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HELLER IN PINK TIGHTS / George Cukor (1960)

February 2nd, 2006 by Scott Marks

Heller in Pink Tights (1960)
Directed by: George Cukor
Written by: Walter Bernstein, Louis L’Amour
Genres: Adventure, Drama, Romance, Western
Cast: Sophia Loren, Anthony Quinn, Margaret O’Brien, Steve Forrest, Eileen Heckart, Ramon Novarro, Edmund Lowe, George Mathews, Ed Binns, Warren Wade, Frank Silvera, Robert Palmer, Leo V. Matranga, Cal Bolder, Taggart Casey
Aspect Ratio: 1.85 : 1
Running Time: 100 min.

A throwaway line in the New York Times yearend DVD roundup set me thinking. Critic Dave Kehr was pleased to see that Paramount Home Video finally released George Cukor’s neglected Heller in Pink Tights and referred to it as “Hollywood’s first gay western.” Since it was a slow week at the movies (you already know what I think of Big Momma’s House 2 and Nanny McPhee), I decided to riff on Kehr’s insightful comment and direct my readers attention to this delightful footnote to the gay old west.

By 1960, Cukor had amassed a reputation as a “woman’s director” (even though he coaxed equally sterling performances out of Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, James Mason, Alec McCowan, etc.) who wasn’t crazy about leaving the safety and comfort of a studio backlot. Which Paramount genius decided to assign an urban(e) intellectual brimming with taste and refinement a Louis L’Amour pulp oater to adapt? Cukor was a team player and knew that the best way to turn the situation to his advantage was to book passage for a couple of his gay caballeros on the stage to Cheyenne. Gene Allen was a former L. A. cop Cukor took a liking to and put to work. According to co-author Walter Bernstein, Allen “was of a considerably developed aesthetic sensibility. He looked like a cop, talked like a cop, but Cukor was able to see what he had to contribute.”

For years, Cukor had been coaxing portraiture and landscape photographer George Hoyningen-Huene to move to Hollywood where, according to biographer William A. Ewing, “(Cukor) believed Huene’s refined talents would be appreciated.” The Russian aristocrat brought his idiosyncratic stylistic sensibilities to several of Cukor’s pictures (most notably the radiant A Star is Born). An uncredited Allen oversaw the camera setups while Huene, billed as both “Color Coordinator” and “Technical Advisor,” rode herd over set, exterior background and costume design.

Sophia Loren (in a blonde wig) plays the beautiful headliner of a theatrical troupe that always manages to stay one hoof ahead of the sheriff and make it across the state line. Company manager/boyfiend/co-star Anthony Quinn is forced to take on notorious killer Steve Forrest to help circumvent the savages between Cheyenne and Bonanza. Unbeknownst to Quinn, Forrest won Ms. Loren in a poker game and he’s just accompanying them long enough to collect his property. Heller doesn’t offer much in the way of an original storyline, but we’re not in this one for its plot.

This is a triumphant example of style as (not over) subject. Hollywood morays being what they were would never have allowed implicit gay content, yet as director Todd Haynes notes, “Homosexuality, while behind-the-scenes, was indeed evident in the making of the films…While thematically restricted, a gay or ‘feminine’ aesthetic was free to pervade the profuse visual style: the clothes, the colors, the lavish décor.”

Ions ago I attended a screening of a vintage three-strip Technicolor print and if I blink hard enough, the vibrant colors come back in a form reminiscent of an acid flashback. Even on television, the shot of Loren greeting the townsfolk by raising a black dress (with lavender piping) and lilac petticoat to expose her high button shoes and horizontally-striped purple stockings is a textured Technicolor extravaganza. Later on, the Indians ransack the ensemble’s two wagons transforming their campground into an orgy of iridescent fabrics set flapping against a goose-down snowstorm.

I briefly met Mr. Cukor at the 1977 Chicago International Film Festival. Favorite moment: In a flash of blinding ignorance, emcee Roger Ebert dared to utter the words Star Wars in the presence of The Master. When asked what he thought of the film Cukor grumbled, “Star Wars? What the hell do I care about Star Wars?” I told you the guy had taste! Too bad Heller suffered a near-similar verdict. When it was over, I walked up to him and asked if he would be gracious enough to sign my Heller one-sheet. “Where the hell did you get this thing?” He found a blank spot on the enormous poster and signed his name as if he were endorsing a check. “Terrible movie. It was a mistake. Did you know that Hoyningen-Huene worked on it? I’ll be goddamned if you’ll find a picture with better color!”

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