The Eagle's Brood

This is a superior B westerns from the early career of cowboy superstar William Boyd, AKA Hopalong Cassidy. "The Eagle's Brood" was released in 1935. By the early 1950's when I was growing up, Hoppy had become an institution. As a child I often wore a Hoppy hat, a Hoppy neckerchief with a steer's head as a clasp, black cowboy clothes, a Hoppy holster and toy guns (with steer heads on the handles), and a pair of Hoppy boots. For some odd reason, I had a Roy Rogers lunch box for school. Maybe Hoppy's merchandising agent unintentionally left that money maker off his list. Hoppy who was twenty years older by 1955 than he had been in his first Hopalong Cassidy films, still looked the same. How did he do that?

"The Eagle's Brood" has a fairly simple story. Yet it is so well-written and directed that it holds the viewer's attention all the way. This early entry came out before the era of the singing cowboys. So there's no music to slow down the action. By 1935 background music was being used to enhance the action. In the first talky westerns, no music was used because the movie moguls didn't think the audience would accept hearing an orchestra playing in the middle of a wild chase or fight. Yet a live orchestra (or a piano player) was used during the silent years to increase the impact of the action taking place on the screen.

This outing, Hoppy and his sidekick Johnny (Jimmy Ellison) are out to rescue a Mexican lad hid out by Delores, a friend of El Toro, the boy's grandfather, who just happens to be a notorious outlaw, played with gusto by silent film star William Farnum. The boy witnessed the murder of his parents. Thus the ringleader, Big Henry (Addison Richards), is out to silence the lad permanently if he and his gang can find the hideout. Delores is shot by Big Henry when she refuses to divulge the hiding place. Hoppy and Johnny step in leading to a wild shootout in the hills.

Gabby Hayes was still just plain George when he appeared in "The Eagle's Brood," playing sort of a good bad guy as a bar tending lackey to Big Henry. He goes by the moniker Spike. Fortunately he decided in later films to use the name Gabby. Somehow Spike Hayes just doesn't sound right.

The early Hoppy had a romantic streak. When he meets a soiled dove named Dolly, Delores' friend, he flirts with her using the line, "You're a cute little trick," and buys her not one but two drinks while he quenches his thirst with sarsaparilla.

In case you are interested in seeing this film, it and most (if not all) of the Hopalong Cassidy B-westerns are available through YouTube. And, unlike many B-western heroes, these films are complete...not the chopped to pieces films which were cut down for TV time slots in the 1950s.

When the story begins, some bandits murder a couple...as their terrified son, Pedro, hides. The men have no idea that the kid can identify them....but later they learn and begin searching in earnest for the boy. At the same time, the boy's grandfather, a Mexican bandit known as 'El Toro', has learned what happened and he's left his hiding place in Mexico to cross the border to rescue the kid. But he's a wanted man...and lots of lawmen, include Hopalong, are looking for the retired bandit.

During his search for El Toro, Hoppy has an accident in the river...and he might drown. El Toro sees his predicament and saves him...and Hoppy is torn. He IS a lawman and has sworn to uphold the law...but he owes the man. And, when he learns why El Toro is there, Hoppy tells him to head back to Mexico...an HE promises to find the boy and return him to his grandfather. This means two things....resigning his job and posing as a baddie in order to infiltrate the gang who is looking for the boy.

This is among the very best of the Hopalong Cassidy films. And, since it's only the second one, it's a bit different. While George 'Gabby' Hayes is in the film, as he was in nearly all the early films in this series, like the early ones he plays a different character...not Windy. In this case, he sports a huge mustache instead of his usual grizzled beard.

Why did I like this one so much? Well, it's quite original and I enjoyed the violence. Now I am not a huge fan of violence, but too many of the B-westerns feature good guys who never kill anyone yet save the day...which is pretty unrealistic (Lone Ranger....take note!). In this one, one baddie gets drug to his death and the final one...well...it's memorable! This combined with good writing and acting make this one to see.

