Heart of Arizona

I can't recall another Hopalong Cassidy film where William Boyd got involved with a character from the real west. Possibly fans more versed in Hopalong Cassidy films can correct me, but in this film Hoppy gets to meet up with none other than the legendary female outlaw Belle Starr.

Belle's a good stand by your man kind of woman. When her husband was caught at rustling and as Hoppy explains it we're not clear if she knew anything about it. Still when the posse came she shot it out with them and did a stretch in the joint. Now she's back and as luck would have it her spread is next to the Bar 20. She's got a daughter Jacqueline Starr and the Starrs Belle and Jacqueline are played by Natalie Moorhead and Dorothy Short.

Unbeknownst to Belle her foreman, Alden Chase, is still using the Starr ranch as a cover for rustling. It's up to Hoppy and his two trusty companions Russell Hayden and Gabby Hayes to set things right.

The real Belle Starr was born in Missouri and did her outlaw thing in Oklahoma then called Indian Territory. In fact Belle's husband Sam Starr was an Indian. Unlike sweet innocent Jacqueline, Belle's real daughter Pearl Starr became a known prostitute and operator of several bordellos in the Old west.

There was a famous film with her as the central title character that starred Gene Tierney. But it wasn't any closer to the truth than this film.

Still it's not a bad film for the Hopalong Cassidy series.

Seeing that there were few A-westerns in the 30s until the explosion of 1939, I have watched a few B-westerns of that time to see what they were like. This one I chose as representative of the Hopalong Cassidy film series. There were 66 of these films. Just in 1938, seven of them were filmed. When B-westerns phased out in the late 40s, the star William Boyd bought the rights and the films were again successful on TV, spawning a TV show. Hoppy was sure a household name at that time in the US.

So what's the film like? Well, while still clearly being a B-western, it has better production values than most, with gorgeous scenery. This one is 68 minutes long, slightly longer than the typical B-western.

The story is straightforward and filled with action, as expected of these films. There's a lot of shooting. Almost every character got shot at some point. It does get a bit convoluted at the end, but not much. Hoppy is not on screen all the time, but relies on his supporting cast to drive the story forward, unlike other B-western stars of the time.

Not great drama, but a sure way to keep the kids happy at the theater with some cowboy action, while they waited for the main part of the double feature.

Two-faced cowpoke Twister steals a herd of cattle and pins the blame on Hoppy's unfortunate friend, Lucky. But Hoppy and Windy aren't buying Twister's tale and set out to clear their buddy's name. Guns are blazin' on Belle Starr's ranch for a final showdown between the good hombres and the bad hombres!

Heart of Arizona isn't the most action-packed Hoppy, but it has a robust plot, it's a little unusual regarding the Belle Starr angle and it has some grand rugged scenery. The focus isn't so much on Hoppy but the rest of the cast. Gabby Hayes' comic one liners are great. William Boyd'd acting is grand as usual. Strange downbeat ending.

In the 1950s, many old series B-westerns were chopped down to a length that would allow them to be placed in a one-hour time slot. Because of this, it's common to find multiple versions of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy films. The version of "Heart of Arizona" I saw on YouTube is the recently restored one that returns the picture to its original 68 minute run time.

The story does what MANY series westerns did back in the day...it uses the name of a real life western figure but completely fictionalizes them. In this case, early in the story, a deputy is manhandling Belle Starr following her release from prison. Hoppy witnesses this and like you'd expect, he stands up for her...decking the deputy and freeing her.

Later, after Belle arrives at her ranch, she realizes she has a problem...someone has been stealing her cattle. But how will she and Hoppy find out who's behind all this wickedness?

"Heart of Arizona" is enjoyable but not especially well written. Not only does it fictionalize Starr, but there are some serious logical problems with the script. In one case, a 9 or 10 year-old boy is given a gun and told to guard a prisoner....and this happens two different times!! The worst, however, was near the end when the sheriff is about to make an arrest on the gang who is rustling. He approaches this group of criminals alone...no backup whatsoever!! Take a WILD guess what happens next?!?! The writers just were a bit lazy in this one.

"Belle Star" (Natalie Moorhead) is not a woman to be messed with after she returns after an unjust five year spell with Uncle Sam to discover that her herds are being rustled. We know it's her dodgy foreman "Trister" (Leo J. McMahon) who is up to no good, and we know just who is pulling his strings but can she thwart their plan to rob her of her livelihood? Luckily, "Hoppy" (William Boyd) is on hand to try and help her get to the bottom of just who killed her husband and framed her for stealing her own cows! The deft use of some branding, some fine shooting from the young "Artie" (Billy Peters) and an hidden coin all contribute to the adventure as "Hoppy" determines to get his man. The production here is really basic, but there's more of a story and as ever the dynamic between Boyd and "Gabby" Hayes keeps the pace moving swiftly along. Moorhead and her on-screen daughter "Jacqueline" (Dorothy Short) also deliver at the livelier end of the damsels-in-distress scale and there's Stephen Chase's "Ringo" to keep the nastiness going, too. It's not the most original, no, but for a low-budget affair it's actually quite exciting and worth an hour.