User reviews

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.

For the only western in the film credits of George Cukor he sure couldn't be faulted for the source of his material. This film is taken from one of the books by the great western novelist Louis L'Amour. It concerns the escapades of a traveling theatrical troupe in the west headed by Anthony Quinn with the leading lady being Sophia Loren. This was her only trip to the American west on film also.

Theatrical people did not exactly have the same kind of prestige back in those days as they do now. We first meet our players fleeing across the state/territorial boundaries of Nebraska and Wyoming evading a sheriff with a writ. They arrive in Cheyenne and get themselves involved with the villainous doings of Ramon Novarro and his hired gunman Steve Forrest.

After Forrest does a couple of jobs for him, Novarro tries a doublecross maneuver similar to the one Laird Cregar tried on Alan Ladd in This Gun For Hire with the same sorry results. Forrest of necessity joins the theatrical troupe and both get an opportunity to use their respective skills to help each other out of some tight spots.

This film had potential to be better. Maybe in the hands of someone like George Marshall or John Ford it might even have become a classic. George Cukor was not the director for it.

The film marked the last feature film appearance of both Ramon Novarro and Edmund Lowe. Novarro did do some television work until his tragic murder in 1968. Here he's a smooth and polished villain. Edmund Lowe does quite well as an old ham actor which at that point in his life was I'm sure one easy role for him.

Heller in Pink Tights is enjoyable enough, but no classic.

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

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.

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.

George Cukor said he'd always wanted to make a western, and this rollicking 1960 adaptation of a Louis L'Amour novel provided him with good material. It starts out tremendously, with creditors chasing Anthony Quinn and Sophia Loren's ragtag theatrical troupe across state lines, and the credits, supported by Daniele Amfitheatrof's splendid scoring, promise a good time. What follows is a bit inconsistent; it's never sure if it wants to be a giddy theatrical comedy or a gritty western, and farce and violence don't mix well. Quinn seems miscast and devoid of personality, and Loren tries to overcompensate with some stilted line readings. She's gorgeous, of course, delectably costumed by Edith Head, and the rest of the troupe-Eileen Heckart, a fetchingly grown-up Margaret O'Brien, and a hammy Edmund Lowe-provide plenty of diversion. Steve Forrest ably plays a studly, surprisingly complex villain, and Ramon Novarro is an excellent villain. Few westerns carry such a beautiful color palette, and it moves swiftly and satisfyingly. Not quite the masterpiece it wants to be, but it's consistently entertaining, and great to look at.

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

This film is really very badly directed - which is amazing given Cukor's excellent filmography. He rarely focuses the attention of the viewer where it should be - and seems obsessed with close-ups on Sophia's eyes. I wonder if Carlo Ponti interfered a lot here - as Sophia is rarely out of shot, to the detriment of the other characters and the film. This is one of Sophia's worst performances - she seems to be struggling with her lines - although she looks good blonde. The excellent supporting cast is wasted - even Anthony Quinn is allowed little screen time. Eileen Heckhart is allowed even less time, but it's interesting to see child actress Margaret O'Brien in a rare adult role. Her little girl voice is jarring however. The only reason to see this film is to witness the final performance of the legendary Ramon Novarro. He is splendid and stylish as the villain - a great lesson in screen acting, although again we don't see enough of him. Is there a story about the making of this film? I wonder if Cukor had to battle the Ponti-Loren partnership and was forced to give too much screen time to Sophia. What a mistake!

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.

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.

In Old West Wyoming, a traveling troupe of dramatic actors is on the run from bill collectors; a cocky gunslinger comes to their rescue once the caravan hits hostile Indian territory--sticking around to settle a bet with the beautiful leading actress, whom he's smitten with. George Cukor western, adapted from the novel "Heller With a Gun" by Louis L'Amour, has a shaky beginning, a not-bad first act, but absolutely nothing to offer after the first 50 or so minutes. Sophia Loren, in peculiar blonde and red wigs, has a charming early scene getting herself into a poker game (bluffing with 4 sevens), and there's also a stunning, beautifully accomplished sequence wherein the dramatists give an action-filled performance in a packed theater (complete with Loren riding through the crowd on a horse). Still, Anthony Quinn's relationship with Loren never catches fire, and Sophia and Steve Forrest create little chemistry. This may be due to Cukor's direction, which has no magic (and he's particularly insulting to the Indian tribe, who hoop and holler over the left-behind costumes like a bunch of drunken rowdies at a frat-house). A disappointment overall, though small sections of the picture give hint it may have been a fascinating effort under different circumstances. *1/2 from ****

I only sat through this movie for love of Anthony Quinn. He always adds extra energy to his movies, but this one couldn't be saved. Set during the Wild West, he's the director of a traveling theatre troupe always on the run from town to town. The leading actress (and diva) is Sophia Loren, with an awkward blonde wig. Eileen Heckart also sports an awkward wig - bright red - as the costumer, and mother to aspiring actress Margaret O'Brien. Now a teenager, it's more than awkward to see Margaret wearing a corset, lipstick, and flirting with the gray-in-the-temples Tony.

