Annie

Synopsis
“Why any kid would want to be an orphan is beyond me.”

Famed cartoon strip character, star of radio and Broadway, Little Orphan Annie came to the big screen with an adaptation of the musical Annie. The eternally sunshiney and incurably mischievous girl had been in movies as early as 1918, and her 1930's-40's radio show was the biggest thing to hit kidsville in ages, but the moppet had been off the pop culture radar for a while before this lavish feature.

Curly redhead Annie lives in a Depression-era orphanage run by the cruel Miss Hannigan. Annie escapes, is returned, and thanks to a local promotion, gets to be temporarily adopted by billionaire Daddy Warbucks. The young girl warms his heart, but Miss Hannigan recruits two partners-in-crime who pretend to be Annie’s real parents. It’s up to Warbucks, his mystical valet Punjab, dog pal Sandy and the plucky young heroine to foil Hannigan’s plot and make the world safe for orphans everywhere.

In true Broadway tradition, the action, the drama and the comedy are interwoven with frequent song and dance routines, including the orphanage ditty “Hard-Knock Life” and the a cappella theme, “Tomorrow.” Though the movie didn’t perform as well as Columbia Pictures had hoped, the studio bet its bottom dollar (figuratively) that the sun would come out for a 1995 direct-to-video sequel, Annie: A Royal Adventure!

Release History 1982 - Annie

Sub Categories live-action
drama
musical

Studio Columbia

Cast

Daddy Warbucks		Albert Finney
Miss Hannigan		Carol Burnett
Grace Farrell		Ann Reinking
Rooster Hannigan		Tim Curry
Lilly		Bernadette Peters
Annie		Aileen Quinn
Punjab		Geoffrey Holder
Asp		Roger Minami
Molly		Toni Ann Gisondi
Pepper		Rosanne Sorrentino
Tessie		Lara Berk
Kate		April Lerman
Duffy		Robin Ignico
July		Lucie Stewart
FDR		Edward Herrmann