by George Cukor
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| American poster | French poster | Belgian poster | Spanish DVD |
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PLOT
The West, around 1880. The drama troupe Healy is on tour in the endless expanses of the West. The owner of the troupe, Tom Healy, is hopelessly in love with his leading actress Angela Rossini. After various fiasco es and numerous adventures, among which the rescue of a group of workmen attacked by Indians, the exuberant Angela actually becomes the owner of a theatre in Bonanza and saves her outlaw lover from the hired guns of a sinister individual. But of course her love remains with the rough and ready Tom Healy. (Enrico Lancia) Based on the short story 'Heller with a Gun' by Louis L'Amour. |
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FILMING
LOCATIONS
Paramount
Studios,
Hollywood, CA (USA) MAIN CAST
Sophia
Loren
(Angela Rossini) |
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CREDITS |
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NOTES
Working title: Heller with a Gun Sophia's
lowest weight on film is in Heller in
Pink Tights for which she weighs "The
pink tights referred to in the title deserve mention because they
represent an
earlier convention of the sex symbol. Nineteenth-century dramas
sometimes
afforded opportunities for actresses to appear in some form of implied
nudity,
usually a flesh-pink body stacking. This costume aroused exceptional
acclaim
for various actresses of that period, including Ada Mencken, to whom
Loren's
character refers by starring in Mazeppa. In this play within the movie,
Loren,
strapped to an actual horse, rides through the theater in a pink body
stocking,
accented by a bit of drapery that covers one breast. Such plays drew
crowds,
naturally, and created superstar followings for the actresses." A
plumed hat Sophia is wearing catches fire on the set on January 28. The
blaze is quickly extinguished and Sophia returns to work. Sophia
makes the mistake of wearing velvet trousers in her first horseriding
attempt. As a result she winds up with a bad case of saddle
sores. Those actual scenes
showing Sophia going thataway on a horse are cut from the script. As
Sophia says it: "I flunked the riding lessons. I just couldn't get the
rhythm of it." The role is offered to Marilyn Monroe but she refuses the part considering it rubbish. |
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QUOTES
AND REVIEWS “I
thought Sophia Loren very good, light and humorous.
She's really adorable.” “I
could never get close to her. If she wants to know you, she sets the
ground rules. Otherwise, it's forbidden territory behind a piece of
beautiful
crystal-clear unbreakable glass."
Sophia
Loren, with very becoming blond hair and looking absolutely stunning in
her costumes, demonstrates, as she has once or twice before, that she
has a definite flair as a comedienne. "Loren
and Quinn, both miscast, give performances that are alternately
inadequate or
inappropriate". “In
Heller the director, the renowned George Cukor, made me perform in a
blond wig on the strings of a marionette. At least, that's what I
thought at
the time. He made me mimic his intonations, his gestures, his facial
expressions, even his eye movements; every day on the set was a
nightmare
because I didn't feel as if I belonged to myself any more, and felt
that I had
been forced to subjugate my identity as an actress. It was a new
technique, one
I had not experienced before, and I was thrown by it.” Sophia Loren |
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