Annie Get Your Gun

Director: George Sidney
Year Released: 1950
Rating: 3.0

Broadway staple has the rootinest, tootinest gunslinger from Ohio, Annie Oakley (Betty Hutton), joining up with Buffalo Bill (not the serial killer) and Sitting Bull to put on a Wild West Extravaganza and, most importantly, seduce the narcissistic Frank Butler (a rival sharpshooter). The Native-American scenes make me uncomfortable and the story itself is thin, though the subtext is outrageous: Oakley has to basically 'emasculate' herself in front of Butler - by losing to him in a shooting contest - in order for him to marry her (essentially, he's intimidated by her phallic power)! The musical numbers are memorable ("There's No Business Like Show Business" has to be tongue-in-cheek) and Hutton's performance is decent (though, as some have said, not as good as Ethel Merman's turn in the role).