Thursday, March 19, 2015

March 19 - Annie Get Your Gun

Today’s movie is a musical comedy-romance with scenes that happen on March 19. Watch this film tonight and enjoy.

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN                                    

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show arrives in Cincinnati, Ohio, led by its star, the egoistic marksman, Frank Butler. Rustic Annie Oakley meets frank and falls instantly in love with him, but is devastated when she realizes she’s not the type of girl Frank likes. Everyone is shocked when Annie beats Frank in a shooting contest and she is persuaded to join the Wild West Show. They continue on tour and Annie tries to improve herself to become Frank’s ideal woman, as Frank begins to fall for her. However, on March 19, 1884, at the behest of Buffalo Bill, Annie performs a new shooting stunt that Frank thinks is designed to supplant him as the star of the show and he joins Pawnee Bill’s show instead. That same day Annie meets Chief Sitting Bull, who is so impressed with Annie that he nicknames her “Little Sure Shot” and symbolically adopts her. [43:15 to 1:07:48] The show tours Europe, where Annie is awarded many jewel-laden medals for her shooting prowess.  The return to the USA broke due to high expenses. Pawnee Bill is also broke and proposes the shows merge, offering as the reason that Frank and Annie can get back together. Upon discovering their mutual poverty Pawnee Bill and Buffalo Bill call off the deal, but Annie offers to sell her jeweled medals to raise the necessary cash. Frank and Annie seem to reconcile, until they fight about who is the better shot. Annie challenges Frank to a shooting contest, with her jewels as the prize. Annie loses, due to Sitting Bull tampering with her sights, so the show’s merger will occur. However, Frank realizes he does love Annie so they marry and merge the two shows with the couple as the star attraction.

Annie Oakley by Shirl Kaspor (University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK, 1992) p. 26 gives the date Annie met Sitting Bull

Producers - Arthur Freed and Roger Edens

Director - George Sidney

Screenplay - Sidney Sheldon

Awards – The film won the Best Original Score Oscar. It was also nominated for the Best Art Direction, Best Color Cinematography and Best Film Editing Oscars at the 23rd Academy Awards.

Released – May 17, 1950

Runtime – 1 hour 47 minutes

Starring - Betty Hutton as Annie Oakley, Howard Keel as Frank E. Butler, Benay Venuta as Dolly Tate, Louis Calhern as Buffalo Bill, J. Carrol Naish as Chief Sitting Bull, Edward Arnold as Pawnee Bill, Keenan Wynn as Charlie Davenport, Clinton Sundberg as Foster Wilson

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2015







No comments:

Post a Comment