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Heller in Pink Tights movie storyline. 19th century Wyoming: the wild West. Mild-mannered Tom Healy has a two-wagon theater troupe hounded by creditors because Angela, his leading lady and the object of his affection, constantly buys clothes. In Cheyenne, they meet with applause, so they hope to stay awhile: the theater owner likes Angela, and she keeps him on a string.
She’s also the object of the attentions of Mabry, a gunslinger who’s owed money by the richest man in Bonanza. Complications arise and the troupe heads for Bonanza, through hostile Indian territory. Is the troupe doomed to a peripatetic life, is Mabry in danger, and does Tom stand a chance with Angela, a hellion in pink tights?
Heller In Pink Tights is a 1960 Technicolor western film adapted from Louis L’Amour’s 1955 novel, Heller with a Gun. It stars Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Margaret O’Brien, Steve Forrest, Eileen Heckart, Ramon Novarro, Edmund Lowe, George Mathews, Edward Binns, Frank Silvera and Cal Bolder and was directed by George Cukor.
The movie is noted for its lavishly ornate costumes by Edith Head and its impressive photography and use 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 never had 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 actress lost almost 20 pounds (9 kg) at Cukor’s request and donned a blonde wig. As is the case in L’Amour’s novel, there is no character in the film named “Heller”.
Heller in Pink Tights (1960)
Directed by: George Cukor
Starring: Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Margaret O’Brien, Steve Forrest, Eileen Heckart, Ramon Novarro, Edmund Lowe, George Mathews, Edward Binns, Frank Silvera, Cal Bolder
Screenplay by: Dudley Nichols, Walter Bernstein
Production Design by: Frank Caffey, Curtis Mick
Cinematography by: Harold Lipstein
Film Editing by: Howard A. Smith
Costume Design by: Edith Head
Set Decoration by: Sam Comer, Grace Gregory
Art Direction by: Gene Allen, Hal Pereira
Music by: Daniele Amfitheatrof
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release Date: March 1, 1960
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