Dir George Cukor
1960, USA
Sophia Loren and Anthony Quinn
Costumes Edith Head, Producer Carlo Ponti
Novel by Louis L’Amour
A technicolour pseudo-Western. It is the story of Quinn, an itinerant producer of theatrical productions, and his wayward, headstrong and beautiful young star, Loren. Quinn’s character is 43. It is the free-ranging, rambunctious west from the point of view of non-ranchers, of non-gun slingers. And it’s good. The productions are florid, and the characters are over-drawn, as one would expect from L’Amour, but it also has all of that theatrical charm. nd there is a real story, as the troop runs into trouble but also manages to find a home, and become ‘settled’. For is that not the goal of all westward bound homesteaders?
In particular, Quinn is very good, and Loren has a few very good moments. It’s very entertaining, which is clearly what it was intended to be. The opening titles give you a clue – they are cleverly drawn, a giant scroll as from an old western movie marquee sign. They let know that the filmmaker a good story to tell, are going to do it with style, and everyone is going to enjoy themselves. Myself and the 30 or so old people in the Cinematheque did enjoy ourselves.
IMDB gives it a 5.6, but it’s much better than that. Like the L’Amour books,dower souls will overlook their historical quality because of the simplified dramaticism and the typecast characters, but that in part is the strength of the narrative – it is very unaffected. And the Anothony Quinn fist fight is one of the best I have ever seen.
Burl Film 