The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend

The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend is a 1949 romantic comedy Western film starring Betty Grable and featuring Cesar Romero and Rudy Vallee. It was directed by Preston Sturges and written by him based on a story by Earl Felton. The film, Sturges' first Technicolor production, was not well received at the time it was released, and was generally conceded to be a disaster – even Betty Grable bad-mouthed it – but its reputation has improved somewhat over time, even though it is not considered to be in the same league as the intelligent comedies Sturges made at Paramount Pictures that he is known for. The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend would turn out to be the last American film that Sturges would work on – although he would receive credit for films that were remakes or adaptations of his earlier movies. Sturges directed only one more film in his life, the 1955 French comedy Les carnets du Major Thompson (released in the U.S. as The French, They Are a Funny Race).