O Pistoleiro e a Bela Aventureira

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

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.

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.

This strangely titled western follows the adventures of a group of stage actors who participate in a traveling theatrical troupe. It is an unusual subject for a western - one rarely portrayed on screen - and novelty value alone almost makes the film worth a look. The film is, however, never quite as fascinating it sounds. There is a nail- bitingly intense poker game in the mix, and all of the troupe's stage performances are excellent with some surprisingly raunchy costumes courtesy of Edith Head, plus lead actress Sophia Loren playing all the important male (!) stage roles needs to be seen to be believed, however, everything off-stage is less engaging. Loren lacks chemistry with lead actor Anthony Quinn and only has slightly more chemistry with Steve Forrest as a crooked gunslinger who takes to protecting the troupe to get closer to her. The film has a couple of great supporting characters in Margaret O'Brien as an upcoming young actress and Eileen Heckart as her overbearing, over-protective mother; the banter between the pair is always very real and O'Brien's struggle to break out as an actress of her own (asking Quinn whether he finds her attractive at one point) is encapsulating. The film is, however, a Loren vehicle through and through and there is a limit to how far the filmmakers can push her story, unusual subject matter or not. That said, there is enough that it is worthwhile here, but on the same note, it is understandable why director George Cukor was disappointed with the final product. As for what the title means, it is anybody's guess.