Trail Dust

Hoppy, mindful of the famine threatening the country, persuades other ranchers to combine their herds and offer them at a fair price to a relief committee sent to buy cattle to feed a starving population. Cidy leads a collective cattle drive, but greedy profiteers set out to sabotage his efforts, and they'll kill any man brave enough to stand in their way.

An above average Hoppy which features some great cinematography, a vivid description of the harshness and struggles of a cattle drive. You really feel you are there, feeling the dust as you steer those dogies. There's some good action, and a tense climax with dynamite placed on a gorge, ready to go off.

It's a Depression time in the old west just as it was for the movie going public when Trail Dust came out in 1936. The price of beef cattle is sky high and a greedy rancher played by Morris Ankrum wants to keep the price high. So he looks askance when a relief committee seeks to buy cattle for relief purposes, including the herd from the Bar 20 Ranch where Hopalong Cassidy is the foreman.

Hoppy and the gang have to drive the herd to the railroad terminal to be paid. Ankrum's one ruthless dude however. He joins the trail drive under an alias and continues any number of nefarious schemes to prevent Hoppy's herd from arriving.

Of course Bill Boyd, Jimmy Ellison and Gabby Hayes are up to the challenge. Trail Dust is a bit unusual in that Hoppy is for once dealing with a plot that involves his chosen profession, ranch foreman. Most of the Cassidy features involve him getting in all kinds of circumstances that have nothing to do with being foreman of the Bar 20. Perhaps this one sticks to the trail because it is taken directly from one of Clarence Mulford's novels.

The plot involving a depression and relief certainly struck the right note with a 1936 movie audience. Trail Dust holds up fairly well today for B western film of the time.

This is the one Hopalong Cassidy adventure that really stands out in my mind as being the best. It's a little more gritty than some of the later ones, and more like a real western than an episode of a tv show. Later on Hoppy would get a bit more corny and more like a wandering doo-gooder, but here he's just an ordinary cattle-man, trying to get his herd on down the trail. Gabby Hayes is, as usual, excellent as Windy, while the rest of the cast make great cowboys. My dad taped a whole bunch of these off PBS for us, and this is what I watched growing up, instead of cartoons or other things, and I think I'll always love these classic adventures. This is definitely the best of them all.

"Trail Dust" is a pleasing example of how a simple "formula" western can, with a bit of imagination and a good cast, can be turned into a first-rate adventure. Hopalong Cassidy, together with his usual sidekicks Windy and Johnny Nelson, volunteer to sell their herd at a reasonable price during a food shortage. This does not set well with some greedy cattlemen (led by Morris Ankrum, who was to become a familiar staple in later Hopalong adventures, usually as an unctuous villain). The bad guys set out to sabotage the cattle drive at every turn, and the action scenes are vintage Hopalong Cassidy. There are some pleasant diversions along the way - including an understated Beth Clark - and the climatic denouement seems a natural to the scenes which precede it. There is a little singing along the way, but - as in most of the early Cassidy movies - the music is pleasant, authentic to its genre, and does not interfere with the plot or action. Also, Trail Dust contains some good scenes of cattle-droving, using some real-life cowboys. Quite Enjoyable.

I really enjoyed this "Trail Dust" installment of the Hoppy series, which is owing really to many factors, but in perhaps largest measure to the story derived from Clarence Mulford's "Trail Dust" novel. Few films take on a trail drive as their sole purpose for being. It is impressive that even though approximately 95% of the program takes place outdoors-- and most of that on the cattle trail-- the film really never lets the viewers' attention wane. Photography by Archie Stout is well planned, including beautifully highlighted western vistas abounding throughout. The natural beauty afforded by the countryside near California's Mother Lode district verges on magic (this setting is a welcome relief from the venerable Alabama Hills that viewers of lower-budgeted westerns have become all too familiar with). The evening gathering of hardworking trail hands gathered around the chuck wagon, all illuminated by the campfire's illuminating glow, are gorgeously captured. Sound is very important in the movie, too...the sound of horses and cattle and the cowboys' communicating voices stay with the viewer long after the film has concluded. The unforced and simple banter between Windy (George Hayes) and Hoppy (William Boyd) showcase two of western film's more distinctive and entertaining voices. Listen to Windy walk in his boots across the wooden floor of the Waggoner's Outfitting Store...it is so appropriately atmospheric!

All the players in "Trail Dust" do the acting profession proud, for this is a serious film and one senses the performers are committed to doing it right. But one really has to hand it to good ol' William Boyd... he carries such a reassuring, honest, and pervasive presence that his Hoppy persona hangs over every frame of the film, whether he is present or not. However, there was one moment that was a bit worrisome for me, and that concerned some gun play in which Hoppy was involved... see if you notice anything that might make you wonder just a tad.

In summary, then, direction, dialog, lighting, location, and camera placement for "Trail Dust" were all done so well. This is a solidly-funded Paramount western film and one that western fans will very likely find worth their while.