reviewed by: Charity Bishop
     

The last time I had seen Annie, I was about seven years old and a good friend of my mother's was babysitting me while my parents were at a Carmen concert. Moments from the film have lingered in my mind ever since, but it wasn't until recently at the encouragement of a friend that I sat down and actually watched this all the way through.

Life is miserable for the occupants of Miss Hannigan's Orphanage. The little girls gathered therein do nothing but cook and clean, are ill-kept and prone to arguments that are often punished with the use of a flat wooden paddle. The only reason Miss Hannigan (Burnett) keeps the little brats is for the money the government pays her to look after them. For two cents extra, she would wring their little necks, but for the most part she lives in gin-soaked oblivion to their antics. The most rambunctious of the orphans is Annie (Aileen Quinn), a good natured redhead who just wants to find her parents and the missing half of her locket, which was given to her when she was abandoned to the orphanage as a baby. Together with a raggy dog named Sandy, she is rescued from her misery by the appearance of Grace (Ann Reinking), personal secretary to multi-millionaire Oliver Warbucks (Finney). 

Rather cantankerous and in need of softening up his image, Warbucks had agreed to take in an orphan for a short time as kind of a temporary photo op. But it's not long before the boisterous little girl wins over his heart, and he would do anything for her -- even if it means giving her up, which is something Miss Hannigan's devious brother (Curry) and his latest fling (Peters) intend to take advantage of. For two hours, the screen overflows with singing and dancing, with memorable lyrics and routines that even manage to get a smile out of Finney now and again.

Annie is not a movie that will appeal to everyone. My mother, in fact, hates it, but I found it an enjoyable experience as I tapped my foot to the musical numbers and smiled whenever Annie managed to get through to her grouchy billionaire. Some of the laughs are at the actors expense, which makes it all the more humorous. No one could be a better Miss Hannigan than Carol Burnett, as she warbles out her songs while wandering around in a slip with a gin flask in one hand and a cigarette in the other. One of her best numbers is actually with Curry and Peters, while they go banging around the orphanage slamming into furniture and shoving each other through open windows. There are also some snide references to the fact that "Daddy Warbucks" is a Republican, something the current president (a Democrat) finds intolerable. But none of it is especially mean-spirited and that makes it all the more fun in a fairly family-friendly format.

There is some language (the worst of it includes an abuse of Jesus' name, and one GD) and a song in which Miss Hannigan propositions Warbucks (of course, the lyrics are veiled, and she winds up falling into the bathtub and soaking him in gin in the process). It's implied through mild dialogue that she has a sexual relationship with the laundry man. Thematic elements make up the climax, in which Annie is kidnapped and almost killed by an evil man. (He tries to push her to her death off a bridge.) A man slaps a woman and sends her crashing to the ground. An explosion goes off in the background, but it is played as being funny rather than dangerous. The only thing I can think of that more discerning parents might object to is the presence of Punjab, an Indian servant who uses "magic" to move objects around for Annie's amusement. It's not a movie I will watch a thousand times, but I cannot imagine not seeing it now and again for a good laugh and a toe-tapping good time.