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, though it is not considered to be in the same league as the intelligent comedies Sturges made at Paramount Pictures for which he is known. The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend would turn out to be the last American Western film on which Sturges would work – although he would receive credit for films that were remakes or adaptations of his earlier films. 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). Plot Hot-headed Winifred "Freddie" Jones is a saloon singer in the Old West who catches her boyfriend, gambler Blackie Jobero, flirting with another woman and takes a shot at him with the six-shooter she always carries. Unfortunately, she hits a judge instead, so her friend Conchita and she 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, owner of a valuable gold mine, who starts to romance Freddie. When Blackie shows up while tracking Freddie down, complications ensue. Cast {{Cast listing| Betty Grable as Winifred "Freddie" Jones Cesar Romero as Blackie Jobero Rudy Vallee as Charles Hingleman Olga San Juan as Conchita Porter Hall as Judge Alfalfa J. O'Toole Hugh Herbert as Doctor Al Bridge as Sheriff Ambrose El Brendel as Mr. Jorgensen Sterling Holloway as Basserman Boy Dan Jackson as Basserman Boy Emory Parnell as Mr. Julius Hingleman Pati Behrs as Roulette Richard Hale as Gus Basserman Chris-Pin Martin as Joe the Bartender}} Songs "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 OrredTCM Music Production Earl