The state of the 1982 movie Annie on DVD plus 1 comment regarding Follow That Bird

I love the movie Annie. I just got the soundtrack when I found out it was OOP. Carol Burnett is great in it.

 

You should get the R2 DVD of it.

 

That is a really great documentary. Fantastic piece, far better than the actual movie. I wish to god they could find it. I mentioned that to the technical services VP when we were working on the home video transfer in the late 1980s (and again in the 1990s), and they couldn't find it. They own the rights to it, but the original 16mm elements are lost. All the copies on YouTube were snagged on VHS (mistracking, too) from 1982 TV broadcasts.

This is a problem with movie bombs: a lot of the little bits like this get thrown away, because nobody at the studio cares. It's sad, but it happens. Man, Ray Stark sounds like he was totally sure this movie would be the biggest hit of his long career. (And he sites the film's $40,000,000+ cost in the documentary.)

I don't know what's worse: Albert Finney's fake American accent, Carol Burnett's singing, or the kid's awful wig. Probably the latter. (The screenplay would be way low on that list, too.) You gotta feel sorry for the casting people who had to listen to 8000 shrieking kids sing "Tomorrow"...

 

They should track PBS stations that have aired it and have them borrow one of their production tapes and transfer that as is, if the stations didn't throw away their old production tapes.

 

PBS stations are lucky to have any tapes from five years ago, let alone from 29 years ago. Come on... I bet no TV stations in America have any 2" tapes left anymore, let alone a working 2" quad VTR. Heck, 99.999% of them can't even run a piece of film anymore. 2" tape is almost like the video version of an Edison cylinder!

What's sad is that if they could find the original film elements, those would probably look pretty good today, retransferred to HD. But Columbia went through a long period of disorganization, especially during the Coca-Cola years (1982-1987). BTW, one good thing from that period: there used to be Coke machines all over the Burbank lot, and if you knew where the secret switch was, you could hit the button and get a can for free.

 

I just don't understand. Why all this picking on Annie? What the heck did people expect from the film? It was very entertaining and I was no kid. Carol Burnett was brilliant, even considering that Easy Street had to be reshot and rerecorded after she had facial surgery.

From IMDB
Carol Burnett got a chin implant after principal filming was completed, believing her work on the film was done. After the surgery, the cast was called back to do re-shoots of certain scenes, and the work done can be seen in the final film.

 

I WAS a kid and didn't think it was entertaining - and I liked it no better as an adult.

What's wrong with it? Here are some complaints:

"I couldn’t stand a single tune heard in the movie. Bizarrely, the stage version’s most popular number - the dreadful and ubiquitous “Tomorrow” - loses its solo performance by Annie and is transformed into a sing-along for Annie, Warbucks, FDR and Eleanor! Huh? At least the filmmakers had the good taste to keep the president in his chair; it wouldn’t have surprised me to see them find some way to make FDR dance.

“Good taste” is a commodity in short supply through this nauseating film. I frequently had to fight the urge to slap myself; actually, I wanted to slap Quinn due to her disgustingly-forced chipper and cute presence, but since that would be impossible, I just had to hit myself instead. Easily the least palatable scenes in the film are those in the orphanage; there we must confront a slew of precocious and “adorable” youngsters, not just one with a bad perm. I like kids a lot, but not these kinds of artificial show-biz creations who couldn’t take a breath without permission from their stage mothers.

One might think that the remainder of the cast would save the project, but they’re rendered impotent in the horrible face of it all. Nothing can negate a) the saccharine-sweet tunes, and b) those damned kids! None of the adults are bad, really - Finney even manages a couple of minor laughs - but they can’t overcome the terror that is Aileen Quinn. They auditioned 8000 kids and she was the best they could do?!"

 

Oops. That would explain it.

 

I was 5 when it came out so I was happy with it. I agree that Aiden Quinn was the weakest link in the movie. It has well made it's money back by now. It's done well in the home video and TV market.

 

Now that might make Annie worth watching.

 

I know you mean Aileen

 

The girl who played Annie in the original production on broadway was from my neighborhood in Philadelphia.

I still remember her name (Andrea McArdle - (sp?) )

I remember she tried going to the local high school - while she was commuting back and forth to NYC to do the show but too many people gave her grief and her parents moved her to a more "upper crust" school. I remember still seeing her occasionally at different things... the last time was a night at a roller rink when an extremely dorky friend of mine somehow plowed into her (on accident)... I remember being shocked that there were no broken bones... or maybe there were... I know we always gave him grief about that night.

I don't remember her ever having any other big moments in show business - except for a TV pilot that didn't get picked up by the network (but was aired). She was set to play the brother of Arnold Horshack (yes!) in a spin-off of "Welcome Back Kotter"... the pilot aired as an episode of Kotter....

I'm pretty sure she is on the Annie original broadway cast album (which I have read was in a matrixed quad format - even if it wasn't labeled as such - on ALL pressings).

I'm also pretty sure Sarah Jessica Parker was one of the orphans in the original broadway cast. For some reason, I remember seeing her in the ensemble when they performed on a variety show (probably Merv Griffin).
I also remember Danielle Brisbois in the same ensemble... and looking at Sarah Jessica Parker's bio on imdb.com it mentions that she eventually became the 3rd person to play Annie during the show's initial run on Broadway...

The show was 3-4 years old by the time the movie was released in theaters.

 

I knew we could agree on something, Colin!

Annie the movie really, really sucked. I know people who loved the Broadway play who despised the movie. Some things work better on stage than they can on film.

I think the single thing I dislike most about the movie is that the whole thing feels really contrived and desperate. There are a lot of great movie musicals that just seem effortless; My Fair Lady and Singin' in the Rain are like that. I don't even like Sound of Music, but I recognize it's a highly-acclaimed movie and very well done. But Annie? Uh-uh. Sucked.

 

It's a pre-Christmas miracle!

 

Correct!

 

After I posted something about the original stage Annie, I found an interesting web page that talked a LOT about the history of the show - and how it developed.

There was another kid who briefly played Annie before McArdle took over the role - but the other kid had the part for about 1 week and was eliminated during a pre-Broadway tune-up... they said the other kid had a good voice but was completely wrong for the part.

When they gave the part to McArdle, she owned it - immediately.


And the casting people said it was clear from the instant she opened her mouth... and they have never found another kid who could handle the role as well (even though they have seen THOUSANDs audition for various touring companies). There were also a lot of changes made to the play to best use McArdle. The most obvious was the start of the play - where McArdle was given a strong song ("Maybe") that was previously featured somewhere else in the performance.

The word that kept being used to describe McArdle was "Ethel Merman".


I was surprised to learn that Mike Nichols was the producer of the play (the same guy who directed The Graduate). There was some debate about his role in the production. Many believe he "directed" the play - but others have said he was a "hands off" producer who made minimal suggestions.

The interesting thing this web site said was almost all broadway productions prior to Annie used adults - even when the role of a kid was part of the play. "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" was mentioned as an example - a play about kids performed by adults - LOL


Oh... and one other famous child actor who got her start in the Broadway production of Annie was Molly Ringwald.

 

Geez you guys are hard on this movie! Oh well. It takes me back to the time - I was 7 and my sister and I loved it. Reminds me of watching it with my grandmother, what can I say?!
It really is an oddball one, though. I happen to like Finney and Carol Burnett chewing scenery.
I believe our long-lost Amanda Peterson is also one of the kids.

 

Spirit Crusher, did you order the R2 DVD of Annie yet?