Call of the Prairie

The fourth of the sixty-six Hopalong Cassidy pictures is one of the best. When Howard Lang is shot, everyone blames it on James Ellison, who's been getting drunk with the wrong people -- including Gabby Hayes as a bad guy with a pretty daughter. It's all an excuse for the baddies to rob and plunder and stuff like that there, and it's up to William Boyd to sort out matters, with a combination of brains, good humor, threatening, and gunplay.

Paramount and RKO were producing the best B westerns in this period; if you want to say that the Hopalongs were the best, I won't dispute you. Because of their strong distribution network and studio resources, they could spend extra money, and it shows here, particularly in the brisk editing by Edward Schroeder. Watch out for old-time comedy pro Chester Conklin. He gets a good gag in that actually contributes to the plot!

A gang of thieves attempt to pin an a robbery and shooting on a foolish young man. Disbelieving his guilt, Hoppy sets out to prove his friend's innocence. After a bank is held up and his friend is once again in hot water, Hoppy must put himself in danger in a shoot-out with the gang at a lonely cabin in the hills. Seems like this kid is forever getting his butt in a wringer.

Hoppy returns to the Bar 20 ranch after a successful cattle sale, but finds out while he was away, Johnny Nelson has spent the majority of his time drinking and gambling in town. When Hoppy and Buck Peters confront Johnny about this, he leaves the ranch in anger and heads for the saloon. Porter, head of the criminal gang that has won much of the money Johnny gambled away, get Johnny drunk enough to tell him about the money Buck has in his safe. Porter and his men ride to the ranch and hold up Peters (using Johnny's gun and kerchief for a pouch), who is shot after giving him the money, but Buck tricked Porter giving him a bunch of blank paper. Porter returns to the bar and tells Johnny that he is now wanted for shooting Buck, and when he confronts Porter, Johnny is overcome by Porter's men. Shanghai McHenry is ordered by Porter to kill Johnny, but is overcome and Johnny escapes. Meanwhile, soon after Hoppy puts the money in the bank, Porter's men rob it and head for McHenry's shack, where Johnny is being hidden by McHenry's daughter Linda. Hoppy also makes his way to McHenry to go after Porter, who has tied Johnny to a death trap and left McHenry to be caught by the law. Its up to Hoppy to save the day. Okay entry in the series, mainly due to the slow pacing of the film by Bretherton, where we have more drama in the film that action, even though the last reel of the film is a nice climax. Bridge seems wasted in the villain, considering I've seen him play the outlaw or badman better in several other B westerns. It's interesting to see Hayes as an outlaw here, but it is in the Windy/Gabby persona he would adopt in the next film. Rating, based on B westerns, 5.

Call Of The Prarie does not have its usual trio complement of Hoppy and two sidekicks in it. Apparently Harry Sherman was still experimenting with the series with William Boyd going pretty much his own way.

He has to because James Ellison is again in trouble. On a cattle buying trip Hoppy made so much money that he brought presents for all the hands including a nice pair of spurs. But Ellison's fallen in with bad companions drinking and gambling and being regularly taken for his money in a crooked card game run by Al Bridge and assisted by Gabby Hayes.

Yes Gabby's not part of the Bar 20 crew, he's a worthless no good bandit but he does have a pretty daughter played by Muriel Evans who is innocent of her father's crimes, but does keep Ellison dangling.

It really gets bad when Bridge and his gang shoot Bar 20 foreman Buck Peters and pin it on Ellison. Later they rob the bank for which Ellison also gets the blame. All with Gabby's help.

It's Ellison who needs the help and Hoppy gives it as you would expect he would.

Making Hayes a bad guy was a bad idea. He'd played them before but now the movie going public expected him as the lovable old bragging codger forever dropping his "Gs".

Bridge was a regular villain mostly in urban dramas. He was a favorite of Preston Sturges at Paramount.

Not one of the better Hoppys.

This is one of my favorite Hoppy movies. I love the theme song and believe it to typify that era of the Lonesome Cowboy. I just wish one of today's Country singers would record a new version sticking to the original, of course. I can't find the music anywhere unfortunately. Another element of this movie I found endearing was Willie Fung as Wong. In mu opinion, Willie Fung should have a star on the Hollywood boardwalk. He did numerous movies without being credited and did 6 to 9 movies a year. He was a hardworking actor who fit the bill of the times as an Asian character. I can't leave a review without mentioning my favorite horse of all time, Topper. He was not only beautiful, he had personality and was the best partner a cowboy could have. When watching Hoppy movies pay close attention to Topper's interaction with other horses especially Lucky's horse Copper. Topper was an intelligent and affectionate horse as well as a fine actor. In the movie Three Men from Texas pay attention to the beginning of the film where Lucky and Hoppy are riding along and come to a halt. Watch Topper's interaction with Lucky's horse in this one. It's the call of the prairie in my heart.