O Pistoleiro e a Bela Aventureira

An unusual title for an unusual film.

A troupe of actors travels around the Wild West, putting on shows and shilling for loose dollars from the men they meet along the way. Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn are the improbable leads in this curious film, and they are surprisingly adept at filling the roles, but the story rambles from one dramatic point to the next. Such exposition is fitting, I think, for a Louis L'Amour novella, but I think it reads better than it fills the big screen, despite strong and colorful production values,

Though it is somewhat disappointing, I am glad I saw this film. It is rather novel.

Watch for Margaret O'Brien playing the role of "the child actor" past her prime, but being marketed photographically to cowpokes and gamblers, Steve Forrest is strong in his role as a hired gun who aligns himself with the traveling thespians, protecting his interests.

It is somewhat difficult to believe that Sophia Loren's releases for 1960 include both this film and the dramatic "Two Women", as well as three others. She had more range than some would give her credit for.

Heller in Pink Tights is directed by George Cukor and adapted to screenplay by Walter Bernstein from the novel "Heller With a Gun" written by Louis L'Amour. It stars Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Margaret O'Brien, Steve Forrest, Eileen Heckart and Ramon Novarro. Music is by Daniele Amfitheatrof and cinematography by Harold Lipstein.

In simple terms this is Cukor trying to be clever whilst doing his only Western film. Plot basically follows The Great Healy Dramatic and Concert Company as they represent civilisation and culture coming to the Wild West. It's part spoof, part period farce but always narratively shallow. The costuming and colour lensing are sublime, undeniably, but these can't compensate for such a turgid story being performed by miscast stars.

Quinn called the picture unfortunate, Loren (looking painfully thin and sporting an unfortunate blonde mop on her head) was unhappy with the direction she received and serves solely as a clothes horse, while Cukor himself bemoaned cuts made by Paramount that further damaged what he thought was already a weak story. Receiving mixed reviews upon release, "Heller" was a box office flop, and really it's not hard to see why. Even if there's some value for Loren and Edith Head (costumes) fans. 4/10

Decent western/comedy/drama with awesome actors giving splendid interpretations, and set in the untamed border in which many people strugge simply to survive . Revolving around a traveling rep company called "Great Healy's Dramatic and Concert Company" in the Old West, it is a seedy vaudeville troupe in the 1880s when they arrive in Bonanza, a mining and smelter town . It features Tom Healy : Anthony Quinn, as the company manager, along with Angela: a bewigged Sophia Loren as his leading asset. In the way the latter dallys with a gunfighter named Clint Mabry : Steve Forest, who chases her out of Bonanza town. They are well accompanied by others members of this especial company : Eileen Eckart, Margaret O'Brien, Edmund Lowe. Centering the plot in this particular troupe and being well explored as the company performing to ramshackle communities in an untamed frontier. There's also Indian attacks and more risks until the troupe arranges to encounter a safe haven.

Offbeat Western and curiously some boring with a great main and support cast. Being based on a novel by prolific Louis L'Amour that follows faithfully the fun and dramatic adventures of a peculiar troupe acting out heroic tales of passion, tragedy, love and honourable death surrounded by altogether less romantic reality in which abounds gunslinging, more confrontation and Indian assaults. Including account for the unusual roles as well as confused plot, and playing much of adventure for comedy. The action includes entertaining extracts from various plays as La Belle Helene in the company's repertoire. Outstanding the duo protagonists, Anthony Quinn as a manager who stays hardly ever ahead of his creditors and Sophia Loren as the main stage actress who becomes involved with a pistolero played by Steve Forrest. Sophia Loren's assets are the movie's highlights.

The motion picture was professionally and sympathetically directed by George Cukor, but resulted to be some dull, briefly tedious and with some unbelievable roles . Cukor's one stab at the Western genre was an ordinarily personal response to the conventions, being partially sophisticated, Cukor's especiality. Cukor was a classic filmmaker who made a lot of films, many of them considered to be classic movies. It contains sensational main cast and support cast. Old time idols Ramon Novarro and Edmund Lowe prop up the casting. Along with other secondaries as Eileen Heckart, the ex prodigy child Margaret O'Brien, George Mathews, Edward Binns and brief appearance of Ken Clark.

