Sexist, racist, hard to watch

Geez

I agree; I was really curious to learn about the inspiring life of Annie Oakley, but what I got when I saw this movie was a woman whining and moping over a man, dressing up to please said man, and at the end renouncing her talents to get the man. And the 'hero' was so stifling of her talents, unsupportive and frankly childish.

Look, no one is denying that the people in this film were incredibly talented, gorgeous and entertaining, but I also found it tough to watch.

EWWWWWWW!!!! seeeeexxxxxxisssst!!!!! raaaaccccissst!!!! We are all so sick of you delicate PC nannies running this country.

the annoying thing for me is not so much that it is sexist, but that it is untruthfully sexist. frank Butler never imagined he was a better shot than annie oakley, he always knew she was best. he gave up his own shooting career to be her manager. the whole thing about her having to lose to get him to marry her is false.

It's funny, I watched this within a day or so of seeing Amy Schumer's "Trainwreck". Now I like Amy, she makes me laugh a lot, but her "Girls can be promiscuous too" schtick has a limited shelf life. "Annie" depicted a strong, independent woman who, as per the norms of the time the movie was made, fell for a hunky guy (who, in my [male] opinion was a total jerk and did nothing to make me think he deserved her). "Trainwreck", Amy hoped, depicted a strong, independent woman who falls for a guy and, unless I miss my guess, does a cheerleader dance for him at the end to win him back.

The reason I was reminded of it was the tone of the original couple of posts - that "Annie", though it had its good points, was "hard to watch" because of modern day sensibilities. In Trainwreck, there's a scene where a gaggle of women, condescendingly depicted but with Amy of course feeling ill at ease with them, mention gay people - "I haven't even TOLD my children what gay people are yet!" "They're PEOPLE", Amy mutters. A more leaden-footed example of holier-than-thou "inclusiveness" I have never seen. Yet our two friends above would have us watching anodyne, painted with huge brushstrokes movies like that, where we are constantly being told by our Hollywood betters WHAT IS GOOD FOR US.

I'm all for watching movies from the Fifties, the 1900s, whenever, and trusting my own judgement as to whether or not that's how I should treat women, minorities etc, and enjoying the movie all the more for what it is as a result.

First off, Betty Hutton is one of my all time favorites. Second, I wish all you offended PC Nazis would just drop dead. The world was not born in 1990. The world was a different place 30, 60, 90 years ago and the people living then were a product of their times. If your delicate 21st century PC sensibilities are offended by the uncouth, non-PC, sexist, racist and homophobic portrayals in movies made over half a century ago than why the hell do you torture yourself by watching them? This movie, and the play on which it's based, were very popular with your parents and grand parents so how does that change your opinion of them in your PC addled mind.

Betty Hutton played Annie the way she was directed to do. This was a musical comedy not a documentary. Very few Hollywood films of that era, even ones based on true stories, were anymore true to life than this one. Movie studios were trying to sell tickets not educate the masses so they tried hard to make movies that people would pay money to come see and with this one they succeeded.

If this movie, made in the boring 1950s, gets your PC panties in such a knot you better stay clear of movies made in the 70s or you're likely to keel over in apoplectic fits.

I'm with you. I think everything from the past should be compared to the standards of today.

Actually, no I don't. I bet if you were alive and watching this film back in 1950 there is NO WAY you would have found it racist and sexist in the slightest. It only seems so from a modern perspective where we have become more sensitive to issues of race, gender, sexuality, et al.

Which is no bad thing, of course, but retroactively projecting modern standards on to works from the past is a little unfair.




Never defend crap with 'It's just a movie'
http://www.youtube.com/user/BigGreenProds

The movie is extremely entertaining, easy to watch, and makes me happy. I'm so glad we have a large catalog of old movies like this to watch, to relax and escape the idiotic political correctness of our time for a couple of hours.