In OKLAHOMA ANNIE, familiar Hollywood country bumpkin Judy Canova (she of the buck teeth, pigtails and off-key singing voice) runs a general store, falls in love with the new sheriff and helps clean up corruption in her little community. Truth is, nothing much actually happens although there's an awful lot of running around. Veteran villain Roy Barcroft is the chief bad guy, and familiar Western actor John Russell plays the new sheriff. Oh, and grizzled character actor Fuzzy Knight plays one of Judy's cornpone buddies. But the focus in ANNIE is almost solely on Judy, for better or worse. Made in 1952, ANNIE (where did they get that title?) plays more like a TV show than a theatrical release. Shot in splashy color and mixing cars in with horses, this sort-of Western is a holdover from another era. Hillbillies have never gone out of style in Hollywood, admittedly, but this particular hillbilly grates on the nerves pretty quickly. I enjoy Ms. Canova in small doses. Very small doses. For the curious and historically-minded only.
Review of Oklahoma Annie
