“Do I hear happiness?”
What’s it all about? In 1933 New York City, Annie (Aileen Quinn), an orphan at the Hudson Street Orphanage, believes that her parents will return for her; It’s only a matter of being patient. While waiting for her parents, however, Annie is provided the opportunity to live in the household of the billionaire Oliver Warbucks (Albert Finney) — an opportunity that might put a stop to all her waiting. ANNIE also stars Carol Burnett as Agatha Hannigan, Tim Curry as Rooster, and Ann Reinking as Grace Farrell.
Aileen Quinn is perfection as the young orphan Annie. She manages to be precocious without being annoying, treading that fine line with more charisma and self-assurance than most veteran actors. I adore how she walks through the film, her chest puffed out, chin in the air, carrying her arms with vigour and purpose. She’s a little ball of gumption which just begs to be captured on film. Thankfully ANNIE manages to display the charms of Aileen Quinn beautifully, giving the young actress enough witty dialogue and well-executed musical numbers to cement her performance as one of the most recognizable on film.
Where Annie is “as poor as a mouse”, loud and out-spoken, Mr. Warbucks is buttoned-down and so wealthy that he is able to purchase the Mona Lisa in order to hang in his bathroom. Albert Finney is outstanding as the sometimes-gruff, sometimes-graceless billionaire. You only have to look as far as Warbuck’s appearance on a radio show hosted by Bert Healy (Peter Marshall) for evidence of Finney‘s comedic chops. Most importantly, the chemistry between Quinn and Finney is remarkably genuine; You can see the affection for one another just oozing off the screen, especially in the finale medley where they sing and dance with one another.
There were, however, some things I noticed now that I’m an adult — It’s slightly shifty that Grace Farrell, Warbucks‘ assistant, can just show up at the orphanage without showing any documentation to Mrs. Hannigan, stating a man wants to practically rent out a small girl, and is able to take Annie away. Her comment that “Mr. Warbucks likes cheeky children” makes this scene even more uncomfortable. It’s also not a musical without a couple of stereotypes, and ANNIE is no exception. There’s Mrs. Hannigan, an abusive drunkard as the head of the orphanage, and two of the most-blatant racial stereotypes I’ve ever seen on film: the Asp, Warbucks‘ personal chauffeur, and Punjab, Warbuck’s personal bodyguard. The Asp is Asian and, therefore, knows martial arts. Punjab, who is Arab, is seemingly magic. Of course, there is ample use of culture-appropriate theme music for each of these characters. Also, wasn’t it super-clever and manipulative that FDR used the orphan Annie as leverage in order to get his social program off the ground? That crafty, crafty Democrat!
But it’s a musical and a children’s film, so, let’s not dwell on real-life concerns and focus on the tap-dancing.
Though the next time I go to the movie theatre, I would appreciate the presence of white-jacketed gentlemen with flashlights directing to my seat whilst singing and dancing. “Let’s Go To The Movies” pretty much promised me that, if I flipped my hair enough, I’d get some dapper young men who can sing.
Notes: Directed by John Huston; Produced by Joe Layton, Ray Stark; Written by Carol Sobieski, Charles Strouse, Martin Charnin, Thomas Meehan; Starring Aileen Quinn, Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Bernadette Peters, Tim Curry, Ann Reinking, Geoffrey Holder; Music by Charles Strouse; Cinematography by Richard Moore; Editing by Michael A. Stevenson.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Did you hear they’re planning a remake of this film with Will Smith’s daughter Willow or whatever her name is?
Yes, I did. As much as I adore Will Smith, this is disappointing news. They’ve already done a remake of this movie and it wasn’t nearly as successful as the first.
I feel like I watched this movie a lot as a kid even though I kind of hated Annie as a character. She annoyed the crap out of me for whatever reason. But, I adored Carol Burnett, Tim Curry, and Bernadette Peters as the villains (they get the best songs, too) so I would still rent the vhs from the library from time to time.
I’d forgotten about the racial stereotyping, or maybe it didn’t stick out to me in my naive youth, but I guess the 80′s were usually pretty bad about East/Southeast Asian characters in films, and setting your story in the 30′s helps you get away with more!
And I agree that a requisite musical number for every trip to the movie theatre would be the Best. Thing. Ever. I will flip the shit out of my hair for that.