The trio is only a duo in this second Hopalong Cassidy western The Eagle's Brood. Also Hoppy who is now a deputy sheriff resigns on a point of honor. Behavior expected of a cowboy hero.

Legendary Mexican bandit El Toro played by Franklyn Farnum is spotted on this side of the border. Farnum is on a mission, to find and rescue his grandson George Mori who was left alive after his parents are killed when they are robbed of gold he was shipping.

Farnum finds Hoppy all right, stuck in quicksand and sinking fast. Who could blame Hoppy for not following through on his apprehension after El Toro pulls him out. Instead he takes on El Toro's mission to find the little kid. The outlaws who killed the parents also want the kid to eliminate a witness.

As I said it's only a duo here, Bill Boyd and his young sidekick James Ellison. Gabby Hayes is here, minus his beard and sporting a handlebar mustache. He's bartender for head villain Addison Richard at Richard's saloon.

The Eagle's Brood proves if nothing else Hoppy is a man of honor.

This is one of the best Hopalong Cassidy movies I have seen, and it is also most unusual for a Hoppy movie. Mainly it has a small narrow plot that drives the action every step of the way. The other Hoppy movies are more like epics with large forces of horsemen on each side; usually the bad guys slip up at the end which unleashes a furious battle of riders. Here it is more like a well-tuned detective mystery with every little discovery initiating a counter move.

On one side you have several bad guys, led by Big Henry, who murdered El Toro's (a famous retired Mexican bandit) son during a gold shipment robbery. They warn Gabby Hayes to stay quiet about the son and the gold passing their way, and in doing so learn that there was El Toro's grandson there who must have witnessed the murder-robbery and who has vanished. So the bad guys set about to locate the kid and kill him.

On the other side, Dolores, an honest dance hall girl, finds the kid in the woods. She decides to ask her boss, Big Henry, to help return the kid to his grandfather in Mexico, but before she can open her mouth, she overhears Big Henry discussing his part in the robbery-murder. So she hides the kid in the woods and writes a letter to El Torro to find her and get his grandson.

El Torro, on his way to Dolores, bumps into lawman Hoppy, saves Hoppy's life, and ends up giving Hoppy Dolores' letter so Hoppy will find the kid and bring him to El Torro (payment for saving Hoppy's life).

By now, Big Henry becomes wise to Dolores and kills her. Both the bad guys and Hoppy are looking for the kid. I won't say more about the intricate plot.

Other pluses for the movie: wonderful scenery and cinema photography; lack of comic side kick and cornball humor; and James Ellison as Hoppy's best sidekick.

Ace Cassidy western. It's only Boyd's second of the series, so many of the later trademarks are not yet in place. Instead of "Hoppy", for example, he's called "Bill". Plus his first horse, a black one, tosses him into a swamp of quicksand of all places! Good thing he soon gets the trustworthy Topper. Familiar cohorts Hayes and Ellison are on hand to help, but not yet as a team. There're also a number of uncharacteristic twists I didn't expect, along with great mountain scenery you haven't seen a hundred times before.

Plotwise-- Cassidy is trying to get little Pablo back to his sometimes outlaw granddad, El Toro, before baddie Big Henry kills him. After all, little Pablo's seen Henry's gang kill his parents, so now he's hiding out in the mountains, thanks to saloon dancer Delores. But can she evade the killer gang before they find out, and can little Pablo survive in the wilderness.

Speaking of Delores (Woodbury), her opening scenes put her in the tightest bustle this side of Mae West. And catch Cassidy's many hard-eyed stares, proving he could go toe-to-toe with Eastwood any time. In fact, even though he's still a force for good, our hero shows a shifty side that soon disappears from standard Hoppy. Anyway, I'm still not sure what Bartender Spike (Hayes) kept trying to do with one hand. I think it was a roll-your-own cigarette, old style. See if you can figure it out.

Anyway, it's an unusual Hoppy, well staged and well worth catching up with, including more surprises than usual.