The Eagle's Brood

This is a superior B westerns from the early career of cowboy superstar William Boyd, AKA Hopalong Cassidy. "The Eagle's Brood" was released in 1935. By the early 1950's when I was growing up, Hoppy had become an institution. As a child I often wore a Hoppy hat, a Hoppy neckerchief with a steer's head as a clasp, black cowboy clothes, a Hoppy holster and toy guns (with steer heads on the handles), and a pair of Hoppy boots. For some odd reason, I had a Roy Rogers lunch box for school. Maybe Hoppy's merchandising agent unintentionally left that money maker off his list. Hoppy who was twenty years older by 1955 than he had been in his first Hopalong Cassidy films, still looked the same. How did he do that?

"The Eagle's Brood" has a fairly simple story. Yet it is so well-written and directed that it holds the viewer's attention all the way. This early entry came out before the era of the singing cowboys. So there's no music to slow down the action. By 1935 background music was being used to enhance the action. In the first talky westerns, no music was used because the movie moguls didn't think the audience would accept hearing an orchestra playing in the middle of a wild chase or fight. Yet a live orchestra (or a piano player) was used during the silent years to increase the impact of the action taking place on the screen.

This outing, Hoppy and his sidekick Johnny (Jimmy Ellison) are out to rescue a Mexican lad hid out by Delores, a friend of El Toro, the boy's grandfather, who just happens to be a notorious outlaw, played with gusto by silent film star William Farnum. The boy witnessed the murder of his parents. Thus the ringleader, Big Henry (Addison Richards), is out to silence the lad permanently if he and his gang can find the hideout. Delores is shot by Big Henry when she refuses to divulge the hiding place. Hoppy and Johnny step in leading to a wild shootout in the hills.

Gabby Hayes was still just plain George when he appeared in "The Eagle's Brood," playing sort of a good bad guy as a bar tending lackey to Big Henry. He goes by the moniker Spike. Fortunately he decided in later films to use the name Gabby. Somehow Spike Hayes just doesn't sound right.

The early Hoppy had a romantic streak. When he meets a soiled dove named Dolly, Delores' friend, he flirts with her using the line, "You're a cute little trick," and buys her not one but two drinks while he quenches his thirst with sarsaparilla.

In case you are interested in seeing this film, it and most (if not all) of the Hopalong Cassidy B-westerns are available through YouTube. And, unlike many B-western heroes, these films are complete...not the chopped to pieces films which were cut down for TV time slots in the 1950s.

When the story begins, some bandits murder a couple...as their terrified son, Pedro, hides. The men have no idea that the kid can identify them....but later they learn and begin searching in earnest for the boy. At the same time, the boy's grandfather, a Mexican bandit known as 'El Toro', has learned what happened and he's left his hiding place in Mexico to cross the border to rescue the kid. But he's a wanted man...and lots of lawmen, include Hopalong, are looking for the retired bandit.

During his search for El Toro, Hoppy has an accident in the river...and he might drown. El Toro sees his predicament and saves him...and Hoppy is torn. He IS a lawman and has sworn to uphold the law...but he owes the man. And, when he learns why El Toro is there, Hoppy tells him to head back to Mexico...an HE promises to find the boy and return him to his grandfather. This means two things....resigning his job and posing as a baddie in order to infiltrate the gang who is looking for the boy.

This is among the very best of the Hopalong Cassidy films. And, since it's only the second one, it's a bit different. While George 'Gabby' Hayes is in the film, as he was in nearly all the early films in this series, like the early ones he plays a different character...not Windy. In this case, he sports a huge mustache instead of his usual grizzled beard.

Why did I like this one so much? Well, it's quite original and I enjoyed the violence. Now I am not a huge fan of violence, but too many of the B-westerns feature good guys who never kill anyone yet save the day...which is pretty unrealistic (Lone Ranger....take note!). In this one, one baddie gets drug to his death and the final one...well...it's memorable! This combined with good writing and acting make this one to see.

