"Heller in Pink Tights" - A brief movie review

What an awful "adaptation" of Louis L'Amour's excellent Heller with a Gun. I suppose the movie could stand on its own right if you have never read the book. But if you have read the book.. 57 times.. since your teenage years.. like I have, you will be disappointed. The book has a serious, sometimes dark theme while the movie is marred by facetiousness. The exciting opening gambit in the book sets a tone that is then consistently carried throughout the book. This gambit is completely missing in the movie. The book's location involves travel through dense woods in deep winter in Wyoming territory but the movie looks like it was filmed in the sand hills of Utah during early summer. Snow makes an appearance for about two minutes.. could have been that the technology available at that time did not allow for cold weather filming. Character development, if any, is uneven in the movie and takes away from the dignity -- and humanity -- of some of the characters in the book. When the serious scenes do seep in about halfway in, they evoke guffaws. Sophia Loren gets top billing and the first third of the movie revolves around her "cuteness". There is more to the character of Dodie -- labeled as Della in the movie -- but that is never captured in the movie. Anthony Quinn picks up a paycheck. The baddies are complete caricatures. I really have no idea what kind of inspiration the filmmakers had when this project was green-lighted. But it turns out to be another disposable western with no re-watch value. Enjoy the book when you don't have anything going on a Sunday afternoon. But skip the movie.