler. To Butler’s amazement and embarrassment, Annie wins.

But she isn’t about to gloat. She’s mesmerized by the good-looking, sharp-dressing sharpshooter and agrees to join the Buffalo Bill show and perform a couple of tricks each night under his tutelage.

All is dandy until the show gets into financial trouble and Buffalo Bill (Louis Calhern) and promoter Charlie Davenport (Keenan Wynn) decide it’s time to dust off a new trick Annie has been working on. She guns down targets from horseback and becomes the show’s new sensation.

His pride wounded, Frank heads off to join a rival show. Meanwhile, the show’s new star Annie collects medals all across Europe, but finally comes to the conclusion that “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun.”

Review:

More entertaining than you’d expect given the film’s early problems. Judy Garland was cast in the role of Annie, but was fired from the film after a month. Frank Morgan was to play the part of Buffalo Bill, but died shortly after filming began. And two directors were fired from the picture.

Betty Hutton’s engaging performance is largely responsible for the film’s success, as well as a number of fun song and dance numbers, including “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” “Anything You Can Do” and the aforementioned “You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun.”

This marked the first musical for Howard Keel, who would go on to star in a number for MGM, most notably “Seven Brides for Seven Brothers” (1954). He also appeared in a number of far less entertaining serious Westerns.

Directed by:
George Sidney

Cast:
Betty Hutton … Annie Oakley
Howard Keel … Frank Butler
Louis Calhern … Buffalo Bill Cody
J. Carrol Naish … Chief Sitting Bull
Edward Arnold … Pawnee Bill
Keenan Wynn … Charlie Davenport
Benay Venuta … Dolly Tate
Clinton Sunberg … Foster Wilson

Runtime: 107 min.

Memorable lines:

Sitting Bull, being pitched an investment in Buffalo Bill’s show: “Sitting Bull live by three rules. Keep bow tight. Keep arrow sharp. No put money in show business.”
Charlie Davenport: “How did we ever get the country away from them?”

Frank Butler, seeing a poster advertising Annie for the first time: “I told you to put her name up some place, not to make a star of her. She’s only doing a couple little tricks.”
Annie’s reaction: “Jumping buffalo. It’s me. Wait til Frank sees it!”

Charlie Davenport to Frank Butler: “Why you’re so conceited, if you fell in love with anybody else it’d be a triangle.”

Frank Butler: “What a wife she’d make. Instead of tending the house, she’d be tending her guns. Instead of staying home sewing, she’d be out hitting targets.”
Annie Oakley: “Yeah, and you’d be out missing ’em.”