Product Details

• Actors: Betty Grable, Cesar Romero, Rudy Vallee, Olga San Juan, Porter Hall
• Directors: Preston Sturges
• Writers: Preston Sturges, Earl Felton
• Producers: Preston Sturges
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: September 1, 1998
• Run Time: 77 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301302931
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,844 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Rootin',tootin' Grable legs it in Western farce, July 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend [VHS] (VHS Tape)

First time around this Preston Sturges (writer, producer, director)movie was given the thumbs down by most of the critics. However, today it is hailed as classic comedy, with a classy leading lady - Betty Grable! She the cutest li'l ole gunslinging saloon girl who shoots a judge (where it don't show) and legs it with her pal, Olga San Juan, to the next town along the line where she poses as a schoolmarm. Betty only has two numbers in this one, but her comedy performance is first-class, especially aided by Margaret Hamilton, Sterling Holloway, and a whole host of oldtimers. Great fun - if you don't take it too seriously! A very underrated Preston Sturges production. And it's a pity Grable wasn't allowed to do more wacky comedies like this. She's a natural.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Betty's biggest flop plays a lot funnier today, September 26, 2008

By 

Lon + (Mpls / Maui) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (DVD)

The legend goes something like this: After Judy Garland dropped out of Annie Get Your Gun, MGM called Zanuck, head of 20th Century Fox, and asked if he would loan out Betty Grable to replace her. After thinking about it over the weekend, Zanuck called Mayer back and said, "Why the hell should I loan out my golden girl when I've got a better property to star her in?" The better property? The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend! Despite starring Hollywood's number one female (Grable was on the Top 10 Box Office list for 10 consecutive years) and being written and directed by one of the best in the business, Preston Sturges (in his autobiography Sturges writes that this was a misfire, and that Betty Grable was so great to work with and such an excellent comedienne she deserved much better) the picture tanked. Today, surprisingly, it plays much better. Grable's comedic talents really do shine (Sturgis was right!) and she gets better than able support from Cesar Romero, Rudy Vallee, Olga San Juan, Porter Hall and Sterling Holloway (as a pair of hilarious hillbilly twins) plus Hugh Herbert who steals all of his scenes as a nearsighted doc. Grable's opening saloon number is to die for. And the shootin' gets a few laughs, as well.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A little better with age... but not much, September 29, 2010

By 

A. J. Sneed - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (DVD)

At the time of release, this movie was really regarded as a stinker by everyone: critics, Grable, Zanuck ( after the preview, he said that Sturges crucified Grable in this film), and the public ( it turned out to be one of the few films with Grable as the top bill that did not make money in the US market).

I think the best way to describe the film is in comparing it to "Blazing Saddles". The Beautiful Blond from Bashful Bend is also a farce based on the Western film genre. Unfortunately, while Sturges might have had a great premise in sending up the Western, he can't supply the jokes and gags like Mel Brooks did some 20 years later. Of course, Mel Brooks had almost none of the censorship restrictions that Sturges had in 1949, and maybe that is what makes Blazing Saddles so much more hilarious than this bomb.

In retrospect the movie has its moments, but it probably will only appeal to classic movie buffs who have an interest in Sturges or Grable. I think Grable carried herself quite well with poor material, as comedy was one of her natural talents ( she was known as quite a "clown" on and off the movie set). Even so, this "farce" is just not that funny. Considering the writing that had made Sturges such a success as a screenwriter then writer/director, the dialogue is contrived and stilted. You can see where the "jokes" are supposed to be, but usually they fall flat.

Most people will be better off passing this "classic" up, even the film buffs.