This is the second of 66 Hopalong Cassidy films and captures the series and its stars at a formative moment. The result is perhaps the best film in the series, with only "Three Men From Texas" on the same footing. Five minutes into this film and it's obvious that it was not made for children. Some scenes are disturbing and there are no curbs on violence. Hoppy's world can be a nasty one and producer Harry Sherman was out to make realistic westerns, not sugar-coated Bs for kids. The film establishes a theme that ran through the entire series: Hoppy and his friends are really ranch hands; cowboys whose main job is driving cattle. But the stories typically pull them away from that and into adventures that have them helping total strangers simply because they need the help. Here it is the rescue of a young child who has been badly traumatized. The cast is excellent and is especially enhanced by James Ellison as young Johnny Nelson, Hoppy's juvenile sidekick, who is all too willing to fight and is thus often rash. Like sidekicks throughout the series, they often need a guiding hand from Hoppy to channel their instincts. Boyd, of course, is clearly forming his interpretation of the Cassidy character and he clearly puts to work his many years of film experience going back to the silents and classics like "King of Kings" and "The Volga Boatman." This is a first rate film that happens to be a western. It blurs the line between A and B pictures.

Pablo Chavez watches his parents killed by a band of outlaws who are after the elder Chavez' gold. Pablo runs away from the scene of the murder to get help and runs into Dolores, a dancer in the town's saloon, who hides Pablo in her cabin, and then goes to town for help from her boss, Big Henry, but when she arrives, she overhears that Big Henry was responsible for the Chavez murders. Dolores hides Pablo in a more secluded place and writes a letter to Pablo's grandfather, Pedro, who lives across the Mexican border as a notorious bandit known as El Toro,who rides to the saloon where Dolores works, En route he saves the life of Hopalong Cassidy (a county deputy), who was searching for the outlaw. El Toro begs Hoppy to let him go after his grandson, but Hoppy won't let the outlaw go across the US border. Instead, Hoppy agrees to go after the boy himself and rides (with fellow deputy Johnny Nelson, who have both turned in their badges) to meet with Dolores. Meanwhile, Big Henry learns that Pablo is still alive and can recognize the bandits and that Dolores is hiding him. Dolores is killed by Big Henry, right after promising Hoppy information on the boys' whereabouts. Hoppy gets a job as one of Big Henry's gun hands, thinking he can prevent Big Henry from making anymore attempts against Pablo, but the outlaws believe that Hoppy might be double crossing Big Henry and decide to take him out. A very gritty entry in the Hoppy series, with the character being less noble and more meaner than in the subsequent entries. Farnum is excellent as the former outlaw El Toro, evoking a lot of sympathy from the audience. Hayes gives another great performance as Big Henry's bartender who is trying to help Hoppy, behind his boss' back. Bretherton creates loads of action and suspense in this worthy entry. Many nuances Hoppy shows in the film (buying drinks for the ladies, rolling a cigarette, and his stern disposition) would disappear in the later films in the series. Rating, based on B westerns, 8.

"The Eagles Brood" was the second feature in the long running Hopalong Cassidy series produced by Harry "Pop" Sherman. Directed by Howard Bretherton, it gives us some spectacular outdoor photography and several exciting action sequences including the good guys riding to the rescue in the nick of time at the film's climax.

The story opens with the notorious Mexican bandit El Toro's son and his wife being brutally murdered. Their young son hides and is taken in by saloon girl Dolores (Nana Martin aka Joan Woodbury). El Toro (William Farnum) vows revenge and sets out to find his grandson. Along the way he rescues "Bill" Cassidy (William Boyd) from quicksand. Cassidy then offers to find the grandson in payment for El Toro's saving of his life.

Cassidy and his pal Johnny Nelson (Jimmy Ellison) set out to find the murderers. Dolores meanwhile, is the girl friend of the head bad guy Big Henry (Addison Richards) and learns that it was his men who murdered El Toro's son and his wife. Big Henry finds out that the grandson is alive and has witnessed the crime. So he and his gang which includes Frank Shannon, Paul Fix and John Merton, also search for the missing youngster.

Big Henry learns that Dolores is harboring the child and in a scene unusual for a series western, murders her in cold blood. Cassidy in the mean time, finds the boy and shields him from the outlaws. A shootout ensues followed by the aforementioned ride to the rescue and concludes with a cliffside fight to the finish between Cassidy and Big Henry.

Boyd was still playing the lead character with a rough edge. He is called "Bill" throughout except for one instance where Ellison calls him "Hoppy". Heck, Hoppy even has an eye for the ladies in this one. George "Gabby" Hayes had not yet settled into his Windy Halliday character. He played several character roles in the early films of the series, much as he had done in the John Wayne Lone Star series. Here, he plays a good bad guy Spike, Big Henry's bartender who spends most of the picture trying to roll a cigarette. Hayes doesn't have his tell tale whiskers in this one, only a drooping moustache with short hair.

This is a good action packed series western which maintained its excellent production values throughout. The Hopalong Cassidy series was in my opinion, the best "B" series ever made.