Perfectly adorable

Better Late Then Never

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

William Boyd (Hopalong Cassidy), Russell Hayden (Lucky Jenkins), Andy Clyde (California Jack), Evelyn Brent (Belle Langtry), Victor Jory (Steve Fraser), Morris Ankrum (Jim Stuart), Kenneth Harlan (Tom Wilson), Cara Williams (aka Bernice Kay) (Joan Stuart), Roy Barcroft (Red), Glenn Strange (Ed Stark), Ed Cassidy (Brad Jackson), Jack Rockwell (rancher), Bob Kortman (Blackie), George Cleveland (Pete), Lee Shumway (bartender), Wen Wright (Spike), Chuck Morrison (man who reports sheriff coming), Ethan Laidlaw (waiter), Frank Darien (Pop), Hank Bell (man who reports herd coming), Frank Brady (man reading poster).Director: LESLEY SELANDER. Screenplay: Harrison Jacobs and J. Benton Cheney. Based on characters created by Clarence E. Mulford. Photography: Russell Harlan. Film editor: Carroll Lewis. Supervising film editor: Sherman A. Rose. Art director: Ralph Berger. Set decorator: Emile Kuri. Music directors: Irvin Talbot, John Leipold. Property master: Henry Donovan. Assistant director: Frederick Spencer. Sound mixer: Charles Althouse. Producer: Harry Sherman. Copyright 15 August 1941 by Paramount Pictures, Inc. No New York opening. U.S. release: 8 August 1941. Australian release: 6 November 1942. 8 reels. 7,013 feet. 78 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Hopalong Cassidy and his saddle-mates, Lucky Jenkins and California, are on the trail looking for some cattle which had been rustled off their Bar 20 Ranch, when they come upon the town of Gunsight, a wide open frontier community. Centre of attraction in Gunsight, is the Paradise Saloon, presided over by Belle Langtry, a beautiful and cunning woman, who also happens to be the brains of a band of outlaws. Opposed to Belle is Jim Stuart, mayor of the town, and editor of its newspaper. After a meeting with a group of lawful citizens, Stuart and his young daughter, Joan, decide to write a Page One editorial condemning Belle and the Paradise.In the Paradise, Belle is plying a prospector who had just made a strike and is on his way to file his claim, with drinks. He leaves drunk and is followed by Belle's henchmen, Steve Fraser and Ed Stark. When the two return, it is with the prospector's claim, which they hand to Belle. She dresses hastily, mounts her horse, and sets out for the country seat to file the claim at a mad gallop. On the outskirts of the town, Hoppy sees her and, believing her horse out of control, gallops after her and stops the animal. Belle pulls a gun on him, believing he knows about the murder of the prospector but when he explains, she apologizes and invites him to visit her at the Paradise.The editorial is published. Fraser and Stark go to the office and proceed to wreck it just as Hoppy and his pals ride in. They succeed in chasing the men off. Stuart, grateful, tells Hoppy what had happened and why, and induces him to become the town marshal. Wearing the marshal's badge, Hoppy visits the Paradise to lay down the law. Fraser is for killing him but Belle prevails upon him to let her deal with him in her own way.NOTES: Number 36 of the 66-picture series, this entry is actually a re-make of "Hopalong Cassidy Returns" (1936), with Evelyn Brent reprising her original role. Location scenes filmed in Lone Pine, California. Film debut of 15-year-old Bernice Kay (aka Cara Williams). COMMENT: This entry is almost a re-shoot, not just a mere re-make of "Hopalong Cassidy Returns", on which screenwriter Harrison Jacobs worked for director Nate Watt and players Boyd, Brent and Ankrum.The only trouble is that the scenes were much better handled in the Nate Watt version than they are here by director Lesley Selander. Save for the cast, and a few nice exteriors by photographer Russell Harlan, this film has very little to recommend it. The comic relief rates as pitifully poor.So make sure you don't see this film. See "Hopalong Cassidy Returns" instead!

