Heller in Pink Tights (1960)

Heller In Pink Tights is a 1960 Technicolor western film adapted from Louis L'Amour's novel, Heller with a Gun. It stars Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn and was directed by George Cukor.

The movie is noted for its lavishly ornate costumes by Edith Head and its impressive photography and usage of Technicolor. Though not a commercial success, Heller In Pink Tights is thought by some film historians to be George Cukor's most lavishly visual film.

Cukor had never been pleased with the "look" of most westerns and he hired George Hoyningen-Huene, a famous Russian-born fashion photographer and 1920s illustrator who was an expert at art and design. The final result is a unique film that looks like a cross between a Frederic Remington painting and a Toulouse-Lautrec rendering of music hall performers.

Heller in Pink Tights co-stars Margaret O'Brien, Ramon Novarro and Eileen Heckart. It also marks Loren's lowest weight on film. The normally voluptuous and full-figured star lost almost twenty pounds at Cukor's request and donned a blond wig.

Synopsis

In the 1880s, followed by bill collectors, the Healy Dramatic Company arrives in Cheyenne to play at the west’s grandest theater. Continental actress, Angela, and owner-manager, Tom Healy, head a troupe that includes Della as ingenue, her mother, a character actress, Lorna, and a grand old Shakespearean ham, Doc Montague. After a creditor arrives, Angela collects a night’s receipt from a man named, Pierce, the theater owner. She risks it all in a poker game with gunslinger Clint Mabry, puts herself up as collateral, and loses.

Actors