WISE Score
Avg. Tomatometer
A sharpshooting musical where the lead has to miss her target to land her man—plus some very 1950s ideas about the Wild West.
6.8100%
77
Annie Get Your Gun is a musical treasure chest buried in some very problematic sand. The songs are undeniable classics, but the plot is a time capsule of 1950s gender roles and racial caricatures that hasn't aged well.
If you're a musical theater family, it's worth a watch for the history alone, but be prepared to pause and explain why Sitting Bull is being treated like a mascot and why Annie's 'happily ever after' involves dimming her own light.
Best for kids 8 and up who can handle a conversation about 1950s stereotypes. Younger kids might like the songs, but the romantic politics and long runtime will likely lose them.
The music is legendary and the tone is upbeat, but the central theme—that a woman must hide her talent and 'lose' to win a man's heart—is a rough message to send to kids today.
Standard MGM musical fare. It's a colorful, stagey production that doesn't push many creative boundaries beyond the sharpshooting choreography.
While it's a G-rated vibe, the depiction of Native Americans (including the 'I'm an Indian Too' number) is heavily stereotyped and offensive by modern standards. There is also constant gun use, though stylized.
Provides a window into Irving Berlin’s iconic score and the mid-century musical tradition, though it requires a lot of context to explain the historical and gender-based inaccuracies.
Irving Berlin's score is bulletproof. You know half these songs even if you've never seen the movie—'There's No Business Like Show Business' and 'Anything You Can Do' are part of the cultural furniture. Betty Hutton plays Annie Oakley with about 400% more energy than most modern actors, which can be a lot to take, but the production is pure MGM gold.
The problem is the 1950s-shaped hole in the script. The central conflict—that a woman shouldn't be better than her man if she wants to keep him—is a tough pill to swallow now. Then there's the depiction of Native Americans. Sitting Bull is treated as a comedic sidekick, and the 'I'm an Indian Too' number is a masterclass in what we’ve thankfully moved past. If you're watching this with kids, you aren't just watching a musical; you're watching a history lesson in how Hollywood used to see the world.
For a kid who loves Hamilton or Wicked, this is an interesting look at the roots of the genre, but it’s definitely a 'watch together' situation. You’ll want to be in the room when the shooting stops and the questionable social dynamics begin.
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