| Annie - 4 Stars (Excellent) | | | | Reinking), Warbucks' right-hand assistant. |
| "Annie" is certainly one of the most uplifting, | | | | Despite everyone's growing affection for Annie's |
| harrowing and positive Broadway musicals in | | | | childlike simplicity, Daddy Warbucks' move to |
| movie history. | | | | adopt Annie encounters a trauma as Annie is only |
| Even if you did not see Annie as a moviegoer, | | | | concerned about eventually finding her parents so |
| you would recognize the key words to its | | | | she can be part of a real family. |
| award-winning signature song "Tomorrow": "The | | | | Enter the severe, unkind orphanage proprietor |
| sun'll come out Tomorrow, so you gotta hang on | | | | Miss Hannigan (an excellent character-acting |
| till Tomorrow. Come what may. Tomorrow, | | | | performance by the one and only Carol Burnett), |
| Tomorrow, I love ya, Tomorrow. You're only a | | | | her brother and bad guy Rooster Hannigan (Tim |
| day away". | | | | Curry) and his girlfriend Lily St. Regis (Bernadette |
| Based on Thomas Meehan's musical score of the | | | | Peters). They conspire to kidnap Annie and |
| enormously successful stage play, and Carol | | | | Rooster tries to kill her. After some tense |
| Sobieski's screenplay, Annie was directed by John | | | | moments during great filmmaking, Daddy |
| Houston in his first and last effort directing a | | | | Warbucks' capable enforcer Punjab (Geoffrey |
| movie musical. None of their talent was wasted. | | | | Holder) comes to the rescue. |
| A tip of the hat to Carol Sobieski's effort with the | | | | Do not miss the role of fellow orphan Molly |
| screenplay, as I believe her feminine touch had | | | | (played by Toni Ann Gisondi), the helicopter Daddy |
| much to do with the finished product. Annie is | | | | Warbucks flies around in, and the Radio City Music |
| reminiscent of Harold Gray's comic strip Annie, but | | | | Hall Rockettes. Both Carol Burnett and Aileen |
| there was nothing from the original comic strip | | | | Quinn were nominated for Best Actress Golden |
| that could have been used in the musical. Sobieski | | | | Globe Awards. |
| also wrote "Fried Green Tomatoes". | | | | The original stage play Annie premiered in 1977, |
| Set in the depths of The Great Depression of the | | | | won the Tony Award for the Best Musical the |
| 1930s, Annie's life among orphans in miserable | | | | same year, and closed in 1983 after 2,377 |
| conditions changes dramatically when she is | | | | performances. Annie hit the big screen in 1982, |
| selected to spend a week in the mansion of | | | | and remains a classic among Broadway's musicals. |
| Oliver Warbucks, a wealthy munitions industrialist | | | | The rights to Annie were sold in 1978 for $9.5 |
| driven only by making money and intent on | | | | million ($30+ million in today's dollars), a record |
| polishing his capitalist image. | | | | that still stands. |
| Annie (played superbly by Aileen Quinn) becomes | | | | Annie is everything that is good and right about a |
| an immediate attention-getter and an irresistible | | | | Broadway musical that becomes a movie. Annie |
| force by being simple and unassuming in a | | | | teaches the adults around her about the |
| situation of opulence, power and influence | | | | importance of love, family, thoughtfulness, |
| dominated by Daddy Warbucks (Albert Finney is | | | | kindness, gratitude, understanding, optimism and |
| at his best in this role). She wins the hearts of | | | | hope, everything that was absent in her life as an |
| everyone in the house plus Grace Farrell (Ann | | | | orphan. |