Hopalong Rides Again

Scenery and setting carry this Hoppy entry. There's not much action til the showdown. Instead, it's loads of snow-capped southern Sierras and boulder-strewn Alabama Hills, both of which are real eye-catchers. The plot's fairly standard Hoppy-- rustlers are after Hoppy's cattle herd using dynamite as a tactic. On the other hand, they're master-minded by an intellectual scientist (Worth) instead of usual grimy thug. Several good touches, including terrific cliff-side explosion, cattle charging into the camera, and humorous opening showing great chemistry between our three heroes. Naturally, there's the girl (Lane) as eye-relief from all the ugly guys. Anyway, looks like producer Sherman popped a bundle for location filming, big cattle herd, and lots of hard-riding extras. All in all, a scenic Hoppy that more than makes up for shortage of rough stuff,

Hopalong Cassidy got into so many situations just being an all around help to those in need that more often than not his actual day job as foreman of the Bar 20 ranch is barely an afterthought. Not so in Hopalong Rides Again where he's actually on his own job when dealing with bad guys. And bad guys on his job are cattle rustlers.

This gang is headed by a very unusual, but deadly villain played by Harry Worth who says he's a paleontologist which explains why he's out on the range all the time looking for fossils. Worth starts a landslide with dynamite as Hoppy and the Bar 20 crew are driving a herd through a pass where such incidents have happened before.

My favorite scene where he exposes Worth is when our scientist finds a skull and declares it a missing link. Hoppy knows better and says it's from an outlaw he shot and proceeds to dig the slug out of the skull. Worth is no better an anthropologist than a paleontologist.

A good day's work for Hopalong Cassidy.

What starts out with some great antics between Hopalong (William Boyd), Windy (Gabby Hayes) and Lucky (Russell Hayden) quickly turns somber when Buck (William Duncan) informs Hopalong that he has to take the herd by way of Black Butte. Lucky's girl, Nora Lane isn't thrilled with the prospect but little Archibald (Billy King) wants a showdown with the rustlers. Hopalong has a rare love interest in the lovely Lois Wilde but her professor brother Harry Worth is literally loaded with dynamite. Keno (Ernie Adams) is the wildcard caught in the crossfire. The Bar 20 ranch has never seen more action and filmed at Hoppy Cabin, Alabama Hills the scenery was spectacular. Unfortunately, the talented actresses in this movie left the industry too soon but they left us with some wonderful memories.

Second film with crazy professor--FALSE PARADISE (second to last) artie the pest--kid wants to grow up too fast dynamite

I've seen quite a few B-westerns over the years and have enjoyed most of them. However, I never saw any of the Hopalong Cassidy pictures until recently...and considering I've recently watched about of them (and counting), I obviously like them! Much of this is because these films are more westerns than pretty-guy westerns. Hoppy doesn't sing, romance nor wear colorful duds...he's just a tough guy who is always on the side of good. Another reason I've seen so many is that unlike his contemporaries, such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, the Cassidy films have been fully restored to their original length. What I mean is that in the 50s, the various cowboy hero B-movies were cut down to television time slots...and in Cassidy's case, this did happen BUT he saved the original prints. And, his estate recently cleaned them up and released them on YouTube!

"Hopalong Rides Again" is the second Cassidy film I've seen where a major character is a smart guy who is called 'the Professor'. In Cassidy's penultimate film, "False Paradise", the Professor is a nice absent-minded good guy. In "Hopalong Rides Again", he seems like an unassuming guy but is really an evil jerk who uses dynamite to help him rustle cattle! This professor claims to be researching anthropology and is looking for the so-called 'missing link' out west!

One trope that Cassidy seldom used was the cute kid who wants to be a cowboy. Here there's Artie...a little brat who thinks he's ready to do a cowboy's job. I know some folks like this plot device, but I don't and think it detracted, slightly, from the overall film. It's not realistic and the kids are generally pretty annoying. Perhaps I'm just a grouch!

Overall, this is a pretty typical Hopalong Cassidy picture. On the plus side, I liked seeing Windy (Gabby Hayes) in the films as one of his sidekicks and the action was pretty good. On the negative, the kid as well as it being yet another plot involving rustlers....and Hoppy made a ton of those!