The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend (1949)

After shooting a judge (Porter Hall) twice in the buttocks, a saloon singer (Betty Grable) goes on the lam with her friend (Olga San Juan). She arrives in a small town where they think she is the new schoolteacher. Written, produced and directed by Preston Sturges. If Sturges' name wasn't attached to it, this western satire wouldn't be such a disappointment especially coming off one of his best films, UNFAITHFULLY YOURS (1948). It's a harmless rather silly film with Grable giving a bit more in the acting department than her usual musical fluff. But from the man who directed THE PALM BEACH STORY and SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS, you expect more. It was Sturges' first film in Technicolor and his last film made in the U.S. As a whole, it's misguided but there are some genuinely funny moments which do not include Sterling Holloway and Dan Jackson as a pair of idiot hillbilly brothers who are simply irritating in their juvenile unfunniness. With Cesar Romero, Rudy Vallee, Marie Windsor, Margaret Hamilton, Hugh Herbert and El Brendel.