Heller in Pink Tights *** (1960, Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Eileen Heckart, Ramon Novarro, Margaret O’Brien, Steve Forrest, Edmund Lowe) – Classic Movie Review 6923

Director George Cukor’s 1960 movie Heller in Pink Tights stars Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn, who give vivacious, attractive performances that boost an amusing, freewheeling comedy Western about an 1880s theatrical troupe who fight Indians, lawmen and creditors as they tour the Wild West.

A blonde Loren stars as the horse-riding star Angela Rossini and Quinn plays the troupe’s manager Tom Healy, who together try to keep the show on the road. The good cast includes three former stars – Margaret O’Brien, Edmund Lowe and Ramon Novarro (who makes an excellent villain in his last movie, his first for a decade) – as notable character actors.

The slack and wayward screenplay by Dudley Nichols and Walter Bernstein sometimes gets out of control, but director Cukor tries hard to grab hold firmly of the reins. It is based on the novel Heller with a Gun by Louis L’Amour, drawing on the real-life exploits of Adah Isaacs Menken. The bestselling original author Louis L’Amour (150 million books sold) gave the movie the thumbs up.

Also in the cast are Eileen Heckart, Steve Forrest, George Mathews, Ed Binns, Warren Wade, Frank Silvera, Robert Palmer, Leo V Matranga, Cal Bolder, Taggart Casey, Howard McNear, Iron Eyes Cody, Bobby Darin and Chief Yowlachie.

Heller in Pink Tights is directed by George Cukor, runs 100 minutes, is released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Dudley Nichols and Walter Bernstein, based on the novel Heller with a Gun by Louis L’Amour, is shot in Technicolor by Harold Lipstein, is produced by Carlo Ponti and Marcello Girosi, is scored by Daniele Amfitheatrof, and is designed by Hal Pereira and Gene Allen.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6923

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