Very disappointed
When I was a little girl, my mom had the broadway soundtrack on LP and I listened to it a lot. I believe that was Judy Garland singing. So after all these years I finally get to see the movie and it did not even come close to that soundtrack I used to listen to. I am a big fan of musicals. I loved Calamity Jane and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Howard Keel), but this one just made me roll my eyes through the whole thing.

My husband and I watched a biography of Annie Oakley's life on the History Channel a few weeks before watching this movie. This may be partially to blame for the hatred I have for this movie. I realize there is not a lot of historical accuracy in a musical and it's for fun, etc. But this actually made me want to throw up in my mouth a little bit. I'm sure I lost my sense of humor, but oh my God! The whole premise of the movie was how oooie goooie she was about this guy that used her, treated her like crap and in the end, she throws a shooting match against him so he will feel like a man... enough to marry her anyway. The whole thing was ridiculous and pathetic.

Annie Get Your Gun--Excellent transfer to DVD
My review is limited to the picture and audio quality of the DVD transfer. The musical itself is excellent and a classic. Other reviews describe the plot and cast, etc. The transfer to DVD is outstanding! The picture is sharp and the colors are rich, deep, and accurate. The sound is also quite good. The film is fairly old, predating widescreen, so the format is full screen. It is hard to believe that such an old film could look so good! A fantastic restoration job.

There's no business like show business...
As fans of most of the musicals, Annie Get Your Gun, satisfies that toe tapping desire. Betty Hutton and Howard Keel have a great sound. The "love conquers all" theme reminds one to realize it's not always about winning.

Betty Hutton is a hoot!
This is one fun musical. Sure Betty Hutton plays it a little over the top, but she is still a hoot. The bonus features show some footage shot with Judy Garland before she ditched the project. It's tough to say who played Annie best as the two actresses had such different personalities and acting styles. For me a truly superior musical must have songs that I remember and hum for days afterwards. The songs in this film fit the bill and Hutton and Keel do them justice. My favorites are "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun", "There's No Business Like Show Business" and "Anything you can do I can do better." You'll not regret adding this film to collection of great musicals and you'll be singing along for days afterwards!

A Big Bulls-Eye for Berlin and Betty
A thinly plotted, often cartoonish, back-lot MGM musical (with lavish production values), it's common to give this movie a pass primarily on the basis of its bright, powerful collection of Irving Berlin songs. But watching it after many years, I find it hard to take my attention away from Betty Hutton's performance, which rivals that of Doris Day in "Calamity Jane."

Hutton defies the stereotypical glamorous Hollywood movie queen even more than Doris, slight of build with pugnacious, squeezed and terrier-like facial features, but nevertheless radiating screen presence that must have threatened to overwhelm even the largest Rialto screens. She goes from ornery to dumb to feisty to romantic, yet never relinquishes an iota of her essentially androgynous, winning and winsome character. Whether admiring her or wanting to hug her, she's got you hooked all the way. In fact, I was more than a little surprised to discover that it's not the male lead but Annie who introduces the seductively soft and inviting "They Say That Falling In Love Is Wonderful." When Howard Keel eventually joins her midway in the song, it's as though a bellowing bull has mistaken an intimate chamber room for the pasture.

No doubt some present-day viewers will be distracted by the resolution of the plot, which owes a generous royalty to Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew." But as with Shakespeare's "tamed" Bianca, the audience is fully in on the deception at the final shooting match. When it comes to who's the real sharp-shooter, the true minister of munitions, the expert in the use of fire arms, there can't be a shred of doubt in the viewer's mind. Had the movie gone as planned, with Judy Garland playing Annie (she became indisposed by illness), the whole business could easily have become cloying and sidetracked. With the irrepressible and irresistible Hutton, the big ship stays on course, moving briskly on its way to a dead-center bulls-eye.

Finally, kudos to MGM or Warner Home Video for the sharp shine of the print quality of this edition. It puts the equally compelling if not better "Calamity Jane" to shame, even though the latter film came three years after "Annie."