Usually its Russell Hayden or whomever is playing the young sidekick that gets the love interest in a Hopalong Cassidy film. But in Wide Open Town its saloon owner and chief villain Evelyn Brent who gets her hormones going in a big way for Hoppy himself.Hoppy, Lucky, and California are traveling south on the trail of some stolen Bar 20 cattle when they come to Brent's town. It's a Wide Open Town with no sheriff thanks to Brent and Victor Jory who run an outlaw gang out of her saloon with rustling being only one of many rackets this gang is into.After Jory and his gang beat up newspaper owner Morris Ankrum, Ankrum who also happens to be mayor talks Hoppy into taking the job of sheriff. Now he can use the official authority of the law to both accomplish his mission and clean up the town. Ankrum has a daughter in young Cara Williams but oddly enough Lucky Jenkins isn't buzzing around her as he would normally.Because of Brent and her feelings for Hoppy she and Jory start quarreling and that puts an end to their partnership and their rackets.One of the better Hopalong Cassidy features.

Many Hoppy fans feel that this is the best or one of the best Hopalong Cassidy movies ever made. As another reviewer notes, "Wide Open Town" is a remake of "Hopalong Cassidy Returns." Disappointing to me, it's not nearly as good as "HC Returns", because it's not as violent, not as well-played, & several key elements are weaker here. Despite the relatively high number of gunfights (5), it's one of the only HC films in which he neither kills nor even wounds a bad guy! California & Lucky each actually kill/wound three baddies. Evelyn Brent, playing the same role she did in "HC Returns", suffers consequences not as dire as in the previous version. In "HC Returns", Brent was one of the very few women who was of romantic interest to Hoppy, but here Hoppy is too much of a "goodie two shoes" to even become interested in Brent at all. A foretelling of what is to come, Hoppy's only black clothing is his hat; his shirt & pants are a lighter color, & sure enough, this episode is milder than many others. Leisurely paced, but some good action scenes. Hoppy is wounded in the shoulder by a baddie, but doesn't even shoot back, & rather decides to fight with his one good arm! Involved plot, well-thought-out, but strangely uninspiring & mild compared with "HC Returns", which may be my pick for the best of all Hoppy films. I still rate "Wide Open Town" 8/10 because it's far superior to most other B westerns of the time.

The Hoppy's were the most respectable and - for an eight year old - the most involving of the series westerns.WIDE OPEN TOWN is a remake (occasionally shot-for-shot as with the single insert of the bar girls) of the thirties HOPALONG CASSIDY RETURNS with Brent in the same role and Ankrum promoted from heavy to to upstanding newspaper man. Comparing them, it's possible to see the series shift from Harry Sherman's notion of a realist William S. Hart cycle to the kids' heroics Boyd favored.The later film is more polished and a comparison of the two runaway horse sequences shows the development and the contribution of director Seylander.The new film foregrounds a pre-teen heroine and lets Brent atone for her sins "I'm playing for big stakes...You & your outfit were nothing but tin horn rustlers till I got here" she cautions nasty Victor Jory.Hoppy "the ex Sheriff who cleaned up Santa Fe" visits the troubled town and characteristically decides "I'd like to help." Soon he's disposing of henchman Barcroft by flinging the raw liquor he insists Hoppy drink instead of the usual sarsparilla, in the low life's face. "I did invite him out of town, didn't I?"There's the requisite action with the added pleasure of Hoppy getting fighting mad and taking it out on Jory and rather too much un-funny comedy with California, which probably played better with the original audiences.The Mount Mitchell, Devils Marbles, Lone Pine scenery, the Wells Fargo box robbery at the rail station, the cattle herd providing foreground action at the hideout, the busy western street and saloon full of costumed extras are all spot on. Throw in a strong support cast well chosen, making this vintage B western, better than a lot of entertainment for big people.The running shot of Hoppy at full gallop, out to rescue Brent is worth a cheer.