Colt Comrades

I noticed with this Hopalong Cassidy film that IMDB lists two running times...both for the original and television edit. This is because in the 1950s, many of the famous cowboy stars had TV shows...and they edited down the films of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy to fit the TV time slots. Fortunately in the case of the Cassidy films, William Boyd (Cassidy) kept the original versions. Recently, these originals have been cleaned up, restored and posted to YouTube...and the films look terrific.

When the story begins, Dirk Mason (Robert Mitchum) robs and murders a railroad agent. Soon, Hoppy and the gang are chasing after this killer. At first, he goes to the local baddie, Jeb Hardin (Victor Jory), for help...but Hardin takes a shot at him. Soon Hoppy and California capture him...and the ineffectual Johnny runs for the sheriff. Then, a vigilante mob arrives--demanding they give them Mason so they can hang him. Then, Hardin shoots Mason...most likely to shut him up! That's a lot of stuff...just in the first seven minutes of the movie!!

What follows is strange. There is a reward for the dead man...and by all rights, it should be Hoppy's. But Hardin insists he get it...or that IF Hoppy got the money, he must invest it in this town. Hardin's plan is to sell them a ranch...and then deny him water rights...thereby making the property worthless. What's next? See the film.

In addition to Jory and Mitchum (who always seemed to play baddies in these westerns), the film features George Reeves of "Superman" fame. While Reeves played bad guys occasionally, here he's a decent sort...and a rancher who has plenty of reason to hate Hardin!

So is it any good? Well, Hopalong Cassidy films are almost always among the better B-westerns...and with this cast, it's a very good movie. However, repeatedly throughout the film Hoppy says they are going to retire to this ranch...but there were still a few more films in the series, so I guess his retirement is gonna be a bit short!

From the beginning the film starts out with a chase. Hoppy and co. Chase Robert Mitchum, and they soon they are battling victor jory over the land. Really nifty western that keeps one's interest throughout - William Boyd exudes style and charisma. As for Robert Mitchum in a small role has star quality.

Hoppy, California and Johnny cross paths with town bad guy Jeb Hardin and his hired thug Joe Brass (Victor Jory, Douglas Fowley) after they beat Hardin and Brass out of a $5000.00 reward for the capture of wanted outlaw Dirk Mason (Robert Mitchum). In order to collect Hoppy and the boys are forced to 're-invest' the reward money back into the community. With a limited numbers of choices they become partners with Lin And Lucy Whitlock (Teddi Sherman, George Reeves) in their ranch which is nearing foreclosure. Like the rest of the ranchers in the area they have been unable to sell their beef because Hardin who owns the upstream property has been extorting payments by withholding water. Things change abruptly when California is suckered into a hair-brained oil drilling scam by local con man Wildcat Willie (Earle Hodgins).

This entry into the Hoppy series is the last in a handful of appearances by Jay Kirby as the Johnny Travers character. With the departure of Russell Hayden as Lucky Jenkins from the series, the studio never quite found the same chemistry with the third member of the trio. The Jay Kirby episodes, though largely forgotten, are by in large a pretty solid lot.

If not memorable, Colt Comrades makes for acceptable viewing. An average chapter in the Hoppy string.

Colt Comrades was one of the Hopalong Cassidy films where Robert Mitchum got his start. But Mitchum's part here is brief as he's killed while in the custody of US Marshal Cassidy. That was to silence him from telling what he knew about the Ben Cartwright of the area Victor Jory.

Jory's got the biggest ranch but he wants it all and he's got the water rights for the whole valley with how he's dammed up the only stream. He's squeezing all the other ranches including the one where Hoppy, Johnny Travers and California are now partners.

Earle Hodgins plays one of his rustic conman types when swindles California out of money for oil rights. He always adds something to any film he's in. Ironically the work that California and Hodgins do in drilling for oil starts the tables turning on Jory.

A good film for both Robert Mitchum completists and the legion of old little partners that followed Hopalong Cassidy.

I rented this installment in the Hopalong Cassidy 63-film franchise because Robert Mitchum got his start with bit parts in a few of the 1943 flicks. He has a very, very small part in this film. If you're looking to see him in his "Bob Mitchum" days in a cowboy costume, rent Riders of the Deadline, because he miraculously comes back to life and has a bigger part.

In the first scene, Robert Mitchum is virtually the only one on the screen; most of his companions are Wanted posters with his face and a matching reward. And, wanted outlaws don't last long in one-hour western flicks. After five minutes, there's no more Bob, and William Boyd as the memorable Hopalong Cassidy collects his reward to help buy a ranch. Before long, they discover oil on the property, and the gang is in for a whole new set of problems!

If you like this western serial, you've got 60 films to go through, all with William Boyd in the lead. Each has a little obstacle, a little action, and a simple little ending to tie things up at the end of the hour. And, if you pick the ones made in 1943, you could catch a glimpse of Bob Mitchum!