Heller In Pink Tights (1960)

In the Old West of the 1880s, a traveling theatrical troupe has a nasty habit of skipping town without paying their bills! But when the company's lead actress (Sophia Loren) bets herself in a poker game and loses to a gunslinger (Steve Forrest), he's not the man to skip out on even if he has to go through hostile Indian territory to get his woman. Based on the novel by Louis L'Amour and directed by George Cukor (MY FAIR LADY). Cukor is just about the last director you'd think of to direct a western but he brings a stunning and elegant color palette to this comedic western. To this end, he brought in the famed Russian illustrator and photographer Hoyningen Huene to oversee the art and design of the film and the contributions of art directors Gene Allen and Hal Pereira and costume designer Edith Head do the movie proud in giving the film a painterly look. As to the film itself, it's not bad at all but Cukor doesn't have the feel for a real western and the film feels schizophrenic. Anthony Quinn is the male lead but the film is stolen by Eileen Heckart as an actress mother and Margaret O'Brien as the daughter she refuses to let grow up. With the silent film star Ramon Novarro and the director Edmund Lowe, Frank Silvera and Edward Binns.