Annie Oakley is a 1935 biographical film about the life of Annie Oakley. It stars Barbara Stanwyck and Preston Foster.
Plot
In late 1800's Ohio, a backwoods gal, Annie Oakley delivers six dozen quail she's shot to the owner of the general store. He sends them to the MacIvor hotel in Cincinnati, where the mayor is holding a large banquet in honor of Toby Walker, the "greatest shot in the whole world". Mr. Walker is very particular about what he eats, and the owner of the hotel bought Annie's quail because she's such a good shot, she shoots the quail clean through the head, leaving no buckshot.
At the banquet, Jeff Hogarth signs Walker to a contract making him part of Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. James MacIvor, the hotel's owner, challenges Walker to a shooting contest to take place the next morning.
Before the shooting match at the Cincinnati Gun Club, the crowd stands for a photograph. (the music in the background is "Over the Waves") Annie pulls up in her wagon as the photograph is being taken. MacIvor had arranged for the man, an Andy Oakley, that shot the quails to shoot against Walker, only to be shocked when a woman, Annie, shows up, and tries to call the whole thing off. Hogarth keeps the match on, and Annie goes up against Walker. Before he knows he is up against Annie, he is rude to her, and boasts at how he will beat Oakley. Then Hogarth introduces them, and the match begins. After a long while of hitting targets, Annie's mother, Mrs. Oakley, convinces her to throw the match so that Walker does not lose his job. She does, and Walker is a gracious winner. However, Hogarth knows exactly what Annie did.
Title card to
Annie Oakley
The Oakleys arrive home in their wagon, and Hogarth follows right behind them. He notifies Annie that he never bet the money she gave to him, and wanted to return it. He also invites Annie to become part of the Wild West Show. Annie, having developed a crush on Walker, accepts, and he takes her to meet Buffalo Bill (Moroni Olsen) and the other members of the show.
Annie begins training under the direction of Walker, and after hearing Buffalo Bill talk about how Annie may not make the cut due to only being able to straight shoot, he teaches her some 'fancy shootin' and tricks.
At the first show, the Indians, including Chief Sitting Bull (Chief Thunderbird) are unimpressed with the acts until Toby performs. When Annie shoots five targets thrown in the air, Sitting Bull runs over the barriers to tell her how impressed he was.
Annie and Walker later compete for the title of world's best shooter, in which Annie finally defeats him. Toby accepts this because has confessed her love to him, and he has done the same. They go to see Sitting Bull at his camp, who suggests that the two get married. While they are in the village, and Walker in Sitting Bull's tipi, a man comes into the tipi with a gun and shoots, thinking that he is killing Sitting Bull. Walker grabs the gun as it goes off, and fights the man and his accomplice, all the while having trouble seeing due to the powder that went into his eyes after the shot went off. He sees a doctor, who tells him that his vision will be fine.
While Annie's fortunes rise, Toby's decline. When his eyesight is damaged in the brawl, he hides the injury, but ends up shooting Annie in the hand as a result. He is dismissed from the show. However, Annie cannot forget him and is finally reunited with him.
Cast
External links
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