Annie Get Your Gun

Annie Oakley, whom nobody can beat with a rifle, joins Buffalo Bill's travelling show. Between her and the show's star Frank Butler, love and rivalry start together. Her winning breaks the relationship, and the question becomes not who is better but who can accept it. George Sidney directed. The songs are Irving Berlin's. Betty Hutton plays Annie, Howard Keel plays Frank. The part was originally Judy Garland's. After shooting a few scenes she was dismissed by the studio over her health and her absences, Hutton was brought in, and the film was shot again. Garland's footage was released years later. Berlin's songs carry the film; There's No Business Like Show Business spread from this production. Its problem today is the representation of Native Americans, particularly the treatment of the Sitting Bull character, which belongs to the templates of its period. It did large business and won the Oscar for its musical direction. Who it is for: viewers who like classic MGM musicals. Who it is not for: anyone troubled by the period's view of race and gender.