Excellent, a Must See

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

It was baddie Tad Hammond (Douglass Dumbrille) who made the statement in my summary line to Jerry Doyle (Kirk Alyn), his handpicked choice to replace Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) as the new sheriff of Buffalo Buttes. It's a good bet the players involved all got a look at Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart in a gangster flick that came out five years earlier titled "Bullets or Ballots". That was the first thing I thought about when I heard the comment.So as the comment implies, there's a rigged outcome at stake, with Hoppy running opposed for sheriff in an election presumed to be his running away. But Hammond, recently released from prison has other ideas, and his revenge plan includes getting rid of Hoppy once and for all. He recruits forty outlaws from neighboring environs in a show of force meant to intimidate and dissuade local ranchers from voting for Cassidy. The strategy is successful, as Doyle is elected sheriff by a slim margin, with more votes counted than eligible voters! Sounds like this could have taken place in Chicago.Fans of old time action serials will recognize the future first movie Superman, Kirk Alyn, as the none too enthusiastic new sheriff Jerry Doyle, as long as you can overlook that evil intentioned mustache. He's a goner after Hoppy switches clothes with him, shot by his former sponsor when mistaken for our hero from a distance. The final showdown between Ali Baba Hammond's Forty Thieves and Hoppy's old pals from the Bar-20 ends successfully, but not before Cassidy and Hammond duke it out on a swinging rope bridge, which should give you a pretty good idea of how this one turns out.Andy Clyde once again provides the laughs for the matinée fans of the day, applying new meaning to the term breakfast sandwich, and later having a run in with a store front dummy, although as I write this, it could have been the dummy thinking the same thing. Rounding out Hoppy's usual trio is Jimmy Rogers in a largely unnecessary role, as he doesn't have much to do except try to woo the pretty Katherine Reynolds (Louise Currie).

If you love action, this episode is for you. Hopalong Cassidy is of course played by William Boyd, who does an impeccable job as usual. Outside of a few nice appearances by a few regular bad guys and California, there's not much to say about the acting which is fairly standard. The appearance of Andy Clyde as California Carlson is always a plus, but unfortunately Jimmy Rogers as "Deputy Jimmy Rogers" isn't one of Hoppy's better sidekicks. The story is also pretty standard fare.In my mind, what sets this episode apart from many of the later Hoppy movies is the action. There are several gun and fistfights and Hoppy and company manage to dispatch of many of the "forty thieves" on camera. The final fight on the bridge scene is one of the better ones out of all 66 movies, and there's also a classic gunfight in the saloon along with other more standard gun play.Overall, its fairly standard in most respects except for lots of action. The other elements prevent this from being up there with the very best, but it stands out among some of the weaker later episodes.

It's a pretty routine Hoppy until we get to that great suspension bridge. What an inspired piece of action, well staged and photographed. It's Hoppy and bad guy Hammond (Dumbrille) trying to stay on the life line high above the chasm, while knocking the other guy off. It's the movie's centerpiece, and I'm wondering if the tightrope was built for this film, or more likely, left over from a big-budget production. Either way, it's a visual treat.Anyway, Hoppy's a sheriff mixed up in a crooked election master-minded by that fine arch- villain from many a costume epic, Douglas Dumbrille. To oust Hoppy, Hammond assembles forty thieves just like a frontier Ali Baba. Now Hoppy has his hands full, especially in the main street showdown. Not much hard riding or good scenery, however.Several notable features. Screenplay is by ace writer Michael Wilson who later penned a number of prestige films, including Bridge on the River Kwai (1957). Watch for Kirk Allyn as Hammond's feckless sheriff. So how does the screen's first Superman become a "do nothing" sheriff! Speaking of feckless, poor Jimmy Rogers comes across like a big zero and even looks a little like a young jimmy Durante, of all people. Not so, the luscious looking Louise Currie. Too bad they gave her so little to do—just count her lines. Anyway, Bill Boyd is his usual great Hoppy, making the whole thing an entertaining 60 minutes

Set in Buffalo Buttes, the opening is exciting as the film starts with a gunfight on horseback. Hoppy starts off dressed all in black, which usually indicates a hit more than a miss, but then changes to a gentleman's outfit before changing back to black near the end. On the positive side, Earle Hodgins has a (too short) role as a drunk, California is in two real (not comic) fistfights, & gets beat up in both, & there are four gunfights. On the negative side, Jimmy Rogers appears as Hoppy's young sidekick & as always, he can't act (unless you consider "slouching" to be "acting"), is not handsome (as many of the young sidekicks were), & gets beat up in the one fist fight he engages in. Great scene: Hoppy puts guns in the holsters of the baddies, but they're afraid to use them; as Hoppy walks away from them, they shoot. Another great scene: a dozen men in a saloon advance at Hoppy all shooting; as he hides behind the bar, he shoots the lights out, then surprises them from the side of the bar. Despite these highlights, this was disappointing for Sherman's last Hoppy film. I rate it 5/10.