La diablesse en collant rose

This is George Cukor's sole attempt at a western. As is typical of Cukor, instead of doing a western like Ford or Hawks or Curtiz as a look at men fighting men against pure nature backgrounds we have Cukor looking at the coming of culture to the West (here in the acting troop led by Anthony Quinn and Sophia Loren), and how it is doomed to triumph over the individualist (here Steve Forrest, a desperado who ends up accepting his defeat). It is not a great western (Ford and the others were better at that type), but it a worthy exception to the rule (Ford did deal with culture twice, using Alan Mowbray in "My Darling Clementine" and "Wagon Master" as a fading Shakespearean - although he pulls himself together in the second film). Cukor loves the theater (his one film noir, "A Double Life" is set in a theater in New York City). Here some of the most interesting things are the company rehearsing (in one scene they are putting on Offenbach's "La Belle Hellene"). But what is most interesting is their guaranteed show stopper - "Mazeppa".

It was a popular play in the middle 19th Century, based on an incident of the wars between Peter the Great and Charles XIV of Sweden. Mazeppa, a "hetman" of the Ukranian Cossacks, was captured by his enemies, tied naked to a wild horse, which was released into the forest. Mazeppa died as a result. The play was a big success for Adah Mencken, a poet and actress who was prominent in the 1860s on both sides of the Atlantic, and was briefly married to John Heenan, the leading heavyweight champ of America (bare knuckles days). To tittle-late the men in the audience she wore skin colored clothing, so that it looked like she was naked. Sophia Loren puts on similar (pink colored) tights - hence the films' title - and does the scene on a real horse and a moving stage. It certainly is interesting to see a brief glance at a 19th Century dramatic highlight, even if it seems rather silly to us today.

Director George Cukor's only western, this is about a traveling stage show that keeps getting into trouble because of the escapades of their leading star, Angela Rossini, deliciously played by Sophia Loren, quite fetching as a blonde. She is top billed along with Anthony Quinn. It also stars an adolescent Margaret O'Brien (a child in "Meet Me in St. Louis"), whose mother does not want her to grow up.  I thought O'Brien was as charming in this as she was in "St. Louis."  

I had never seen "Heller" in its complete form, never in any quality print, and this DVD looks great.  I'd only seen edited for TV versions, and that made it hard to follow.  Seeing this DVD release surprised me.  The film is top notch Cukor, ranking as one of the most entertaining westerns of the 1960s. The director also got a full- blooded and emotional performance from Loren, perhaps one of her most natural, and the director even held the reins on Quinn, who could overdo his roles on occasion.

Actor Steve Forrest also has a well-integrated part, and his character appears at just the right moments to thrust the story forward or change its direction.  Ramon Novarro (Judah in the silent "Ben-Hur," opposite Garbo in "Mata Hari") appears on screen for the last time, effectively playing a conniving banker.  If you go into this film with an open mind, I think you'll find that it is funny, exciting, romantic and often surprising. I never knew where it was going, and that made it refreshing. You'll probably also enjoy the wonderfully visualized period atmosphere in stunning Technicolor. There's also a fine score by Daniele Amphitheatrof, a far too unappreciated composer.

Give this film a try. You'll probably have a good time.

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 film is the story of an acting troupe (Anthony Quinn, Sophia Loren, Eileen Heckart, Margaret O'Brien) who run into various monetary and Indian problems as they travel across the Western United States.

George Cukor, who directed this film, supposedly never liked how the usual western looked. They lacked color, according to him, and in "Heller in Pink Tights," Cukor set out to remedy that. The film is full of vivacious color. From Eileen Heckart's orange hair to Sophia Loren's platinum blonde wig and the various pieces of clothing that they wear. Visually the film is quite arresting. It mixes such loud, bright colors with the colors of such a rigid and tough landscape.

While the use of color is certainly interesting, the film never gets quite as far. The story is entertaining, but in a silly way. The chemistry between Loren and her two love interests (Quinn and Steve Forrest) is non-existent. She also looks totally uncomfortable with the blonde wig she is saddled with. Eileen Heckart is fun as the loudmouth actress/stage mother to O'Brien's character, and Anthony Quinn is his usual "dramatic" self.

"Heller in Pink Tights" certainly is a different kind of Western. I just only wish the film's story would have been as interesting as its use of color.

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.