Borderland

"Borderland" offered William Boyd to play against type and be nasty to all around including his two sidekicks Johnny Nelson (Jimmy Ellison) and Windy Halliday (George "Gabby" Hayes).

Hoppy is sent undercover to infiltrate the organization of a gang of outlaws headed by "The Fox" (Stephen Morris). He agrees to turn against all of his friends in an effort to convince the outlaws that he is on the level. "The Fox" meanwhile masquerades as the town idiot Loco. Hoppy gradually gains the confidence of the gang but is discovered by Loco before he can bring him in.

Boyd must have enjoyed this one. He gets to belly up to the bar and have a few drinks and even gets nasty with a little girl (the charming Charlene Wyatt). Morris (aka Morris Ankrum) equally has a hoot playing the dim-witted Loco.

According to Phil Hardy in his book "The Western", this film with a running time of 82 minutes was the longest of any series western.

Jimmy Ellison left the series after this film. Hayes still hadn't adopted the "Gabby" moniker at this point. Others in the cast include Trevor Bardette as a Mexican Colonel and the venerable George Chesebro as one of Morris' henchmen.

A bandit known as the Fox is leading his band of outlaws burning ranches, rustling cattle, and committing all other sorts of crimes on both the US and Mexican border. Colonel Gonzales, of the Mexican Secret Service, and Major Stafford of the Texas Rangers devise a plan to have Ranger Johnny Nelson arrest Hoppy and have him (unknown to everyone except Col. Gonzalez, Maj. Stafford, and Hoppy) go undercover as an outlaw, be discredited and join the Fox's gang, despite having to go against his character by yelling at everyone from Johnny, Windy, boarding house owner Grace Rand, and her handicapped daughter Molly. Unknown to Hoppy, the Fox is really Loco, the village idiot who is able to find out all sorts of information and pass it on to henchmen Parker and Morgan (who introduces himself as the contact between him and the Fox.) The Fox later suspects that Hoppy is playing a trick with his bad guy persona, and kidnaps Windy and Molly taking them to his shack in the desert. Hoppy follows along, but can he overcome the Fox having his two friends hostage and Morgan and other henchmen racing in the cabin for a shootout. A very different and excellent entry in the series with great performances by the entire cast. Boyd is able to brilliantly go against the Hoppy character that we all are familiar with. Ankrum is able to be sinister (which he always did well) throughout playing both the Fox and Loco. Stunningly photographed and the direction by Watt creates lots of suspense and action, even though at 82 minutes (the longest Hoppy film) there are several slow stops, but is countered by the tense filled climax (perhaps the best of any Hoppy film). Rating, based on B westerns, 9.

This movie is generally a treat. Better than most B-movies, it has a superior cast. I particularly liked child actress Charlene Wyatt. She was so sweet and darling. I'm surprised she didn't have a bigger career. Maybe it had to do with her leg brace, which was never commented on in the movie. James Ellison was a fine sidekick for Hoppy. One of the best moments in the movie was the times Hoppy and Ellison rescued each other in the same way. Perhaps the best feature in the movie for Hoppy fans was seeing him act mean and nasty to all his friends, due to his undercover assignment.

Three minor criticisms are (1) at the start of the movie a lot of time was wasted in the top Ranger brass having Ellison arrest Hoppy and bringing him into headquarters so they could ask Hoppy if he would agree to go undercover as a badman to investigate the bad guys. It seemed like a waste of time to me. What if Hoppy said "no" to the assignment? Ellison didn't even ask what he was arresting Hoppy for. Why not just invite Hoppy down? (2) I guess they do this in B-movies like this, but the Fox, who incognito pretends to be addle minded so he can gather information to use for his criminal plans, exposes himself to his large gang. In real life, one of them would turn him in. (3) Unbelievable the way Hoppy simply rides out into the vast desert and easily comes upon the gang, their hideout, clues, a shot bad guy and the scene where Ellison is about to be shot.

Borderland finds Hoppy on assignment from both the Texas Rangers and the Mexican Rurales headed by Earl Hodgins and Trevor Bardette respectively. He has to locate and destroy the Mexican outlaw known only as 'The Fox'. The problem here is that no one knows what he looks like.

In order to that Hoppy has to shed his good guy image and become a real louse. Part of the cover is to not tell both Gabby Hayes and Jimmy Ellison and make them think he's gone bad. The better to infiltrate the Fox's gang.

The Fox is one clever and ruthless villain. He literally hides in plain sight. So does Trevor Bardette as Hoppy's contact.

Borderland is a well done Hopalong Cassidy western with Bill Boyd facing a very determined foe.

What is this movie about? It is about how law enforcement lacks the resources to combat crime and as a result needs to enlist the support of the private citizens who may or may not be willing to help. This movie is also about how people are willing to do thankless jobs and also how a criminal element can cleverly infiltrate itself into the fabric of a community. The movie is also about the extraordinary measures that must be taken to weed out corruption. In this movie Hopalong Cassidy is a private citizen who is asked to engage in highly risky work for the good of his community. The implications are obvious -law enforcement itself cannot deal with the problem which suggests a community that is at risk of being overwhelmed by crime and collapsing. This movie was made in the 1930s when the viability of the economic and political system of the United States was being put to the test. The message of this movie is obvious - the country needs an army of Hopalong Cassidys to save it. The criminal element in this movie - a gang of cattle rustlers - are portrayed as being well organized with a system of informants, led by a man who one would not suspect was the head of a crime syndicate. His resourcefulness is impressive and further reinforces the need for radical action to defeat him and his plans. The actual star of this movie is not Hoppy but the bad guy who is able to organize an entire gang that successfully eludes law enforcement until its leader is tricked, which shows that no criminal is ever so smart that they can evade the law. William Boyd of course plays Hopalong Cassidy with much bravado, and Morris Anktrum plays Cassidy's nemesis. Both actors are excellent. Charlene Wyatt plays the little girl who is a symbol of innocence and reason why the community must be preserved.