Hi,
Sorry if I don't read your newest reviews or return your rates at the moment but ciao's new lay...
Hi,
Sorry if I don't read your newest reviews or return your rates at the moment but ciao's new layout is beyond a joke. xx
Member since:08.02.2008
Reviews:277
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A musical for me should have a strong story and songs that have you singing along for days. It should also have a cast of strong performances and characters that you love from the start. For me therefore Annie Get Your Gun is the perfect musical as it certainly ticks all of these boxes as well as many, many more.
Annie get your gun was released in 1950 and stars Betty Hutton and Howard Keel in a sharp shooting adventure based on the fantastic Broadway performance.
Annie Get Your Gun is in short a boy-meets-girl story but the musical score and acting performances as well as the extremely well written script make it so much more than this. Annie Oakley (Betty Hutton) has spent her life "Doin' what comes naturally" that invariably means being your average country girl with a gun slung over her arm and a trail of brothers and sisters behind her. Frank Butler (Howard Keel) is a well-known sharpshooter in Colonel Buffalo Bills Show and when Annie meets him she is instantaneously gob-smacked. Despite her initial attempts however Butler is under no impression that how Annie behaves is "How the girl that I marry" should.
Annie however is not going to give up quite so easily and is certain that anything he can do she can do better and goes hell-for-leather to prove it too him. In her own right Annie becomes extremely successful and well sought after but she still doesn't have the one thing she wanted. To win him over however Annie must first realise that "You can't get a man with a gun" and try to win his heart by simply allowing the winner in their duals and fights to be love.
Annie Get Your Gun is a film I absolutely adored from the first time I watched it. The musical score is one of the best I have heard and includes many songs you already know even if it is only vaguely. The actors themselves all have wonderfully powerful voices that suit the style of songs being sung and make the tracks themselves so memorable you will not simply be singing them for days but probably weeks and maybe even years, if you're anything like me that is. Some of the songs are quite poignant, other simply show tunes and others marvellously humorous and it is this blend and range that makes the whole film such a joy to watch.
The actors themselves all pull out sterling performances and really throw all their cards on the table. From the word go Hutton and Keel produce characters that you not only identify with but also begin to love and rally behind. The emotion that all actors in the film put into their performances is brilliant yet at the same time they all manage to add a comic element to their characters as well. This in my opinion is a real achievement because in all too many films the characters are too easily stereotyped and the humour quickly degenerates to slapstick comedy, which parodies the emotions being shown. In Annie Get Your Gun however this is certainly not the case allowing the storyline to filter through in a heart-felt yet at the same time light-hearted sort of way.
Despite the storyline seeming pretty straight forward at the start there are a couple of twisty parts to the story, which help keep your interest, although to be quite honest the music easily does this on its own.
In my opinion therefore Annie Get Your Gun is one of the best musical films I have ever seen. The music is compelling but at the same time the acting and overall feel of the film is strong. This film is certainly something that you can watch with your children or grandchildren or any other children under your care as it will keep both them and you entertained for its 104-minute duration. Go on give it a try!
Pictures of Annie Get Your Gun (DVD)
The two leads
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Sep 2nd, 2008
very helpful by (100%):
