Highly Overrated But Still Good

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

I hate to complain. I actually like the Hoppy films a lot, mainly for William Boyd's appealing personality and acting, the good production values, and the fine outdoor location scenery. I'll make two complaints, though. One, I find the comic sidekicks (other than Gabby Hayes) grating. Here, California Carlson got on nerves with his never-ending chatter. Same goes for the double talk routine of the cook. The other thing that bothers me is the slender, chancy, coincidental thin reeds of the mystery-solving. In this movie, there are two main forces arrayed against each other, each accusing the other of rustling their cattle and other misdeeds. Hoppy, for some good reasons, thinks a third party is guilty. And he thinks, for no real good reason, a member of that party is an insider at Ma Woods ranch. Ma Woods had blabbed all over town that Cassidy was coming with money to buy her cattle so anyone could have heard of this. Then, the first night Cassidy spends at Ma's ranch, one of the bad guys happens to sneak out in the middle of the night, and Hoppy decides to follow him. To me it seems difficult to follow a horseman over wide open plains and not be detected. Likewise, to me it seems impossible for Hoppy and friend to scale a mountainous peak to subdue a lookout, and the lookout does not hear or see the guys. And so it goes.

I can't tell you how long it's been since I've seen a Hopalong Cassidy flick, but if I had to take a stab at it, I would probably have been about ten years old, so that's going back some fifty plus years! So wouldn't you know it, the way this one starts out left me just a little baffled. The set up has a cattle rancher who's fenced off his property against the encroachment of a 'nester' who believes in free range access to land and water rights. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but in every other Western I've seen with this scenario it's been just the opposite. It's the nester who's a latecomer to the party who tries to establish their right to farm or ranch a claim peacefully. So did the film makers get it backwards? Probably not important.Well anyway, it's cool to see Hoppy, Lucky Jenkins (Russell Hayden) and California (Andy Clyde) teamed up again for a passel of Western adventure. Hoppy and his pals are on the way to Lost River Junction with twenty thousand dollars in cash to buy Ma Woods' (Sarah Padden) cattle, a last ditch effort to make sure she's not foreclosed on at the insistence of rancher George Davidson (Stanley Andrews). Davidson had sheriff Collins (Morgan Wallace) do the dirty work, who voices his displeasure by saying "I'm willing to lay odds Davidson, that you shed your skin once a year, just like all the snakes". Quite the colorful description I thought.A monkey wrench is thrown Hoppy's way when he's held up for the twenty grand, so now the boys try to do a little undercover work to track down the outlaws who robbed them. Their cover is blown pretty quickly by Davidson, but in the aftermath, Hoppy comes to the conclusion that there must be a third party instigating the rivalry between Davidson and Ma Woods. Ma wouldn't have had someone rob Hoppy's crew if she was getting paid for her cattle anyway, and Davidson had earlier offered to sell his cattle to Cassidy for less money to undercut his rival. Getting the warring parties to make peace, Hoppy sets out to uncover who the troublemaker really is.Andy Clyde can usually be relied on for comic relief in any picture he appears in, but this story offered another as well. I got a kick out of Cliff Nazarro's double talk routine as the Woods cook Nosey Haskins. You know, to do it right requires a real talent and this guy's a master. Most everyone simply nods their head in agreement when he speaks but there's no way you could know what he's talking about. I think modern day politicians probably studied this guy.Hey, did you catch that cattle stampede scene when Myra Woods (Margaret Hayes) fell off her horse? The saddle went with her - what's up with that? You know, the first time she showed up in the story, I'd have to say she filled out her dress better than any B Western cowgirl I'd ever seen. No wonder Lucky went gaga over the lady.Well it took some doin', but Hoppy and the boys finally put away Davidson henchman Joe Weiler (Morris Ankrum) to close out the mystery of the third party instigator. I had to chuckle because in virtually every story like this where a large stash of money is stolen, the bad guy who took it is running around the countryside with the loot on him. Don't they know you could lose it that way?

IN OLD Colorado has all the qualities and a few of the faults of this series, which brightened the lives of a generation of little boys (and a few girls). More than half a century later, nostalgia and recognition of the exactness of the approach both make this one rewarding.To start with there's Boyd's painstakingly idealized lead, riding, shooting and attitudinizing. Some of Russel Harlan's most striking mountains photography backs the action, which includes a smallish herd of cattle getting pounds run off them in stampedes in swirling dust. Hayes proves one of the spunkiest of the heroines, actually filmed close to the action, as the herd sweeps by, and managing to take down the bad hat with a rifle shot. The best of the lead trios show up, with Clyde's California allowed to eliminate a look out with a comic routine, after being left holding the horses, and Heyden's Lucky backing off when one of those young women, who seem to prefer Hoppy, actually shows an interest in settling down with him. Bretherton, who did the first of the series, organises things efficiently. The balance between action and basic plot is just right and the comedy is even occasionally funny.Against this is s certain simple mindedness. The cowboys sleep in full western gear. Hoppy manages to reconcile the Nesters and the Rancher and penetrate a dastardly plot with a couple of unconvincing lines of dialogue. Buck Jones and Tim Holt used to ride through something closer to the real world - but what the heck!

"In Old California" is from the seventh year of the popular series which began in 1935. The story centers on a conflict between rancher George Davidson (Stanley Andrews) and the "nesters" led by the widow Ma Woods (Sara Padden). It seems that poor old Ma has a loan coming due and Davidson is trying to ensure that she cannot repay it so that he can drive out the nesters whom he believes are rustling his cattle.Ma contacts the Bar 20 in Arizona whose owner Buck Peters agrees to buy her cattle in order for her to get the cash in time to pay off her debt. Bar 20 foreman Hopalong Cassidy (William Boyd) and his two sidekicks Lucky Jenkins (Russell Hayden) and California (Andy Clyde) are sent to Colorado to look the cattle over. Along the way they are robbed of $20K in cash by unknown assailants. Rancher Davidson is made to appear to be behind the robbery.Hoppy is sure that someone other than Davidson is behind all of the trouble. He manages to effect a reconciliation between Ma Woods and Davidson before discovering the identity of the real bandits. In a slam bang shoot out involving almost every member of the cast, Hoppy and the boys finally bring the bad guys to justice.The Hoppy series produced by Harry "Pop" Sherman is arguably the best "B" western series ever made. Its production values were miles above any other and they always had the look and feel of more expensive "A" features. This film is no exception. The beautiful outdoor location photography is exceptional for a "B" product.Also in the cast are Margaret Hayes as Ma Woods' daughter Myra, the love interest of Lucky, perennial Hoppy villain Morris Ankrum as Davidson's foreman and James Seay, Eddy Waller and Philip Van Zandt in other roles.William Boyd had been a silent film matinee idol in films directed by Cecil B. DeMille in the 20s. Andy Clyde's career dated back to the early silent Mack Sennett comedies in which he was one of the Keystone Cops. Russell Hayden would soon leave the series to branch out into his own features. Morris Ankrum has appeared under the name of Stephen Morris in some of the early entries in the series.