This was the film that proved Marilyn Monroe was a considerable screen actress, and capable of much, much more than her sexpot image indicated. Whether Monroe's performance is a result of director Joshua Logan's patience or Lee and Paula Strasberg's legendary coaching is irrelevant: she is simply superb as the down-at-heel saloon chanteuse whom young cowboy Don Murray (impressive in his film debut) decides to marry. Based on William Inge's stage play, this is a movie that rewards - especially memorable is Monroe's delivery of an off-kilter That Old Black Magic in an outfit that leaves little to the imagination. If you've ever wondered, this movie certainly shows what Monroe was all about.

Cowboys Beauregard Decker and Virgil Blessing attend a rodeo in Phoenix, where Decker falls in love with beautiful cafe singer Cherie. He wants to take Cherie back to his native Montana and marry her, but she dreams of traveling to Hollywood and becoming famous. When she resists his advances, Decker forces Cherie onto the bus back to Montana with him, but, when the bus makes an unscheduled stop due to bad weather, the tables are turned.