At the turn of the century, young Annie Oakley leaves her backwoods home to challenge the handsome New York vaudeville sharpshooter, Toby Walker, to a shooting contest in Cincinnati. Unknown to Toby, Annie is a crack shot who stuns the crowd with her sure-handed marksmanship. Attracted to Toby, Annie deliberately loses the contest, but her skills are noticed by Jeff Hogarth, a partner in Buffalo Bill Cody’s Wild West Show, who convinces her to join the troupe as Toby’s counterpart. After his initial skepticism, Cody and the others welcome Annie into the show. However, when Toby later overhears Cody questioning Annie’s showmanship, he generously teaches her his shooting tricks, transforming her into such a star that during her first performance in Washington, D.C., she impresses Chief Sitting Bull into joining the troupe. Once polished, Annie bests the braggart Toby in the ring, which gives promoter Ned Buntline the idea of formalizing a feud between them. Although Toby confesses his love for Annie, he encourages her to play her part for the sake of the show. Soon after, while camped in Cincinnati, Toby saves Sitting Bull from an attack by a vengeful drunk but damages his eyesight in the process. Because he wants her to shine in front of her family, Toby says nothing about his eyes and ends up accidentally shooting Annie in the hand, an error that some of the troupe believes is deliberate and leads to his immediate dismissal. Although Annie makes a triumphant tour of Europe, she is unable to forget Toby, and when Hogarth, who also loves her, reluctantly shows her a newspaper article that vindicates Toby, she determines to find him. At the New York show, Sitting Bull spots Toby in the audience and, after a chase, returns Annie to his side. More on Wikipedia or Mubi
Watch Annie Oakley (1935)
