Silver on the Sage

The song Silver On The Sage was introduced in 1938 in a big budget Paramount western The Texans that starred Randolph Scott and Joan Bennett. The following year it serves as the title to this Hopalong Cassidy western. In fact you can hear the song on a lot of subsequent Hoppy films.

However this film finds Hoppy turning over the herd they are selling to Russell Hayden and Gabby Hayes. But that Bar 20 herd is stolen before the buyer counts and takes possession. Hayden is on the hook for the price of the herd.

The villain of the story is Stanley Ridges playing a dual role. Very handy to have a twin when you need an alibi. Hoppy goes incognito as a tinhorn gambler to get the evidence needed.

These rustlers have quite a racket going with their twin bosses. The shootout climax is one of the better ones from Hoppy series.

Nice title song and the movie is enough to make anyone a Hopalong Cassidy fan.

Okay Hoppy entry. Action doesn't pick up until the last when we get lots of scenic hard riding and a poorly staged gun battle. I could also have used more eye candy from the movie's only girl. (Too bad blonde actress Rogers died so young; I wish we knew why.) The plot is more involved than usual as threads follow each of our three heroes trying to infiltrate the rustler gang where there's an unusual twist. Anyway, there's a scenic desert backdrop, along with Hoppy, Lucky, and Windy. And that's the thing- they combine so well as a trio that they carry even the slowest stories. No wonder the series lasted so long.

It is good to see this kind of movie in a day when so much violent and profane stuff is present in today's movies. This movie starts out slow; but has a good shoot 'em up ending. The story line is good and will hold one's attention to the end. One can gain an interest in what becomes of the cast.

In case you don't know (though I mention it in many of my review for his films), the Hopalong Cassidy films are available on YouTube and this is THE place to find them. This is because in the 1950s, the B-westerns of Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy (among others) were edited down for television time slots. But William Boyd (Cassidy) saved original prints...and his estate recently restored them and posted them to the site. So, you can't find better prints anywhere....complete and looking amazing.

When the story begins, Lucky and Windy are out tending the Bar 20 cattle when rustler's are able to steal many of them. Instead of running to get Hoppy, they decide to try to find them on their own. As for Hoppy, when he finds out he also follows the trail and ends up going to a crappy crime-infested town. But instead of letting folks know who he is, he pretends to be a professional gambler in order to cozy up to the local baddies. What's next? See the film.

The only real weakness of the film is that Hoppy is supposed to be pretty famous and him going incognito seems a bit far-fetched. Otherwise, it's another enjoyable and well written installment of the series...well worth seeing.

Very entertaining movie. Nice pace; moves along to something fresh as it progresses. Very pretty, well-spoken leading lady, Ruth Rogers. Russell Hayden (along with James Ellison) are my favorite young sidekicks, and Gabby Hayes is by far my favorite comic sidekick for Hoppy (Andy Clyde is like fingernails scraping a blackboard, to me). I liked the humor and banter between Ellison and Hayes. It was very funny and cute when twice Happy fired from behind when Hayes was shooting, giving the credit to Hayes. The story was interesting. All the actors were fine. I enjoyed the understated humor, like: seeing one juror at the inquest sleeping; the bar tender trying to break up a brawl by saying "I got some good liquor here; they made a mistake in the shipment this time;" and Gabby haplessly trying to be seen as an outlaw by handing out phony wanted posters with his picture on it (at one point the Marshall turned over one of the posters to use the paper for making notes!). Other good scenes involved Hoppy playing poker, and his noticing who was Talbot and who was the alibi by observing which one licked his thumb while dealing.

***spoilers***

I liked the movie even with these silly director and screenplay mistakes: (1) in one scene I noticed to myself how slow Hoppy was in drawing his gun during a poker game. An then shortly later, I almost fell off my chair when one bad guy commented that it must be Hopalong Cassidy because only three people could draw that fast: Hoppy and two others that he knew. (2) the Owner of the Lazy J Ranch (Hamilton) ordered his foreman, Talbot, to go to the ranch to work, but Talbot went to town. Shortly thereafter, Lucky brings Talbot to the ranch, and Hamilton says he and Lucky will bring Talbot to the Marshall for questioning. Why? Hardly a good reason. (3) On the way to the Marshall, the bad guys have Hamilton killed. Why? I couldn't see a good reason. (4) Unbelievable coincidence: The bad guys ride out to the range and happened to stop to talk right next to where Lucky and Hayes are camping, and the two secretly hear an important conversation! (5) Similar to the above, the bad guys happen to leave one guy behind on the range. And he secretly hears Hoppy's plan that Hoppy will mark his trail (with ribbons) so his friends can follow him. (6) at a close distance, as Hoppy is riding away, Talbot draws and fires at Hoppy, and misses!