Hoppy Serves a Writ

"Hoppy Serves a Writ" is an interesting Hopalong Cassidy film because of its cast. Victor Jory, George Reeves and Robert Mitchum all star as members of a gang of crooks...though, sadly, Mitchum (in his first film) has barely a line of dialog.

This version of "Hoppy Serves a Writ" is a nice because it's 65 minutes and isn't one of those chopped down to about 54 minutes back in the 1950s. This was done to allow the film to be shown in a one hour time slot back in the day. But apparently, the excised portions of Hopalong Cassidy's films were saved and were recently restored. These nice restored prints recently showed up on YouTube...and are well worth seeing. Unlike many B cowboys, Cassidy is no pretty boy nor is her a singer...just a hard-fighting do-gooer.

The film begins with a stage coach being robbed in Texas. However, the baddies run off to the Oklahoma Territory...out of the jurisdiction of Texas authorities. So, Hoppy and his sidekicks, Johnny and California, head there and go undercover. They need to find the loot and the crooks that stole it...but it doesn't look very easy in this lawless land.

This is pretty much a standard sort of Hopalong Cassidy film...well made and enjoyable.

By the way, in one scene Hoppy has a brutal fight with Tom Jordan (Victor Jory). In real life, Jory probably would have won that one as he used to be the champion wrestler and boxer in the Coast Guard.

I find this an excellent departure from the usual Hoppy routine. The dialog when Hoppy is checking into the hotel is worth the price of admission. Maybe it's just me but I find it side splitting, and a tad more adult than you'd expect from either a Hoppy movie or any movie made in 1943. William Boyd's personality is as winning as ever. Seeing Robert Mitchum's first film appearance is a hoot and George Reeves inclusion is welcome, as always. Both Mitchum and Reeves would be regulars in the Hoppy films for several years, alternating between the bad guy and the good guy. That's all I've got to say on this subject. I have to add some lines to get this to be accepted by IMDb.

Unlike the later Hoppy films, this one doesn't follow a mystery outline. We know who the baddie is from pretty near the beginning, & it's just a matter of catching him. Victor Jory (who had already starred in "The Shadow" & "The Green Archer" serials), is featured in this film. George Reeves (later TV's "Superman") has a small part. And Robert Mitchum has a short line. Jan Christy (the heroine) is prettier than most of the Hoppy heroines. Andy Clyde (as "California") gets a serious beating, & "Johnny" (Jay Kirby) doesn't act as silly as other Johnnies in this series. Sounds like it has a lot going for it, doesn't it? Not so, because there's little action aside from a couple of good fight scenes & about three gunfights. The plot is weak, & it's not helped by the fact that there's no mystery involved. Hoppy wears all black at the beginning & end of the film, & wears his rancher's outfit in the middle. It doesn't even have the usual dose of humor for a Hoppy film. I rate it only 5/10.

Everybody mentions Robert Mitchum in this movie, but if you coughed at the right time, you miss his entire dialog. George Reeves had the meatier part and looked Superman-ish in it. Victor Jory was a well known actor who did a lot more than cowboy baddies. Two others stood out for me. One was Earl Hudgins, the barkeep, a solid character actor who had a long list of movie credits, usually as some kind of con artist. The other was Roy Barcroft, a competent heavy in many TV cowboy shows of the 50s. In this, he had a minor part as a rancher with a complaint. There was plenty of action in this Hoppy flick if you count all the endless horse riding and the several long gunfights. The one nothing part was the lone female who gave up acting after this, her first and last job in Hollywood.

Check out Hoppy in an uptown suit of all things. As a sheriff in Texas he's after stage robbers and cattle rustlers who've escaped into Oklahoma Territory where he's got no authority. So he goes undercover in a suit as a cattle buyer along with his two buddies. But how can he get the baddies back to Texas where he can arrest them.

Solid if unexceptional entry in the series, notable mainly for its unusual supporting cast. This is the iconic Robert Mitchum's first flick. He's one of the baddies and has, by my count, two scenes where he speaks. It's not auspicious, but he's on his way. Then there's George Reeves, another of the baddies, with many more lines. Later he would star in the 1950's series Superman, and die violently in 1959 under highly suspicious circumstances. Lastly is Victor Jory, a superb villian from many 40's crime flicks. Too bad he doesn't have more scenes here to unnerve the audience with.

Anyway, there's lots of hard riding, a big final shootout, and maybe best a heckuva barroom brawl. I guess my only gripe is Clyde's California whose wild antics sometimes go over the top. But that's minor. What's major is that it's good Hoppy entetainment for front-row geezers like me and cowboy fans of all ages. And, oh yeah, before I forget: Catch that adult-level innuendo when Hoppy checks in to the hotel as Jones, to which the clerk responds by saying that a lot of couples check in under that same name! Some writer's sneaky inside joke, I guess.