The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend

Infobox Film
name = The Beautiful Blonde
from Bashful Bend


image_size = 210px
caption = theatrical poster
director = Preston Sturges
producer = Preston Sturges
writer = Earl Felton "(story)"
Preston Sturges
narrator =
starring = Betty Grable
music = Cyril J. Mockridge
cinematography = Harry Jackson
editing = Robert Fritch
distributor = Twentieth-Century Fox
released = 27 May fy|1949 "(NYC/LA)"
June 1949 "(gen)"
runtime = 77 minutes
country = FilmUS
language = English
budget = $2,260,000 "(est)"
gross = $1,489,000 "(US)"
imdb_id = 0041165

"The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend" is a fy|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. [Allmovie [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:4510~T1 Review] ]

"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 fy|1955 French comedy "Les carnets du Major Thompson" (released in the U.S. as "The French, They Are a Funny Race").TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=68289&category=Notes Notes] ]

Plot

Hot-headed Winifred "Freddie" Jones (Betty Grable) is a saloon singer in the Old West who catches her boyfriend, gambler Blackie Jobero (Cesar Romero), flirting with another woman and takes a shot at him with the six-shooter she always carries. Unfortunately, she hits a Judge (Porter Hall) instead, so she and her friend Conchita (Olga San Juan) take it on the lam. When they get to a tiny hole-in-the-wall town, Freddie and Conchita are mistaken for the new schoolmarm and her Indian maid. They meet the local muckety-mucks, including wealthy Charles Hingelman (Rudy Valee), owner of a valuable gold mine, who starts to romance Freddie. When Blackie shows up while tracking Freddie down, complications ensue. [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=68289&category=Full%20Synopsis Full synopsis] ] Erickson, Hal [http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:4510 Plot synopsis (Allmovie)] ] [Perkins, Jeremy [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041165/plotsummary Plot summary (IMDB)] ]

Cast

ongs

*"The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend" - by Lionel Newman and Don George
*"Clementine Capers" - by Cyril Mockridge
*"Every Time I Meet You" - by Josef Myrow (music) and Mack Gordon (words)
*"In the Gloaming" - by Annie Fortesque Harrison and Meta Orred [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041165/soundtrack Soundtracks] ] [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=68289&category=Music Music] ]

Production

Earl Felton's original screen story was titled "The Lady from Laredo", and the film had the working titles of "Teacher's Pet" and "The Blonde from Bashful Bend". The film had been scheduled to go into production in September fy|1947, but was "temporarily shelved" in October because Fox production head Darryl F. Zanuck was concerned about the high cost of doing a film in Technicolor. While the production was delayed, Sturges made Unfaithfully Yours (fy|1948) as his first film for Fox.

An early draft of the screen play, dated 29 December 1947 indicates that Sturges was considering June Haver in the role of Freddie, even though Betty Grable had already been announced as starring. In the script, Sturges wrote:

It is my habit, when writing a play, to cast the parts as, in my mind, each character makes his first appearance. Occasionally a stranger walks in and I am uneasy about his looks and the sound of his voice, but usually as he pauses in the doorway I recognize an old friend whose talents I admire and about whose fitness for the part I have no doubts.

As was usually the case on Sturges' films, the censors at the Hays Office had concerns about the script for "The Beautiful Blonde..." which had been submitted to them. Joseph I. Breen, head of the Production Code, warned Fox that it "contains entirely too much dialogue and action which concerns itself – in a quite blunt and pointed way – with sex." The Office approved a draft script submitted on 23 September fy|1948.

"The Beautiful Blonde..." was in production from late September to late November of fy|1948, with an additional sequence shot in early January of 1949.TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=68289&category=Overview Overview] ] . It's unclear whether Sturges or another director worked on the January shoot, which was to change the ending of the film at the insistence of Zanuck. The film premiered in Hollywood and New York City on 27 May fy|1949 and went into general American release in June. It was marketed with the tagline: "She had the biggest Six-Shooters in the West!" [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041165/taglines Taglines] ]

The film was budgeted at an estimated $2,260,000 and brought in duuring its initial American release only about $1,489,000. [IMDB [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041165/business Business data] ] "The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend" was released on video in the U.S. on 25 May fy|1989. [TCM [http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=68289&category=Misc%20Notes Misc. notes] ]

Notes

External links

*imdb title|0041165
*tcmdb title|68289
*amg movie|1:4510