Truly Dreadful Film

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

Directed by George Stevens, with a story by Joseph Fields and Ewart Adamson that was adapted by Joel Sayre and John Twist, this biographical Western drama about the famous sharpshooting woman features Barbara Stanwyck in the title role.Preston Foster plays Toby Walker, another "hot shot" that's Annie's rival and "on again, off again" love interest. Melvyn Douglas plays Jeff Hogarth, their agent and business partner of "Buffalo Bill" Cody (Moroni Olsen), whose Wild West road show serves as the backdrop for most of the film's action. Chief Thunderbird plays Sitting Bull, another attraction of the show which brought authentic Western "culture" - trick shooting, horseback riding, cattle roping, cowboys & Indians, and other rodeo type action - to the Eastern United States and even the Kings & Queens of Europe et al.Others in the cast include Pert Kelton as Vera Delmar, a former love interest of Walker's, Andy Clyde as Cincinnati hotel proprietor James MacIvor, where Annie was "discovered", and Delmar Watson, who appears briefly as Annie's little brother Wesley. Additionally, actors appearing uncredited include Willie Best as a cook, Iron Eyes Cody as Sitting Bull's interpreter, and Dick Elliott as Major Ned Buntline, one of the show's other talent agents.The story is fictionalized: detailing the discovery of the backwoods teenage girl who could shoot flying pigeons in the head so as to not ruin them for consumption, her competition with sure shot world champion Frank Butler, dubbed Walker in the film, at MacIvor's (really Jack Frost's) hotel (ladies weren't supposed to be able to do the things that men could, back then; they weren't even allowed to enter a saloon), her signing with Buffalo Bill's traveling show, meeting Indian Chief Sitting Bull (who dubbed her "Watanya cicilia" or "Little Sure Shot"), and the chow's European tour.Though this film doesn't have Annie and Toby marry (as she did Frank in real life, and in the musical Annie Get Your Gun (1950) with Betty Hutton and Howard Keel), it does end on a particularly happy note.

This film is listed under the "western" genre, but it is not a western, unless you consider Cincinnati part of the wild west. Also it is listed as a drama, which is true, but it also contains comedic elements, often attributable to the Sitting Bull character.People write about how fictionalized the story is, but actually many of the main elements of the story are true.In the film, Toby Walker (Preston Foster) is a sharpshooter from New York who visits Cincinnati for an exhibition. There he signs a contract to perform in Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. Most of that is true, though his real name was Frank Butler and he was from Ireland.While in Cincinnati, he makes a wager with a local inn owner that he can beat any challenger. The innkeeper calls on Annie Oakley (Barbara Stanwyck) to do the shooting. In real life, the name "Annie Oakley" came shortly afterward and Annie wins the contest, unlike in the film where she loses intentionally because she feels sorry for Toby.Annie also signs up with Buffalo Bill and the story follows both trick shooters on the tour. I will not detail the remaining storyline, but it bears a resemblance to "A Star is Born".As depicted, Annie really was from Ohio--a small hamlet named North Star. She was born in a log cabin and actually had a very hard childhood.Toby Walker is portrayed as a rather nasty guy, at least at first. The same approach was later used in "Annie Get Your Gun" on stage and screen. But the film has a great Hollywood ending.The depiction of the Wild West Shows is abbreviated but accurate. It is almost like viewing a piece of history. When the film starts, the year is approximately 1875. The Battle of Little Bighorn took place in 1876, so tales of "dangerous" Indians were current. Sitting Bull really did join the show for about four months, though it was later, approximately 1884. He and Annie did develop a special bond.My point in mentioning this bit of history is to explain that the timing in the film may not have been totally accurate, but the appearance of Sitting Bull in the Wild West Show was a remarkable thing, so it is understandable that the script writers wanted to include him in the story.The film does a good job of portraying Annie as the nearly mythical person she actually was. I like Barbara Stanwyck's portrayal. Though Ms. Stanwyck might be more of a looker than Annie, the real Frank Butler did marry her and was dedicated to her throughout his lifetime.

It's only recently that I fully began to appreciate the talents of Barbara Stanwyck. Her peak was a little before my time, but I remembered her well from "The Big Valley", where she was always billed as Miss Barbara Stanwyck.This film is both very good in terms of entertainment, and although liberties have been taken (particularly at the end of the film), they get the basic bio of Annie Oakley down reasonably well. And, you'll get a decent idea of what a Buffalo Bill Wild West Show was like. The details, well, of course, this is a movie bio.Barbara Stanwyck is great here! A class act all the way. Preston Foster, as the love interest, is never one of my favorites, but does quite nicely here. Melvyn Douglas, who also loves Annie, is very good in this part. Moroni Olsen, a wonderful actor, is terrific here as Buffalo Bill.This is a very enjoyable movie. Not one of the greats, but it's difficult not to just sit back and enjoy yourself.

I was intrigued by the opening narrative introducing the story as it paid tribute to Annie Oakley, a legend who made her mark a 'half century' ago. Here it is more than seventy years since the film was made, and it still holds up as an entertaining if highly fictional Western based on the life of the sure shot artist and her days with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show.Though Barbara Stanwyck is best know for her role as Victoria Barkley, matriarch of 'The Big Valley' TV Western family, it's easy to see how she naturally fit in with the Western genre as she raises her rifle to knock clay pigeons out of the sky. Historically, I'm not sure if it would have gone down that way, but Annie admitting she didn't have the heart to beat Toby Walker in the shooting contest because he was 'just too pretty', was a neat way to set up the rest of the story.What adds a lot to the film in entertainment value are the humorous bits thrown in by a host of characters. I was surprised to see Willie Best as the second cook attempting to pilfer a quail for himself early in the picture, while Andy Clyde worked his expressive face for maximum effect as hotel owner MacIvor. The best though, was Chief Thunder Bird in his characterization of Sitting Bull; he had a couple of clever bits with the disappearing bed and the 'scalping' scene. I don't think the real Sitting Bull would have been as amusing, but it works here.At the center of the story is the subtle hint of a romance on the part of Annie's manager Hogarth (Melvyn Douglas), and a more overt one between Annie and her big top rival, Toby Walker (Preston Foster). Toby starts out the story as the guy you want to hate, but manages to come through the story as a decent guy. The film's abrupt finish with Toby and Annie in warm embrace is the kind of ending that I'm sure made movie goers of the era believe they got their money's worth.