ANNIE the movie is soooo bad

I was surfing through the channels and came upon it on the Family channel. I can't believe the script has Miss Hannigan stripping down to her underwear in an effort to seduce Warbucks. Who's idea was THAT??

Do YOU remember Kathy Bates stripping?

*shudder*

---

I think he's referring to the old one, which threw away the entire musical's original book and based it solely on the songs. And they added details from the original Little Orphan Annie comic strips that weren't in the musical, such as the character of Punjab.

Even though the new one is so much better, I don't like the new costume for Little Orphan Annie.

---

I just can't understand why someone would think that a seduction scene performed in underwear would be appropriate for a movie like ANNIE.

Actually, I rather like the "Sign" song--by that time, the movie has become such a mess that it's fun to see Burnett and Finney just goofing off. And it's nice to see a Hannigan/Warbucks duet. Burnett is so perfect as Hannigan she makes nearly all her scenes work.

I agree the movie is criminal, though. To waste and misuse that amount of talent--who thought John Huston was a good idea, anyhow? The same person who gave CHORUS LINE to Richard Attenborough? And Arlene Phillips' choreography is unwatchable (even more so than her career-topping work in the Village People's CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC.)

Apparently it was decided that the material was too much of a comic strip and needed more "reality"--hence Carol Sobieski's hideous script, which comes off as more of a cartoon than the stage version. (Everyone I know who saw it was screaming "Fall! Fall!" at the end when Annie was dangling off the tower.) And it seems every movie musical must force in new songs to differentiate the movie soundtrack from the Broadway cast album--thus the wonderful "N.Y.C." is jettisoned for "Let's Go To the Movies", etc., etc. Aren't almost all of the real Broadway standards butchered on film? CHORUS LINE, GUYS AND DOLLS, GYPSY (Rosalind Russell version), MY FAIR LADY, OKLAHOMA, CAROUSEL, FORUM, LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, MAN OF LA MANCHA, MAME--the list goes on and on.

---

What a quinkie dink! I was just watching on there to! I admit it's not that good but Carol Burnett, Tim Curry, and Bernadette Peters in one movie!

I like the TV remake more though.

---

I found the TV remake to be soooooooo much better (nicely cast, too) but I wished they had included the "Hooverville" song.

---

The girl I was just babysitting for saw this on the tv and begged me to watch it. I said "no" and changed the channel very quickly.

I remember thinking that the tower scene was ridiculous when I was like 5.

I absolutely adore the Disney TV version though. I've watched it far too many times.

The disney version was far superior to the original movie, but like most disney tv movies,it just looked kinda cheap and far too stagey. If it was shot with a decent budget, with the same cast and also with the full score this could have been a winner.

I am watching it right now, I like the Disney one more.

Edit: I love when Carol says "Leapin Lizzards!"

Updated On: 11/26/06 at 06:35 PM

any movie that captures ann reinking dancing can't be all bad

I thought the feature fim was awful. I could never understand why a director who hated the song "Tomorrow" would want to do the movie in the first place?

I really liked the tv movie from a few years back though. I recommended it to a few people who hated the feature film, and they really enjoyed it and had to admit that Annie isn't a bad musical after all. They were only basing their opinion on the awful 80s movie. I think it was even nominated for a couple of Razzies, wasn't it?

---