A loud, garish, headache-inducing screen adaptation of the stage musical, with an unwatchable performance by Betty Hutton in the title role.
Hutton mugs and grimaces her way through the film like she's performing on the biggest of big Broadway stages, an acting technique that, when confined to the cozy quarters of your living room, sails right past annoying and becomes downright disturbing. There's a fun story to be had, and a boatload of popular Irving Berlin songs, but it's all ruined by the leading lady.
Louis Calhern shows up briefly as Buffalo Bill, which, taken together with his performance as an oily villain in "The Asphalt Jungle" and his Oscar-nominated turn as Oliver Wendell Holmes in "The Magnificent Yankee," made him perhaps the most prolific actor of 1950.
The DVD of "Annie Get Your Gun" shows some early takes of Judy Garland in the role, before her failing health caused her to be replaced. Even wan and obviously not well, Garland's scenes tease us with the promise of what might have been had she been cast instead of Hutton. Alas....
Grade: C-
Hutton mugs and grimaces her way through the film like she's performing on the biggest of big Broadway stages, an acting technique that, when confined to the cozy quarters of your living room, sails right past annoying and becomes downright disturbing. There's a fun story to be had, and a boatload of popular Irving Berlin songs, but it's all ruined by the leading lady.
Louis Calhern shows up briefly as Buffalo Bill, which, taken together with his performance as an oily villain in "The Asphalt Jungle" and his Oscar-nominated turn as Oliver Wendell Holmes in "The Magnificent Yankee," made him perhaps the most prolific actor of 1950.
The DVD of "Annie Get Your Gun" shows some early takes of Judy Garland in the role, before her failing health caused her to be replaced. Even wan and obviously not well, Garland's scenes tease us with the promise of what might have been had she been cast instead of Hutton. Alas....
Grade: C-