It packs colorful cinematography in brilliant Technicolor by Harold Lipstein. Colour sets and production designs from Hal Pereira and Eugene Allen are excellent. As well as evocative and atmospheric musical score by Daniel Amfitheatrof. Interesting but tiring script by the prestigious writers Dudley Nichols and Walter Berstein. Adequate direction under the expert eye of George Cukor, but with no passion. Cukor worked from the Thirties to seventies making pretty good films with penchant for sophisticated comedy and drama, such as : One hour with you, What price Hollywood?, Dinner at eight, Camille, Unconventional Linda, Zaza , Susan and God ,Two-faced woman, Keeper of the flame, A double life ,A life of her own, The marrying kind, I should happen to you, The actress , Let's make love, The Chapman report, Justine, Love among ruines, The Blue Bird. Being his big hits the following ones : Little women, David Copperfield, Sylvia Scarlett, The Philadelphia story, Gaslight, Adam's rib, Born yesterday, Pat and Mike, A star is born, Bhowani Junction, My Fair Lady and his last movie : Rich and famous.

The look alone is worth the trouble. Rich, colorful, slightly baroque. Sophia Loren is as good as when she's directed by a great actor's director, this time is not Vittorio De Sica but George Cukor and her timing, her intention as a character is total perfection. Her sympathy is not merely believable but contagious and sympathy was Loren's secret weapon. True, it's not your Ford or Hawks western if anything it's closer to Sergio Leone with a slightly more refined if not feminine sensibility. The showdowns here are not of gun powder but of love power. The Art Direction is superb and the film shouldn't be dismiss because it doesn't fulfill the rules of the genre. This is a Cukor film and that in itself makes it a cut above most movies. Anthony Quinn is also traveling unknown territory very successfully. Eileen Heckart is, as usual, a scene stealer: "She's only sixteen!, only sixteen, do you hear?" she shouts trying to protect her most valuable asset, her daughter, played by Margaret O'Brien wanting to be accepted as a 20 year old. An extra plus for film lovers is a glimpse of Ramon Novarro one of the biggest stars of the silent era.

This film is introduced with the words: "When the great American frontier was resounding with the names of such gunman and outlaws as Wyatt Earp, Jesse James, Bat Masterson and Doc Holliday - a beautiful and flirtatious actress swept through the west with her theatrical troupe. A 'hellion in pink tights,' she was the toast of every settlement from Cheyenne to Virginia City - and became a legend of the old west. This is her story." And, after a creative title sequence, we meet beautiful actress Sophia Loren (as Angela "Angie" Rossini) in a blonde wig, running lines with co-star Anthony Quinn (Thomas "Tom" Healy)...

As the theatrical troupe arrives to perform in Cheyenne, Ms. Loren and ruggedly handsome Steve Forrest (as Clint Mabry) exchange mutually sexy glances. However, Loren decides to remain faithful (at least temporarily) to Mr. Quinn. Their relationship is threatened when Loren loses herself to Mr. Forrest in a poker game. When Loren, Quinn and company are suddenly run out of town, Forrest joins them, protecting his "property." They are threatened by bloodthirsty Native American Indians and respectable gangster Ramon Novarro (as De Leon). Forrest helps with the Indians, but has trouble with Mr. Novarro...

Loren and Quinn are okay, but surprisingly lack chemistry as a couple. Despite his lower billing, Forrest comes across as more like the story's leading man. The supporting cast is very strong: Novarro, a former "silent screen" idol, is exceptional as the main villain; former child star Margaret O'Brien and Eileen Heckart are a delightfully naughty mother/daughter duo; and Edmund Lowe (as Manfred "Doc" Montague) is a bonus, in his last acting appearance. Director George Cukor and his team make it very stylized, with an emphasis on garish color. The film's jarring attitude was later common on television.

******* Heller in Pink Tights (1/1/60) George Cukor ~ Sophia Loren, Steve Forrest, Anthony Quinn, Ramon Novarro