Directed by:
Preston SturgesCinematography:
Harry JacksonComposer:
Cyril J. MockridgeCast:
Betty Grable, Cesar Romero, Rudy Vallee, Hugh Herbert, El Brendel, Sterling Holloway, George Melford, Russell Simpson, Marie Windsor, Frank Morgan (more)Plots(1)
Preston Sturges' final American film. Grable plays a western dancehall girl named Freddie, who is forced to take it on the lam after accidentally shooting a judge (she'd been aiming at her faithless boyfriend Blackie Jobero, played by Cesar Romero). Arriving in the tiny burg of Bashful Bend, Freddie is mistaken for the schoolmarm whom the town elders have recently hired. Taking advantage of this mistaken-identity situation, Freddie puts the make on wealthy banker Charles Hingelman (Rudy Vallee, a Sturges "regular"), who owns a valuable gold mine. Before the film's 77 minutes are over, Freddie finds herself smack dab in the middle of a shootout between the Good Guys and a family of dimwitted outlaws. As was always the case in a Preston Sturges production, Beautiful Blonde of Bashful Bend is chock full of colorful supporting players, including Hugh Herbert (hilarious as a myopic dentist), El Brendel, Sterling Holloway, and Margaret Hamilton. Also on hand are stalwart Sturges stock company players Porter Hall, Alan Bridge, J. Farrell McDonald, Georgia Caine, Esther Howard, Torben Meyer, Dewey Robinson, and Harry Hayden--many of whom, in keeping with 20th Century-Fox's curious billing policy, are denied on-screen credit. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Cast
Betty Grable
USA
Best movies:
The Gay Divorcee (1934)
I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
Follow the Fleet (1936)
Cesar Romero
USA
Best movies:
Tales of Manhattan (1942)
Frontier Marshal (1939)
The Racers (1955)
Rudy Vallee
USA
Best movies:
The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
Live a Little, Love a Little (1968)
Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
Hugh Herbert
USA
Best movies:
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
Hellzapoppin' (1941)
A Song Is Born (1948)
El Brendel
USA
Best movies:
Wings (1927)
The Big Trail (1930)
Little Miss Broadway (1938)
Sterling Holloway
USA
Best movies:
Bambi (1942)
Dumbo (1941)
The Jungle Book (1967)
George Melford
USA
Best movies:
The Stratton Story (1949)
Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
Russell Simpson
USA
Best movies:
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Power and the Glory (1933)
Dodge City (1939)
Marie Windsor
USA
Best movies:
The Killing (1956)
The Hucksters (1947)
Bedtime Story (1964)
Frank Morgan
USA
Best movies:
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
The Stratton Story (1949)
The White Cliffs of Dover (1944)
Margaret Hamilton
USA
Best movies:
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938)
These Three (1936)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Chester Conklin
USA
Best movies:
The Great Dictator (1940)
Modern Times (1936)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
J. Farrell MacDonald
USA
Best movies:
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
Sunrise (1927)
The Power and the Glory (1933)
Kermit Maynard
USA
Best movies:
Giant (1956)
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
The Rainmaker (1956)
Tom Tyler
USA
Best movies:
Gone with the Wind (1939)
The Talk of the Town (1942)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925)
Harry 'Snub' Pollard
Australia
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Limelight (1952)
Inherit the Wind (1960)
Emory Parnell
USA
Best movies:
The Roaring Twenties (1939)
You Gotta Stay Happy (1948)
Sabrina (1954)
Porter Hall
USA
Best movies:
Ace in the Hole (1951)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Philo McCullough
USA
Best movies:
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Love Crazy (1941)
Robert Adler
USA
Best movies:
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)
Ten North Frederick (1958)
The Story of Ruth (1960)