October 4, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  Leslie Unger - (310) 247-3000

                         lunger@oscars.org

Beverly Hills, CA - "Annie Get Your Gun," which earned four Academy Award nominations in 1950 and won an Oscar statuette in the Music category, will be screened at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Friday, October 27, at 8 p.m., in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. This 50th anniversary event will be one of just a few public screenings of the film in the last 30 years, and a cast-and-crew reunion will take place following the screening.

Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern, J. Carrol Naish, Edward Arnold, Keenan Wynn and Benay Venuta star in the musical tale of Annie Oakley Mozie, who becomes queen of Buffalo Bill's renowned Wild West Show, which pits her talents against marksman Frank Butler.

Keel, who portrays Butler, George Sidney, who directed the film, and Sidney Sheldon, who wrote the screenplay, are confirmed to participate in the cast-and-crew reunion discussion following the screening. Author and film historian Robert Osborne will introduce the film and moderate the discussion.

"Annie Get Your Gun" was produced by Arthur Freed. Sheldon's screenplay was based on the book by Herbert and Dorothy Fields. Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens won Academy Awards for the film's music (Scoring of a Musical Picture). The film also received nominations for Art Direction - Color (Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse; Set Decoration: Edwin B. Willis, Richard A. Pefferle), Cinematography - Color (Charles Rosher) and Film Editing (James E. Newcom).

The October 27 program is presented with the support of Warner Home Video. The print to be screened is new, made largely from the original three-strip Technicolor elements. It is being provided courtesy of Warner Bros./Turner Entertainment Company.

Tickets for "Annie Get Your Gun" are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members. They may be purchased in advance at the Academy during regular business hours, by mail, or on the night of the event, if still available, when the doors open at 7 p.m. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call 310-247-3600.