Partners of the Plains

A decent entry in the Hoppy catalogue, with our hero locking horns with an English ranch owner played by Melbourne born actress Gwen Gaze, who starts off disliking Hoppy, and clashing with him often through most of the film, but eventually his charm wins her over! Russel Hayden's 'Lucky' is on hand of course, but no Gabby Hayes in this one, his place taken by Harvey Clark as 'Baldy', he survives the film, but sadly died later in the year at only 52. Gwen Gaze for whatever reason retired from films in 1943, but lived to a ripe old age of 94, dying in 2010. Interesting to look back on these old films now, and follow the lives and fate of all the actors via IMDB.

Partners Of The Plains finds Hopalong Cassidy and young protégé Lucky Jenkins signing on to get in shape a new ranch that some English people have bought. John Warburton over from across the pond seems nice enough, but young Gwen Gaze and her aunt Hilda Plowright act like they are to the manor born. Hoppy really has to put her in her place.

Still she's intrigued by Bill Boyd because no one has ever treated her quite like that before. The owners also are bothered by rustlers headed by screen villain Al Bridge who has some history with Hopalong Cassidy.

The film also seems an audition for Harvey Clark to replace Gabby Hayes as part of the trio. Clark had his moments as Baldy, but he died later that year.

This film is recommended for the way Hoppy puts Gwen Gaze in her place, western style.

Check out bad guy Scar's black hat--- it's big enough to shade an army. But don't expect Hoppy to be wearing a white hat. In fact, he's got a different wardrobe from his usual. I guess that reflects the movie's story. There is a bad guy and a bang-up climax, but our hero's main conflict is with a snooty girl, Lorna, from the east. Turns out she owns the ranch where Hoppy works, and it's gone to her head, ordering everyone around like servants. Naturally, Hoppy won't take it, so a personality clash ensues, ending in who will dominate.

The bad guy stuff with Scar's kind of thrown in so as to get some gunplay and hard riding. Meanwhile, Baldy (Clark) does a pretty good comedy relief, while Lucky hangs in there with nothing much to do. Anyhow, it's a different Hoppy flick with its own appeal since actress Gaze does an excellent job being both snooty and finally charming. Too bad her career was so short, 13 appearances. I really like the ending with its own brand of appeal. So if you don't mind a different kind of entry, give it a try.

During the course of the Hopalong Cassidy series, the composition of Hoppy's two sidekicks often changed. Both the handsome younger guy and the grizzled old coot sidekicks are basic archetypes for the series...but who played them varied. The most stable of the two was the old coot. Gabby Hayes played Windy in almost all the early films and later the majority of the times Andy Clyde played California...but in between the studio tried with several others that just didn't seem to fit in very well...such as Britt Wood as Speedy, Frank Darien as Pappy and, in this film, Harvey Clark as Baldy. Sadly, whether Clark would have worked in this role or not, it was his only Cassidy film since he died soon after making this movie!

When the film begins, the Englishwoman Lorna Drake arrives to take control of her family's ranch. This woman is essentially a one-dimensional cartoon, as she seems very unreal...too haughty, too nasty and too much of a know-it-all to be realistic in the old west. To say she's abrasive and unbelievable is pretty much on point.

Lorna immediately takes a dislike for Hoppy...Lord knows why. Despite this, or perhaps because of it, she decides to seduce him...which is super unlikely as in nearly every film, Hoppy is either asexual or shows a mild dislike of dating and female company. Her fiance becomes jealous and enlists the help of a local baddie, Scar, to kill Cassidy. Naturally, the plan backfires and Lorna is nearly killed instead. Can Hoppy save the day as well as tame this shrew?

As I mentioned above, Lorna is a ridiculous character...so abrasive and annoying that I almost stopped watching the movie. Yes, she's THAT bad!! My advice is to resist the urge to stop and stick with it. It does improve....but she STILL remains annoying and hateful. In fact, unlike all the other reviews now posted, I do think this character ruined the movie...making it hard to enjoy. I am a very kind man and would never strike any woman...but Lorna is so awful that I just wanted to see Hoppy punch her in the mouth! That is NOT a glowing endorsement of this film, that's for sure!!

To my pleasure this was a different kind of Hoppy film, but it retained the best elements of the series — Hoppy's sterling, steely character, and his friendship towards his associates.

The British owners of the L-D Ranch, where Hoppy is the foreman, are visiting the ranch on their way to California. The chief owner is snooty, imperious, self-absorbed Lorna Drake. What is unusual is how Hoppy's love-hate relationship with her dominates the length of the film. In fact, in the first half of the film there is absolutely no bad-guy activities. In the second half of the film, Scar Lewis, who had been sent to jail by Hoppy, finally makes his move: he convinces the spurned lover of Lorna to help him get Hoppy into a remote cabin where they can blast the dam to flood Hoppy to his death. That's it — no robbery, rustling, counterfeiting ring, etc — just a plan to kill Hoppy.

Hoppy's movie-long bickering with Lorna got tiring at times, but for the most part was enjoyable. It's always fun to watch Hoppy's character withstand all adversity and forgive the temporary failings of his friends.