TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

Mabel Munoz Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

Joanna Mccarty Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Orla Zuniga It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

classicsoncall With all the colorful costumes and sensational outdoor cinematography, we never do get around to the 'pink tights' of the title, a bit of misdirection there I'd say with Sophia Loren in the cast. Actually, I find it difficult to pin down who this film might have been meant to appeal to. Nominally a Western, it really doesn't satisfy in terms of an adventure film and most of the scenes plod along waiting for things to happen. It was a bit visually jarring too, to see Sophia Loren as a blonde, although an early scene with Anthony Quinn introducing the characters lent new meaning to the definition of having an hourglass figure. Whatever tension there is, is provided by the subtext of Clint Mabry (Steve Forrest) fulfilling a contract for Bonanza town villain De Leon (Ramon Novarro), while trying to avoid getting greased himself by the bad guy's double cross. His play for Angela Rossini (Loren) basically went nowhere, and if you want to believe he collected on the poker bet with the actress, you have to fill in the blanks yourself. However he does have that exciting exit from the theater stage to help set up the finale, with a happily ever after ending for Quinn's Tom Healy and the beautiful Angie Rossini, something neither one was really counting on when the story started.

mark.waltz Don't expect 100% comedy in this western about the trials of an acting troop making their way through the old west. It's not all feather boas and sequins in this sometimes light- hearted but often dangerous lifestyle where troop leader Anthony Quinn, leading lady Sophia Loren and the remainder of their ensemble face bill collectors, irate or amorous hotel proprietors and Indians as they go from gig to gig. Often, there's a lit more lustful eyes made at the voluptuous Loren with Quinn struggling to keep it altogether. Among the supporting cast are Margaret O'Brien as a supposed 16 year old girl with a mother (Eileen Heckart) who seems to want to sell her off to matrimony, Edmund Lowe as the company villain and Steve Forrest who makes a gamble for Loren's heart. Moderately entertaining, it often switches gears as it goes through various mood swings. I wanted to like it more than I did, although this is a subject matter that doesn't crop up as part of major western plots. The look on the audience's eyes as they watch the goings on stage is thrilling however while the confrontation with the natives is rather frightening.O'Brien seems to be trying to remind everybody that she was "Meet Me in St. Louis's" Tootie, obviously not 16 as Heckart insists and certainly not 20 as she claims to be. Heckart gets some good lines, but I wouldn't call this one of her better parts. Loren, as a platinum blonde, is still enticing, while Quinn just seems to get sexier as he ages. It's colorful but unremarkable, high one moment then disappointing the next.

sol- This strangely titled western follows the adventures of a group of stage actors who participate in a traveling theatrical troupe. It is an unusual subject for a western - one rarely portrayed on screen - and novelty value alone almost makes the film worth a look. The film is, however, never quite as fascinating it sounds. There is a nail- bitingly intense poker game in the mix, and all of the troupe's stage performances are excellent with some surprisingly raunchy costumes courtesy of Edith Head, plus lead actress Sophia Loren playing all the important male (!) stage roles needs to be seen to be believed, however, everything off-stage is less engaging. Loren lacks chemistry with lead actor Anthony Quinn and only has slightly more chemistry with Steve Forrest as a crooked gunslinger who takes to protecting the troupe to get closer to her. The film has a couple of great supporting characters in Margaret O'Brien as an upcoming young actress and Eileen Heckart as her overbearing, over-protective mother; the banter between the pair is always very real and O'Brien's struggle to break out as an actress of her own (asking Quinn whether he finds her attractive at one point) is encapsulating. The film is, however, a Loren vehicle through and through and there is a limit to how far the filmmakers can push her story, unusual subject matter or not. That said, there is enough that it is worthwhile here, but on the same note, it is understandable why director George Cukor was disappointed with the final product. As for what the title means, it is anybody's guess.

moonspinner55 In Old West Wyoming, a traveling troupe of dramatic actors is on the run from bill collectors; a cocky gunslinger comes to their rescue once the caravan hits hostile Indian territory--sticking around to settle a bet with the beautiful leading actress, whom he's smitten with. George Cukor western, adapted from the novel "Heller With a Gun" by Louis L'Amour, has a shaky beginning, a not-bad first act, but absolutely nothing to offer after the first 50 or so minutes. Sophia Loren, in peculiar blonde and red wigs, has a charming early scene getting herself into a poker game (bluffing with 4 sevens), and there's also a stunning, beautifully accomplished sequence wherein the dramatists give an action-filled performance in a packed theater (complete with Loren riding through the crowd on a horse). Still, Anthony Quinn's relationship with Loren never catches fire, and Sophia and Steve Forrest create little chemistry. This may be due to Cukor's direction, which has no magic (and he's particularly insulting to the Indian tribe, who hoop and holler over the left-behind costumes like a bunch of drunken rowdies at a frat-house). A disappointment overall, though small sections of the picture give hint it may have been a fascinating effort under different circumstances. *1/2 from ****