With all that awkwardness, is there time for a story? Sophia has a gambling problem, and she gambles away the theatre troupe while playing cards. Steve Forrest is attracted to Sophia, but she's engaged to Tony. They flee before they can settle the debt, and Steve chases after them. There are complex deals and double crosses, but I really couldn't force myself to pay attention to all of it. All I really gleaned from the movie is that Sophie shouldn't be a blonde, Eileen shouldn't be a redhead, and Tony looks good no matter what he does.

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.

(1960) Helter in Pink Tights WESTERN DRAMA

Adapted from a novel by Loius L'Amour has wagon train theater troupe, lead by Thomas 'Tom' Healy (Anthony Quinn) along with his love interest, Angela Rossini (Sophia Loren) barely making it past the borderline, stepping past across state lines to another town. We find out later that the theater troupe had taken costumes they have not paid for. At the same time an expert hired gun, Mabry (Steve Forrest) is employed to take out another rival competitor, from another rival town. It is during then Mabry himself becomes a target. Things become complicated once the town who employed the outlaw gunfighter to take out some people becomes a target himself, just because Mabry's asking price was too much. And that the corrupt businessman thought it'd be cheaper if he were to hire not as good outlaws to take him out.

It starts out interesting but goes down in a downward spiral that also involves dangerous natives.

Since westerns tended to be rather cheaply made in their heyday, it took colour a while to become the established component in the genre it eventually did as Technicolor gradually became more affordable during the forties.

When the 'psychological' western established itself in the fifties, films like 'The Gunfighter' and '3:10 to Yuma' naturally opted for black & white; likewise modern contemporary 'anti-westerns' like 'The Misfits', 'Lonely Are the Brave' and 'Hud'.

Meanwhile a smaller genre of jokey camp Technicolor westerns (dating back at least as far as 'Whoopee!' in 1930) emphasising exaggerated nineteenth century decor and costume had developed alongside it's more rugged siblings, probably culminating in 'Cat Ballou' in 1965 before Sergio Leone took up the baton.

Which brings us to 'Heller in Pink Tights', one of the adaptations of his work that Louis L'Amour particularly liked; the title change from 'Heller with a Gun' to 'Heller in Pink Tights' signalling the change in emphasis in its transfer from page to screen.

Director Cukor's only western, he gathered around him his trusted collaborators Eugene Allen, Harold Lipstein and George Hoyingen-Heune to produce a stunning-looking colour production with a stunning-looking blonde Sophia Loren in the title role and a once in a lifetime supporting cast including a smoothly villainous Ramon Novarro in his last movie. (Only Margaret O'Brien's voice is occasionally recognisable from her days as a child star fifteen years earlier; and who'd have then thought that she'd have had such a bust on her at 22!)

I was dubious when this film began as to whether I would like it or not. An acting troupe in the old west performing plays and operas seemed a sluggish opening but 15 minutes in I started to realise that this was just scene setting. An oddly cast Anthony Quinn is the actor manager and Sophia Loren his leading lady. Splendid support from Eileen Eckhart, Margaret O'brien and Edmund Lowe start to make this work for me. The addition of Steve Forrest probably in the best part I recall seeing him in, as a gunman trying to collect a debt from Ramon Novarro who would rather send thugs to kill him, raises the atmosphere to a serious western level, the only one I believe directed by George Cukor. As a lover of westerns I was really hooked at this stage and there some really good scenes I thought as the actors start to venture out into the wild, threatened with authentic looking Indians and beautiful landscape shots. There's much to laugh at along the way and subtle sexual tension between Loren and the male leads. In spite of being miscast, I rather liked seeing Quinn in this unusual part, and he is quite nuanced, trying to come to terms with his true feelings for Loren. It's clearly Sophia's film all the way and she looks ravishing in a blonde hair do and considering her age and having to handle the English language, gives a brilliant performance. 8 stars from me for a surprisingly entertaining movie.

George Cukor is without a doubt one of the best directors, being one of the pioneers in the proclaimed Golden Age of Hollywood.

This western of his is a great testament to his style, helming a genre that has showcased a lot of filmmaker's provice. The actors all do an incredible job, which is to be expected from such a great cast.

The cinematography, cutting and editing is splendid, as per usual when it comes to Cukor's works, and it is very beautifully put together.

Overall, an incredible piece that is definitely recommended for any lover of film, and for fans of George Cukor's works. Give it a watch!

I enjoyed "Heller in Pink Tights; it was a pretty good Western and was pleasantly surprising because I did not really expect much from it. It was well acted all around, well filmed and staged, a proper pace and length, and a good backstage look at the theater business. It was also not too silly or dumb as I feared it could be, but was rather a competently told drama with some slight humor. I would recommend, 8/10. I'm surprised it doesn't get better ratings and reviews, perhaps because Loren is a blonde here it seems silly to some.